Do you feel appropriately paid for your work?

[shivawn]

Do you feel that your wages fairly reflect your skills and labour?

I'm just curious how people generally feel after chatting with my own colleagues a few days ago. They were complaining that we're underpaid and that they will struggle to live on these wages as they get older and want to start families etc. We're all nurses on a public payscale so on the same or similar pay (working in Ireland where nurses are better paid than in the UK). I felt really surprised as I consider myself well paid for doing a job that I love, probably more than many of my friends in other professions.

Are you happy with your wage in relation to what you contribute to your employer or do you think you're worth more?

I wasn't and am now being paid the same for a job with a huge amount less stress and no out of hours work. I also know my replacement is being paid a huge amount more but I would rather have less stress then the extra money tbh

No nhs, clinical. Have degree, masters and further qualifications. Much more academic than my husband who earns way more than me. Nhs does not pay people relative to what they are worth in comparison to other western countries and cost of living. This is why we have to keep shipping people in from other countries to work for the NHS. Why the NHS job become an the second job in the home and inevitably becomes the default part time role once kids come along. And they wonder why they are short of staff.

Senior carer in a care home. The amount of responsibility I’m expected to carry compared to my actual wage is ridiculous. But it’s the private sector so not a lot can be done and I do love my job.

NHS staff and definitely underpaid for the work I do. I have 2 degrees,2years registration portfolio and 20 years experience.

If I worked abroad I could earn double what I earn here. Unfortunately with kids at the exams stage that dream is exactly that....a dream

Technically I guess for what I get and what I do it's quite reasonable really. However, I could get paid much more in other organisations/private sector for it so pay is still a frustration in my job and one of the reasons I will leave when I do.

I am underpaid for the hours I work. Although I officially work part-time hours and am paid sufficiently for them, it adds up to a full-time week when I add in overtime and preparation time (and this is expected). But I love my job and it is very flexible.

My DH works in finance and, although he works very, very hard (often 14-18 hour days and seldom home before 11pm and often after midnight), you could argue he is overpaid. Because he earns several times the average salary and, ultimately, he's not doing the work of several people. But he's paid for accountability and 24/7 availability, and that causes a degree of stress and intrusion into our family life which many people wouldn't be willing to accept.

I've often thought that actuaries are very well-paid taking into account the work-life balance... I considered retraining but no good at maths . Nursery staff are grossly underpaid given the stress and the level of responsibility.

No definitely not. I could do my managers job, and basically do, but he reaps all the rewards. It is what it is and as soon as I can I will be moving on. 13 years service and they do not appreciate all the unpaid hours I do and all the extra work I do, which isn't in my remit.

I feel I am, not going to go into details as outing.

No but I choose to work for a non profit and feel my job is more important than money. I'm also fortunate that I could not work so the fact I earn enough to cover my car, clothes etc is a bonus. Many people doing my role do not get paid

Not really. I’m a TA and get £13000 a year. I work full time but term time only. However so do teachers. Teachers get a salary wage whereas support staff are prorated even though the number of days worked is the same. I would like to see us paid the 18k advertised salary for full time work.

No. Our sector is very underpaid for the expected professionalism of our role. I’m in early years and we have to do 2yr checks like health visitors, make referrals and have the training to help SEN and speech and language. We are meant to jump through the OFSTED hoops by knowing our children well enough to progress them through their early education. Go to meetings with social care for looked after children. Know first aid, know safeguarding, food hygiene - As well as what everyone thinks we just do - play all day! There are many more things I haven’t listed such as arranging meetings with parents, policies, etc.

All for min wage, or not much over. We should be getting the respect and pay equivalent to teachers.

It’s interesting the discussion around pensions vs take home pay.

A lot of the people on here are nurses; and I’ve actually got my eye on retraining as a nurse when the kids are older, taking a massive pay cut, but setting myself up for a decent whack of pension while working in a much more fulfilling job.

I case manage high risk victims of DV.
I have to have an in-depth knowledge of the law and how it applies to DV victims, so I can advise, have to keep up on recent legislation for housing, family law etc etc.
I have a massive caseload and new high risk incidents coming at me from the police constantly, however all admin must be completed for current cases. Regular meetings with other professionals to manage risk. Huge amounts of stress and if I was chained to a desk 24/7 I would still not be able to do all the work.
20k.

No nhs nurse in the community

I feel I am, I'm public sector so I know I could get more in the private sector but at the expense of a worse pension and less job security.

However, the public sector is absolutely terrible at recognising progression in role. My place doesn't offer increments and has very wide pay bands meaning that many jobs of varying seniority are lumped in the same band meaning people can't get pay rises even if they go for a job that is obviously a promotion (this is apparently some rule imposed by central government). This means that really good people either just sit there progressively feeling less and less valued, jump into management roles they aren't really suited for or leave. I have lost some really good people because of this.

No. Underpaid relative to responsibility and my experience ( was paid about twice as much in private sector) and also I get paid for 4 day week and do loads of unpaid overtime so workload of 5 days.

NHS worker of 25 years. Been at the top of my band for 15 years so no more pay rises for me unless the gov see fit to throw a few coppers my way.

I feel my pay is appropriate for my qualifications, experience and job description (on paper).

I do not feel it is appropriate for the reality of the job I actually do: the amount of pressure I'm expected to work under, the level of responsibility, the expectation to go "above and beyond", the requirement to keep advancing our knowledge and training for CPD even though there are no more rungs to climb, and the fact that many other staff earn the same as me or more but do half as much.

I guess I feel more under-appreciated than under-paid. Although financially I'm definitely worse off now than when I first made the top of my band.

It been a few years since I worked for the NHS but have things changed massively that nurses get £31k after a couple years?? It wasn't even close to that when I was there......

Sorry, my above question was in response to Frubecube.

However, the public sector is absolutely terrible at recognising progression in role.

Are you civil service? I think it is absolutely criminal they have banned incremental progression it makes no logical sense, of course the longer you've been a job the more value you have, it makes me absolutely rage that the rest of the public sector has progression but not CS, I would take a cut in pension for the opportunity to progress in my salary scale. I'm applying for a higher grade and I've been told if successful to negotiate salary and that it's much more acceptable now than it used to be due to the fact it's the only point you can try to get more (except when trying to retain) I would usually always happily start at the bottom of the salary as it's usually a promotion and I'm new, but will be negotiating any future roles from now on. I don't understand how they've gotten away with it for so long especially when they advertise a role as being X-X.

Support staff in school.
I know it's the same for so many public sector roles but no for my experience and qualifications and hours I put in, I am underpaid.
However I was made redundant last year and chose a school role as it was 'secure' in terms of redundancy?
So yes am now in a job that I am paid half of what I was on last year. I would say shorter hours but I do put in a lot of extra work in my own time.

No. When I was full time and got company and performance bonus it was worth it. Now I work 4 days (with more work), no bonus for two years and not worth it.

Definitely not. Pupil Support Assistant (or TA in England). It's exhausting, and with little to no training.

Not particularly. My pay is probably fair for my level of experience but not for the responsibility and amount of unpaid overtime- think 50-60 hours a week on a 37.5 hour contract for about 50% of the year. There are other benefits but they don’t make up for it.

This.