Good job, pants money

[YogaMama66]

I’ve just started a job at a huge, well known teaching resources website as a content writer. It’s a great job, wfh, flexible, interesting, lovely people. But. The money is v v low. I’m on a 15 hour contract, and have been put on basic rate tax as I have another job, and my first pay check was shy of £600. I can just about afford to stay, but feel torn by the paucity of salary! Wwyd?

That sounds like it pays under minimum wage .

It isn't a great job if it doesn't pay you fairly for your time.

Why did you take the job? Surely you knew the hourly rate before you started.

I would have assessed the salary before I took the job. If it didn’t meet my requirements I wouldn’t have taken it.

Did you not know the salary before you took the job?

Like most people... I would look at the salary before I started the job, not after I got paid.

I did, of course, look at the salary! But thought I’d go for it anyway. Like I said, I can just about make it work, and it does pay pretty much minimum wage. They ask for experienced teachers (which I am), and in my team there is a teacher who was previously a senior leader. Guess none of us know what’s going on in the lives of others to make them choose what they do. Lots of teachers and ex teachers are crying out for different work and taking a low salary is a testament to how bad a lot of teachers feel in their current roles.

An experienced teacher on minimum wage seems an odd choice, but if it works for you.

Are there opportunities for promotion and higher pay in future, OP? Loving your job is an absolute perk, and job satisfaction can make up for a low wage, just as a good salary can make up for a job you hate, there are probably many of us in one or the other category here. (Obviously someone who loves their job and is on a high wage has the best of everything, but I bet there are fewer people in this category than the others.)

Barely minimum wage for the work of experienced teachers is outrageous and insulting. Personally I wouldn't be happy to accept that.

Sadly it's supply and demand, lots of teachers looking for this kind of work for the work life balance and they don't feel the need to pay more as people will do it for what they offer. Pay isn't about what people deserve or whatever really, it's about what employers can get away with most of the time.

I would say though it's a balance only you know is worth it or not. I gave up a well paid job for lower pay but for me it was worth it 100%, for others it wouldn't be.

I know what company this is, I think, and this often comes up on the leaving teaching Facebook group. The consensus seems to be that they’re absolutely taking the piss for what they pay to experienced teachers. Up to you if you want to be exploited or not. It’s a free country but if you let them pay you badly, they’ll keep on doing it.

That website is notorious for paying peanuts because they know they can get away with it.

I'd use it as experience only and plan to move somewhere that values your time ASAP. However there is a lot to be said for job satisfaction so if you are enjoying it then there's no harm in that.

So how many hours was the pay for? 15 x hourly rate x 4.33 for a month or something else?

Is it salaried or is it self employed? Are you paid the hourly rate no matter how long it takes you to write the content or is it piecework and are the time expectations reasonable, eg not 'we will pay you for 2 hours to write this piece' but in reality it would take even the most competent and fast person twice as long to do it?

I agree that it sounds low for the type of work, but as others have said, they've told you what they're paying and it's up to you to take it or leave it and look for something else.

Teaching works out about £16/hr when you account for all the unpaid work we do.

Op, have you looked into directly selling resources through TES? It might work around your other job. I know a few people who make a little extra from doing that. You could even look through what you have already made to see if there is anything that there is a market for?

Are you working from home? If so you need to complete the work faster (put less effort in to it). If they pay peanuts what can they expect?

You need to get your tax code sorted. HMRC should be able to split your personal allowance, they used to do it when I had two part time jobs.

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon yes-planning to call them tomorrow to do exactly this.

JackiePlace totally right. Working on it! Yes-working from home

It might make OP feel slightly better at the second job, but it won’t make any difference in the grand scheme of things. Seems a bit pointless to me, I personally wouldn’t split the tax code if I were using it all in the first job.