Underpaid at University - to move or not?

[Flyingwithoutwing]

I work in a very niche role at a University. Non-academic, a form of building services. Work is really interesting, my skills are in very high demand, what I do is vital and I am good at it. the University would be in a very tricky situation if I left as we are in the middle of no where and they would very much struggle to recruit my skills.

My skills are also highly valued outside the University sector though and I have been offered a job elsewhere where the pay is SO much higher I am not sure I can justify to my family staying in the job I love. Leaving would be a 50% pay increase for a job that would be quite a bit less interesting.

I realise that I am lucky to have the option of leaving for more pay - academics often don’t have this option - but it’s frustrating as I want to stay at the University but I can’t really justify to my family turning down an extra £1.5k after tax a month (yes, that’s how much I’m underpaid). It used to be justifiable when the University pension was good, but they have devalued that so much it is no better than your average workplace pension.

does anyone here know anything about where university salaries are going in the future? We got a 3% pay rise this year. It just feels like the sector is in a managed decline in relation to pay. Maybe I should just get out while I can.

Take the new job. You may even be able to retire early if you want. If you were my DH, unless you completely loathed the job, I’d be pretty miffed if you turned down such a large payrise!

If you were my DP I would want you to be happy. Besides your partner married you on this salary it’s not as if you promised things would get better.
tell your boss see if you can negotiate a large pay increase to make it worth while staying
also consider if the cost of living will be much more if you moved to new job

Take the job. University pay is not going to rise quickly and conditions are being eroded, especially for non-academic staff in most places. There is an exodus of professional services staff from most universities at the moment. Don’t feel bad.

I agree about managed decline. I'd take the other job - it doesn't mean you can't move back in future.

Also you could use the job offer to see if your university might offer you a proper raise. Do you think your job needs regrading?

I’d take the other job. That’s a big pay rise, I wouldn’t turn it down.

My job doesn’t need ‘regrading’ as such - it’s a high grade - the university pay scales just in no way correspond to the going rate for the role. This is the problem with a pay scales approach for niche roles. And the only chance I have of getting the university to agree to an off pay scale pay rise is by resigning, and I just think this is morally wrong. It’s so unfair on the other prospective employer to waste their time like that.

What’s annoying is the university will have to offer an off payscale pay rise when readvertising the role though as they would need to fill it and the payscale rates are laughable.

Hmmm if £1500 after tax take-home is an extra 50% of your monthly wages , then you have been offered a job at approx the region of £80k a year (monthly take home £4503) compared to approx the region of £48k a year (monthly take home £3018)- that's not including adjustments for pension contributions as I don't have excel sheet open!

That's a huge wage jump

But there's something to be said for enjoying your job in terms of your quality of life, a shorter easier commute, flexible time off, autonomy in your role, a great team to work with and what you oyt back into the community (so Uni it would be academic staff who also aren't well paid and students) . If there wasn't then most of NHS and social care staff would all be working in private sector raking it in, but hating our bosses.

Clearly jobs aren’t just about pay - job satisfaction, flexible working, professional development, ease of commute etc, etc.

But that is a huge pay rise. How much do you need the money? Unless pay is not really relevant to your situation that’s a lot to turn down.

In the public sector in general (don’t know about HE specifically) it looks unlikely pay will improve soon. Since 2010 in general there’s been pay freezes or below inflation pay rises and the current government looks like more of the same. Or possibly worse.

Take the new job. You can always return to an academic career if you want to. Or do part time mix and match roles.

Take it. Your current institution owes you nothing.

Take the new job and justify your decision to your team by disclosing the salary you've been offered. This is important information to feed back.

Nobody will begrudge your decision to leave once they understand you've been working for nearly half of the going rate for years.

Assuming you are in England, universities get a lot of their income from student fees now. With student fees frozen in for years (rather than going up with inflation), then that inevitably means a managed decline with regards to pay. With their income not growing with inflation, universities can't grow their expenditure on things like staff salaries by inflation either.

Universities typically have a lot more holiday than the private sector. How many extra days a year would you need to work? What about flexibility, universities are often good about allowing you to pop out for things like school assemblies / doctor's appointments and make the time up later. The private sector isn't necessarily as flexible which means you might have to use annual leave. What's the place your job offer is from like?

I worked in HE for several years and now working for a central Bank. Way more money, non contributory pension and plenty of benefits. HE is very comfy but the paid is awful and you aren't really thanked for it in my experience. Now I'm lucky enough gey a bonus every year and am constantly encouraged to go for different opportunities within the organisation. I think you should leave, the uni will not crumble without you, I also found that in HE when they reèeeally wanted to, they could find ways to create a role or give people pay rises or grade changes, but for others it was always the case of "oh we don't have the budget for that"

I just want to say that I’m in awe of how your brain works with numbers. I would never be able to work that out, even looking at those figures has blown my mind.

Anyway, as you were.

It's hard, but you need to be tough. If you resign and then they fight for you, then you have got what you and your family need. The other employer will cope. I admire your moral stance but don't disadvantage yourself over it, my admiration is not going to pay the bills and no one else will care. You can also be honest with everyone involved to an extent - they would all do the same.

Maybe you need to get out, so you can properly explore other options. There are bound to be interesting jobs out there for better pay- the university isn’t the only place in the world

@NormalNans same here. It's like a magical power. I'm in awe!

Use the job offer to negotiate a new salary at your current job?

I have recently left a very underpaid position in a large private firm to take up a new role, with the same job title, with a 50% salary jump. I was the third member of my team of approx 25 to jump ship. On the day I left, the CEO announced that everyone in my team was getting a large pay rise. Take the new role, but make sure everyone knows why you are leaving and how much for. If enough people vote with their feet, they will have to start paying the going rate.

Universities typically have a lot more holiday than the private sector. How many extra days a year would you need to work?

Just to mention that university support professional staff , such as building managers , IT, technicians, work all year round and much of their heavy work (around building maintenance/ refurb and checks) is done outside of uni term times. Also many uni buildings are conference venues outside term times-- busy busy..!!-

The academic staff work hard all year round too. It's just teaching under grads that isn't done outside term times - that's when you hit hard all the intense research work you've had backing up! And your phD students grab more time. All the dept support staff work through too.

I work at a university and received a bonus this year equal to an additional month’s wages that I didn’t even apply for (am academic). In my experience universities often magically find money when they want to keep people. You have nothing to lose by using the job offer as leverage.

Yes I think I need to weigh up the flexibility of the current role and how much we need the money just now (we’re getting by but this would help us save and retire earlier). I was surprised to see how much the private sector has moved on in terms of holiday and working from home etc. Private medical cover appeals too.

I guess working for a university is partly putting back into the community sort of job satisfaction you wouldn’t get with the private sector, and I also hadn’t considered the tuition fees freeze affecting finances. All the same it is frustrating to see how big a gap there is in pay.

If I left I would be pointing out that I would definitely pointing out the reason why. My colleagues are underpaid too. The University may be short of cash, but getting professional service staff with the right skills can save the University so much money they more than pay for themselves.

Btw university lecturers and other staff don’t have “long holidays”. Teaching is only 40% of my contracted hours, the rest is research and admin. The sector is notoriously overworked.

The thing that is truly appalling at Universities is their use of short term contracts for post grad researchers (and other roles too). When you are a woman in your early 30s and want kids, a 2 year contract is useless. How are you supposed to sign a child up for extortionate nursery fees with no job security?

I don't know many lecturers who take their full holidays, but I have way more leave compared to my previous job in the private sector - same allocation in terms of days and bank holidays, plus Easter and Christmas closures. And the flexibility is incomparable.

However that is a massive increase OP, I think you should go for it unless there would be a significant reduction in quality of life.

Your university will offer a salary increase to keep you if they have any sense. I'd have a think about what number would entice you to stay, and if you would happily stay then you should feel zero guilt. Professional support staff are horrendously undervalued.