Work extra 2hrs, sorry we can't pay you as we ar a charity

[Ripeberry]

Just want to know if I'm being unreasonable?
I've taken on a cleaning job for a pre-school and I've been doing 2hrs twice a night cleaning everything and mopping the huge floor area and vacuuming all the glitter up.
They now say they need me to do an extra night but for nothing as they can't afford to pay me.
Do I tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine? This is an evening job, so I'm away from my children and DH until 9pm at night
By the way, this job was advertised for ages and NO-ONE took it up....I wonder why?

UK minimum wage info is here www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/

and I agree, don't ever work for free - it sets a really bad precedent for others employed by the same company as well.

If the committee can't afford it then they either are a bunch of incompetent wazzooos or don't have a financially viable business (or both). The latter can lead to them loosing the charitable status if the charity commission audits them and don't like what they see.

Preschool staff shouldn't be cleaning?!!
Ours is run in a village hall
they just sweep up
I guess someone else comes in to clean the loos but I'm not really sure

Tell them they might be a charity but you are not!!
I think it's a right liberty to even ask you tbh

defo do not do this as per others.

i joined a committe for a playgroup years ago and they were genuinely amazed when i suggested adding up all the costs and dividing by the number of kids to see how much they needed to charge( the accounts were dipping into deficit)

If they do not have enough to pay you they do without, ask for parent helper/volunteers ( which was what we did) or they raise the charges- seriously how much would they have to increase by to cover the cost? 5p per child per session?

compo - it is not that preschool staff would find cleaning below them at all - but that

1. people should only do what is agreed in their contract unless they agree to reasonable changes and
2. it would probably add time on to their working day, for which, presumably, they too would need to be paid?

What cheek, no way would I do that! They either need to reduce the amount of cleaning that needs doing in the first place (ie. not using glitter, etc!) or pay for the amount of cleaning they actually need!

Your employment contract doesn?t have to be in writing. However, you are entitled to a written statement of your main employment terms within two months of starting work so they aren;t in breach yet.

WHat needs to be in a written statement here

If they ask you again just laugh as if you think they are joking.

I'm really on your behalf. Please don't offer to do it for free - if you give an inch they'll take a mile by the sounds of it

Good luck

Although I agree with the sentiment here about the preschool needing to sort out the finances, put up prices etc it's not so simple in reality.

I look after the finances of a preschool and the amount we get to fund 'free' 3 & 4 year old provision is laughable. The only way we remain viable is by charging one of the highest rates in the Borough for the under 3s. Luckily we are in an affluent area and parents will pay it. But, if we were 4 miles up the road we'd have shut up shop ages ago.

The problem in national, in that we have a culture of expecting free or very cheap preschool provision but this is on the back of the goodwill of 100s of staff who work many hours for nothing. Believe me, without all of the working for free that goes on across the sector there would only be maintained schools and sure start centres open.

That'll be breathe

Ripeberry - mallenstreak stole my line (or rather, got to the keyboard quicker than me!! ) - tell them that whilst they are a charity, you are not. The committee members can take turns doing the other night but for godsake do not start doing it for free - if you want to volunteer - you choose, where, when & who for!!

I have to say that my biggest concern would be that as soon as they get you to do that, they will then start taking further advantage of you. This is a job, not a volunteer position, and needs to be treated as such. If you were working for (just for example) Tesco, and they asked you to come in and work a few extra hours on another night for free, would you do it? Of course not!

Thanks gorionine for that info. I'll make sure they offer me £5.80 an hour. There is much more to this story, the same building is used by an after-school club, but they are not contributing as the pre-school are keeping them afloat at the moment, hence the money problems
But the pre-school need the after school club as they pay the rates, water and electricity.
Anyway, sorted it out now, I will just rota some of the jobs and make sure that I leave on the hour, even if it's not perfect

Refuse.

I'veworked for afewcharities and I think you have tobe really firm about where your boundariesare.Ididn'tmind doing the oddSaturday forfree forexample,but when DH droveme to avolunteers house on my weekend todelvier somedisplays and the volunteer swore at DH fornot assembling them,that broke them LOL.

Yes its nice to helpout and it makes the world goround- sodoesdecent pay for work ad having a chance to breathe.