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.

I would take the other job. If it doesn't work out, chances are the Uni would have you back. The sector is really struggling to recruit skilled people at the moment. I have been in HE my entire 18 year career and would love to leave for a better paid job but feel I would not be hireable outside HE as my skills are not exactly niche and I have no idea about working in a business environment (I know Universities are a business but the culture is completely different). I also wonder if the private sector would be a huge shock to my system after the cosiness of HE with so much annual leave, flexibility, pop to GP or dentist for an hour and no one bats an eyelid. But HE pay is rubbish and the grading is so rigid. In my husbands company, his boss just hands out pay rises and bonuses here and there. None of this re-grading or having to put in an application for a higher grade nonsense. I've never had anything like that.

Good luck, I think you should go for it, and enjoy that extra money!

Yup my husband just gets handed a bonus for doing a good job, whereas here you have to prove it again and again through different panels, lots of forms and admin, and the max you can get is £2k. Where I have worked in the past if you got a £2k bonus that meant you were being managed out of the door:

all Uni staff should get good bonuses for doing good jobs.

Also Uni professional services here - Id go for it in your shoes, our team is shedding staff at a rate of knots, some to other HE and others to private sector.