Would like opinions please!

pog it

Hey guys, am just generally looking for your opinions as I'm trying to figure out what to do.

Am in a company three months, fairly niched business so I don't want to say what it is exactly. Anyway I'm earning the princely salary of 22k. I do shift work for this- 11 hour days, and starting at 5am- have to work every second weekend, but I get days off then in lieu. I end up working about 77 hours every two weeks.

If your day happens to be a bank holiday, you have to be in (though you do get double), but there is no choice in it really. Likewise if you are not meant to be in on that Monday, you don't get anything extra. Ok, maybe fair enough.

I have asked and I can't get a raise for 6 months- January/Feb next year is earliest, and no change of hours is available either. So I am looking at doing the 5am starts and every second weekend for the winter, for around 11 euro per hour.

What do ye reckon.. am I being exploited? Also, there is one girl here who started just before I did, and she starts at 7, goes at 2 each day-- off at 10am some days. She does about 30 hours a week- and same pay!

I took it on initially for the experience in the sector but it has turned out to be boring and I've learned what I can at this stage..

Should I just move on?

Gone West

Well it depends on what you are doing?
That would be good pay if you were working in Tesco, but you'd have to give more info.

pog it

It basically comes down to admin but I know at least one other person in here uses boards and so that's all I'm prepared to say! It's more me wondering if 22k is fair for doing such wacky hours, weekends, bank holidays, getting up at 4am, etc... tis an easy job though so it has that in its favour and involves a bit of having nothing to do as well.. That would be good for some people, and I like that it's easy going, but I also like to be doing something interesting and/or be busy.

Claire121

Not sure what the problem is - did you not know about those hours and the salary when you signed up? I used to work in a call centre and worked evenings, weekends and all the bank holidays for 21K. The issue I had was that the pay was awful considering you had to know loads about the industry and be fluent in 3+ languages. If it was just in English, I wouldn't have complained.

In that call centre job, there were people who worked only weekends or regular hours (8am-4pm) and got paid the same (because of different language combinations)......just luck of the draw really.

NinjaTruncs

would it be classed as unskilled labour? do you need any college qualifications to do the job? also have you any previous experience in this role?

if the answer to the last two questions is no, you're wage is fair as the 11euro an hour would be giving you a shift allowence in it. Minimum wage is only around 8 euro so you're getting 3 euro an hour more.

PurpleBerry

I'm sorry but it's really hard to say without knowing more.

Based on the info you've given all I can say is it's up to you whether or not you should stay. 22k doesn't sound like a lot but for under 1 years experience it's pretty average, certainly not below average.

The hours sound like a pain, I wouldn't be able for it myself unless it was a job I really cared about. Is the job / experience worth it? Only you can answer that question. I know people who don't mind working odd hours. I'm always saying to them "Good for you, I wouldn't be able to do that."

It's quite usual that you wouldn't be eligible for a raise before 6 months, you're certainly not entitled to one after 3 months! One company I was with said there would be "an annual salary review in June, following one years service." Well, I started there in January so I wouldn't be eligible for a raise for 18 months!

As for your question "Is 22k fair considering the wacky hours?" Well, if you were aware of the hours when you accepted the job and for that salary then yes, it is fair. You decided it was fair yourself when you accepted the position. You can't really expect to renegiotiate your contract after only a couple of months.

It does sound like this job isn't your cup of tea though so you may be well advised to look elsewhere. On average people spend a quarter of their 24-hour day in work and travelling to/from work so it makes sense to be reasonably happy in your workplace.

growler

well you took the job and agreed to the terms of employment, so all that is fair enough, I really don't see why you should feel exploited doing a job you agreed to do.

The only thing that looks potenitally unreasonable is your colleague being paid the same or less hours ? , assuming you both do the same job and have comparable skills it would seem you are being treated differently than your peers, but tbh there are a whole host of reasons any employer can give to justify this scenario.

Move on if you're not happy.