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?

Yes, but I'm self-employed and set my own rates.

No. I work in the private sector, and the equivalent job in the public sector would pay more.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

Well no I'm not. I'm top of band 6 in the NHS, I have years of expertise and can deal with almost any emergency. I was a band 8 for some years but then had a breakdown and decided to back down to a 6 in the tun up to retirement for my own sanity. I did private work for a year - the salary is generally 5 times as much if you work hard but I hated it, it was boring and mind numbing kow towing to wealthy people, the jobs were never secure, you could just be sacked for no reason - usually because there wasn't enough work to go round that month. I ran off back to the NHS asap, at least I am using all of my skills here and I love the work.

You can earn £190k as a private HCP?! Is that before tax? Did you get any sick pay etc and pension contributions?

@anniegun

It is a myth that the private sector pay more than the public sector. There is a debate about the gap but its clear that the average pay in the public sector is higher. There is a good article on it here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/55089900 I suspect the answer is that low skill jobs are better paid in the public sector. However high skilled jobs do not transfer easily. You cant take a doctor from the public sector and put him in a lawyers role

But it’s pointed out in the article that the averages were taken when people were on furlough (only available in private sector)! And that lower paid jobs in the nhs have been contracted out so you’re comparing whole population against largely graduates in the public sector. If I could take my employer contribution into a private pension I’d be out of the NHS one like a shot. I pay 12.5% gross salary and can’t draw it until state retirement age, so goodness knows when that will be. It’s the ‘spin’ put on everything that is incredibly irritating, it’s just bare faced lies. I found an old payslip and my pay has increased 10% in the last 10 years, most of which was taken out by increased pension contributions and changes to national insurance. I’ve done extra training and taken on significant extra duties in that time and haven’t received a pay uplift for any of that so no I don’t think my pay is fair. If senior staff leave what happens is an imbalance which creates poorer working conditions, poorer productivity and more use of expensive locus staff.

I started work in January after 15 years not working, 13 of those years abroad. I am earning less than I did as an NQT in 2001 when I was 35. However, my public sector employer has taken a chance on employing a 55 year old who has been outside employment for a considerable time. It's a job I can leave at the door, the leave is generous, DSE breaks are enforced and it seems to be a friendly environment from what I've seen so far.

No flexi, but I can live with that.

Nope. Nursery nurse. Especially since we’ve been shit on from a great height by the government the last couple of months!

It's an odd one. We've just had an internal restructure and I've been shunted into another department. I was underpaid in my last department and probably overpaid for this one, even though I'm doing the same job but with more responsibility.

I am relatively well paid but basically not that many people have both the skills AND the inclination to do my job. It's quite hard in sense of numbers/technical analysis, you need lots of training and experience to get to my level. Then there just arent that many people who WANT to do it. I don't find it boring but most people do, and it's not a sort of "feel good" profession like medicine or education.

No, early years practitioner with two decades of experience and huge responsibilities. Minimum wage, no sick pay, minimal holiday, 53 hours per week.

Band 5

No, I know I am underpaid relative to my colleagues and my manager has recognised it too but public sector pay freeze means they won’t fix it. I thought about leaving but I really enjoy my work. I had a below inflation pay rise last year as well and nothing this year. I cling to the thought that my work is helping Joe Public!

Yes. I get paid a lot but it's a stressful job with long hours and lots of responsibility. I am starting to wonder if it's worth the time away from my daughter, though. I may retrain in a few years if we can afford it.

Employer civil service contributions are 27% next to 5.5% employee contributions for those earning £25k-£50k-ish (these aren't exact before someone shouts them down). I'm baffled how on earth someone can think the pension scheme isn't better than the vast majority of private sector! I think some people forget that "private sector" also refers to retail, hospitality, leisure etc, rather than finance and law.

@Wtfdidwedo I work for a government agency rather than official civil service and they contribute 8% to my pension. Obviously I feel fortunate they contribute anything at all but it’s not as great as you suggest for all public employees by any means.

Absolutely not. I used to be a health care worker and was often in charge of 16 restless, scared and fragile older people overnight. I was also expected to clean the whole floor, sort laundry and set up the breakfast room for the next day. I missed my DS's first Christmas working a 10 hour night shift for a grand total of £76

@PattyPan that's quite an unusual setup for a government agency, I work for an arms length body with emphasis on arms length as we have to remain "unbiased" due to the nature of our role, but we still get the civil service pension (and Treasury restrictions that come with it sadly!)

@Wtfdidwedo

Employer civil service contributions are 27% next to 5.5% employee contributions for those earning £25k-£50k-ish (these aren't exact before someone shouts them down). I'm baffled how on earth someone can think the pension scheme isn't better than the vast majority of private sector! I think some people forget that "private sector" also refers to retail, hospitality, leisure etc, rather than finance and law.

Well I presumed all public pensions had been reformed, but it doesn’t seem like yours has? In the NHS you’d be paying 12.5% employee contribution and have a retirement age of 68 or more. Your pension scheme is excellent, I’m sure nobody would complain if they had that

@namechange2547 it’s probably because we aren’t funded directly through taxes so I guess they must just run everything separately

@PattyPan oh I see, well for the silver lining hopefully that means your company has a bit more freedom over setting wages and pay progression than we do though I appreciate the frustration at a lesser pension (I was in a similar position for a few years where we were rolled out of local government doing the exact same job but in a charity so didn't get the pensions the tuped staff got).

@BungleandGeorge the figures I put were for the Civil Service Pensions scheme so I assume includes the majority of government departments - MoJ, ONS, Patents, Environment, Crown Courts etc. The contributions are higher for teachers and NHS from what I understand but the employer contributions are still 20%+ compared to the 4/5% (?) employer contributions required by most workplace pensions.

@namechange2547 yes we aren’t on the same pay bands/grading system, we have our own. But they still decided to not have pay rises this year, because it’s bad for the image when other people are losing jobs and because we are funded via industry levy and industry profitability might suffer if there’s a full on recession. Now I know the civil service pension is so good maybe I will look for a job at the department we work quite closely with!

@Morgoth

I also think people really overestimate the amazing ness of public sector pensions. They aren’t “gold-plated” for the vast majority and haven’t been for a long time. And the terms have changed rapidly. Most public sector pensions are only a hairline better than private sector pensions or almost identical. The good pension used to offset the low pay and bad working conditions in most cases but the pensions really aren’t that good for a lot of public sector roles anymore. And the ones that are will be the next thing the government will get their sticky fingers into.

The LGPS is still a great pension in my view & a big reason I’ve stayed in the public sector. My pension is forecast to be 40k a year. My current salary is 60k. Very happy with that.

@blue25 it's very good in comparison to many private sector ones, I had LGPS before CS, contributed about 6% and they put in about 14%, so it's good but not quite on the same level.

@PattyPan that's what I'm trying to do, wages in the main department are better than our ALB.

I absolutely do not get paid enough for my job.

I'm a hca in a nursing home and it's backbreaking (literally), emotionally draining work with long hours, not enough (or sometimes any) breaks and I get a grand total of £8.72 an hour.

I would get paid more stacking shelves and wouldn't have to deal with being assaulted regularly, frightened and dying people and their angry relatives.

That being said, nurses also definitely don't get paid enough either, especially for the level of responsibility that goes with the job.