What do you think you're worth?

[penfold]

I left my last job because of one reason only. They wouldn't pay me any more and I couldn't afford to stay there with the increase in mortgage rates. I wanted 5k more, but would have stayed for 3. I believe I was grossly underpaid because they did not acknowledge everything I did( to be honest i dont think they understood)

 

The problem was Job Evaluation, the longer it went on the bigger the gap in what I was being paid and what I thought I should be paid. I have always said that I would rather be paid less and enjoy what I do. Unfortunately there is only so long you can except being paid less, you still have to pay the bills.

 

I completely agree with witch, only someone who can rely on a partner with a larger income or still lives at home could stay on the wages the school was offering.

[Hightower]

The thing is with my role, I'm generally perceived as a mouse replacer and toner changer. I'm not of course - I have to look after the whole network and figure out solutions to problems that could bring the network to its knee's. I also have to research into new ideas and technologies.

 

But, when I look back I don't think this job is worth more than what I'm getting (which is bottom line). I think any tom, dick or harry can do this job with a little training and I accept that I'm getting paid Harry's wage.

 

It is for this reason I am going to Uni part-time and expect to be out of education within two years. It's not the money I'm chasing either - it's the fact that my brain hurts because it isn't being used.

 

"You need a new mouse, ok wait there" - sigh

 

Every so often I get something to do that really pushes me and gets me thinking and I love it. But more often than not I'm a toner changer.

[TimTech]

I feel very underpaid...i took this job almost 10 years ago, with a 'pay award pending' and it's still pending. Still on scale 2, even though the network has increased in size by a factor of 10!!!!!

[Guest Guest]

I left my last job because of one reason only. They wouldn't pay me any more and I couldn't afford to stay there with the increase in mortgage rates. I wanted 5k more, but would have stayed for 3. I believe I was grossly underpaid because they did not acknowledge everything I did( to be honest i dont think they understood)

 

The problem was Job Evaluation, the longer it went on the bigger the gap in what I was being paid and what I thought I should be paid. I have always said that I would rather be paid less and enjoy what I do. Unfortunately there is only so long you can except being paid less, you still have to pay the bills.

 

I completely agree with witch, only someone who can rely on a partner with a larger income or still lives at home could stay on the wages the school was offering.

 

 

Yep. I was told JE will "put you on a decent wage, deffinatly. Thats the whole point of it". Instead it has been used as an excuse by our council and the HT to justify the apaulling wages. Id be no worse of traveling out of the borough to do cleaners work, ive even seen lollypop ladies on the same wages (pro-rata).

 

Prtoblem is round here there are very few jobs at all, especially in IT. I probably wouldnt have too much trouble finding another job paying slightly more but theres not much point in that tbh.

 

Well they've got until April to realise that if you pay peanuts... and you really really dont want a monkey running a rather large and complex network, which barring the cleaners affects every single persons day to day work.

[JohnMason]

I'm not sure how much I count, as I work in a totally different industry to you guys, in a totally different job...

 

But I'm on the wall with this. Looking at a recruitment agency for a recently unemployed university friend (with no internet access at the moment), I found out that with my current experience, my basic could be 30% higher than it is quite easily.

 

That said, I'm happy here, working with people I like, in a relaxed environment. I'm picking up skills that will be useful whatever my future holds, don't dread work on any morning bar Monday (when I really just want one more day off!) and get other perks that come with a relaxed environment, like flexibility with holidays/time off, and not being told off for coming in 5 minutes late.

 

So I guess it's a case of I'm happy with it at the moment, as long as the gap doesn't widen. However if I was ever unhappy with my work, I know I could get more elsewhere, so it's really only the happiness keeping me here.

Edited September 22, 2008 by JohnMason

[somabc]

What am I worth? SFA it would seem. I'm a county swimmer and L1 coach and I've been taking the kids swimming for the last 8 years. Suddenly someone has twigged that I'm not a qualified teacher and so I shouldn't be taking them on my own. So they are going to have to allocate a teacher, who probably knows nothing about swimming and they will have to be a minibus driver as well because I don't think I can justify the time any more.

 

Why not just let the teacher drive the minibus, do some crowd control, and sit and do some 'marking' while you carry on teaching the kids how to swim?

Edited September 22, 2008 by somabc

[laserblazer]

Why not just let the teacher drive the minibus, do some crowd control, and sit and do some 'marking' while you carry on teaching the kids how to swim?

 

A sense of misplaced pride I guess! It smacks of a lack of trust in my abilities. Also, we have very few staff who have a minibus driving permit and I would rather do the driving than let most of those behind the wheel!

[zag]

I left my last job in industry because I felt I wasn't getting paid enough to ever move out of my parents house. It turned out that when I handed in my resignation letter the company were happy to offer me a 10 thousand pound pay rise on the spot and a company car!! Its funny how things work out but I still ended up leaving and taking a job in education.

 

So my advice is change jobs often and increase your pay and conditions each time, each job should be better than the last. If you are good enough then it wont take long to reach the top of your chosen profession and you will get paid accordingly.

 

I've also never accepted the offered wage in a job interview, I've always said I will think about it and then request something better. If an employer really wants you, they wont have a problem bumping up the wage to get you to accept the job. Doing this will make a huge difference over the lifetime of your job, especially in schools where there is no yearly pay review like in most industries.

[rhyds]

I left my last job in industry because I felt I wasn't getting paid enough to ever move out of my parents house. It turned out that when I handed in my resignation letter the company were happy to offer me a 10 thousand pound pay rise on the spot and a company car!! Its funny how things work out but I still ended up leaving and taking a job in education.

 

 

The same thing happened to me, I mentioned I was going for a job interview and a payrise that was meant to have been actioned over two months previously was magically mentioned and agreed. When i went for the interview and was offered the job they offered to max out my paygrade to keep me, but there was still a fair difference in pay but apparently "jobby valuation" would give me more money, but I couldn't see the county standardising all its techs on a higher grade so I went for the new job. My current wages are only sustainable because I live at home, if I wanted to rent somewhere and move out i'd not be able to do it on my current pay.

[somabc]

I'm worth twice as much as they pay me and half as much I think I should be paid