To wonder how people afford to live with these jobs

[Dreamer14]

I have worked in the private sector for nearly 20 years. In a high paying industry too. However… I’m bored. So very bored.

My Monday dread starts on Friday nights. I’ve changed company and the feeling is the same. I feel isolated because I work at home all the time. I don’t feel like I’m being the best version of myself. I’m grumpy as I’m unhappy etc.

I’ve thought for years, I’d love to go do something completely different. Each time I try… I give up because I simply can’t afford to work 37 hours (with all the childcare I’d need) for £20k.

I would love a job helping others. I look at NHS and school jobs, council jobs, charity jobs etc. but the pay simply isn’t enough. Am I doing something wrong? Have I missed something?

We would like to move in next few years but if I went to bank and said I earn 20k they wouldn’t lend me nearly enough. I don’t have a rich husband! I’m the main earner.

I'm working 37 hours a week and hate every moment. My dream situation would be slightly less hours so I can pick my kids up one day a week and something I love that involves a bit more human interaction.

I haven't, tbf. But then again I've stacked shelves in ASDA (as well as done factory work, pizza delivery, waiting tables, retail assistant job, call centre work etc.) so have lived experience of the pay and conditions in those jobs.

The ones who say 'screw this I'd get more money for less stress stacking shelves' in my experience have never actually done those jobs, or they'd know that they come with stress and pay peanuts compared to professional jobs!

Whats hilarious is that you think you are disagreeing with me whilst producing evidence that agrees with me( ie public sector professional jobs paying over 20k).

I’n currently looking to move to the NHS or LG so I am extremely familiar with the pay bands and what jobs pay what. The two examples I gave are of recently advertised roles. And yes, looking in third sector jobs pay less, I’m looking there too. When I worked in social care, the constant complaint of the third sector was that they could not compete with LG for staff, on pay or conditions.

@Heavymetaldetector your life sounds really lovely!

@Totalityloss the jobs you mentioned pay less than £20K, a pp has already mentioned this.

And my other point with mentioning the other positions and their pay - nurses, doctors - is that saying the NHS pays well and has great conditions is only true if you’re on band 7+. those on these higher bands have way more responsibility than those on equal salaries in the private sector yet are demonised with “ohhh T&Cs in the public sector are too good why are all tax payers paying for this they need to be brought down to the level of the private sector”. Holidays are a common example of these comments.

The jobs I mentioned are banded £18-£20k where I am ( not London, not SE), so yeah, within the £20k the poster I was replying to talked about ( you might what to check the post I was replying to).

is that saying the NHS pays well and has great conditions is only true if you’re on band 7+

This is simply not true. NHS lower graded jobs pay well compared to Third Sector and even LG. Terms and conditions are good too, good pensions, excellent protections, excellent perks, good holidays.. I’ve worked for 30 years in the public sector, working with partners across the public sector and Third sector organizations. I have quite a lot of insight and knowledge about this area.

I’m currently trying to get back into LG /NHS as having moved out, I realise now how good I had it in terms of pay/ conditions.

Higher earners may look at NHS and LG and then look at higher earning friends in private sector and think it’s not so great, but for those lower down the scale, it’s a pretty good deal. Excellent job security in NHS is particular.

This is the problem then. Band 7 is in the £40ks from memory when I've looked. That's not a salary that should be reserved for someone more "senior" when the OP has years of relevant pharma PM experience from industry. Absolutely she could walk into that role, if not an 8. In fact I'd say the NHS could actively benefit from recruiting outside its bubble.

OP - are you at a CRO? If so then a move to client May help?

Yes, I don’t really understand why OP is looking at £20k jobs when she has PM specialism. LG and NHS advertise quite regularly for these roles and pay much more than £20k! More like £40 to £50k.

Band 7 is £49k.

It’s a struggle for many and the constant worry that brings you down

I’m NHS management I don’t earn a high salary and get by I receive £20 UC a month that’s what I am entitled to )it changes very slightly enough for maybe two pints of milk

many might receive top ups but that doesn’t mean we get the whole rent paid the work it out from what money you do get (apart from maintenance which for majority is very low and too often can not be relied on)

mu colleagues are planning their winter, they work so hard and give so much the reward is not money but it should be substantially higher to cover living costs

this is the problem.
because some people, those in the lower end of the pay scales, are exploited in the private sector, then if they have a little bit better in the public sector, it becomes that “you should be grateful for what you have”, (remember the “lucky to have a job” thing post 2008 that made people compliant through fear, whilst bankers continued to ransack the world), instead of thinking we shouldn’t bring the public sector down to worst case in that context (in this case, the private sector t&cs), or that people should be paid at least a bit better better and not experience 12 years of real term pay cuts.

then as you progress in your career in the NHS/public sector your pay lags behind that in the private sector (despite the extra responsibilities and qualifications required) and you still hear s*it about the public sector having it wonderful. Eg the comparison in the thread between the OP’s job and pay with ward manager/sister role.

exception to this seems to be director level roles in local government which, to me, need curbing in their salaries (why is a Director for Climate at Newham council in East London earning £150k/more than the prime minister is beyond me)

also, show me who in the private sector is putting dead people in body bags and getting paid a band 3 salary as a health care assistant for the privilege.

anyway, good luck on your job search.

The ones who say 'screw this I'd get more money for less stress stacking shelves' in my experience have never actually done those jobs, or they'd know that they come with stress and pay peanuts compared to professional jobs!

I’ve done retail jobs in the past and you’re right, they are no fun whatsoever.

At the same time, the stress from a retail job is unlikely to keep you awake at night on a regular basis and I think it’s this element that some people find attractive.

a job you can leave behind when you finish for the day - imagine that.

And all this simply because I disagreed that £20k was a typical public sector salary outside of London. Because it’s not.

Jeez.

Most of the lowerstpaid jobs in the public sector are contracted out to the private sector.

Thought people posted on here for the discussion, no?

That doesn't sound right. My lazy, good for nothing, unemployed bum of an ex gets about £950 a month in benefits/UC too. And that's with no dependents. It seems to be about the lowest possible UC payment, according to Entitled To calculator.

The lowest is £77 unemployment benefit for a single person, plus money towards council tax. If you rent you get some money towards rent but this depends on your age and where you live.

Haha same!

If you're an experienced project manager you absolutely don't need to go down as far as 20k to move to the public sector. That's barely more than minimum wage, and absolutely no one would do it. You will need to accept a pay cut but in return for that you can get a really good work life balance, flexitime, actual overtime pay, and a pretty good pension. It was worth it for me and it worked because I live in a low cost of living area so my mortgage is really cheap.

It’s all a façade we’re being topped up by universal credit, in overdrafts, using credit cards or borrowing from family living on a low wage with children and childcare to pay.

I find this ^^ odd. I know others on 18k a year, receive uc top up and child benefit but get no were near 38k.
You must have 5+ children all of school age or younger and even then 🤔

High rent or not there is a cap in place.

My goodness! I work in a senior project manager role in the public sector and I earn only just a fraction more than half of your basic wage!! And although the sector I work in is something I am passionate about (environment) the government vastly underpay us for our expertise, and it's not popular with the public like schools or NHS, so no one gives two hoots that the government don't pay it's environmental advisers anywhere near enough money. I am thinking of going the other way and moving to non-environmental private sector just to earn more money as my wage has reached a point where I can't really survive on it anymore.

I work in a school and I’d swap with you in a heartbeat. Overworked, stressed and grossly underpaid. I dream of a well paid WFH boring role.

They go quickly because they are school time/term time so people don't need to pay for childcare.

£20K is quite a normal wage. Many get less because they get min wage and not enough hours. I was bored with my job to the point of insanity but I was on reasonable pay, then all of a sudden my job was offshored and being in my late 40s never got another decent job again, nor for that matter a bearable part time McJob. Not only that, the worse the pay, the worse the conditions and benefits and a whole lot of bullying from cretinous management. I did a short stint in a supermarket which was living hell where one poor girl asked for a change hours so the management gave her 2 hours a day, to be decided the night before by compulsory phone call and had to be on call 7 days a week. Hang onto your job. Todays Britain is a right wing utopia and a nightmare for working class people. .