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getting a raise

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
My boyfriend has been working as a PA/Clinical secretary & receptionist for a year and a half at a ophalmic clinic in cheltenham, and he's currently on £15900 - he does overtime most evenings and often works saturdays.

he lives and works in an expencive town and his salary isn't really in proportion to his living costs. He feels like he's completely undervalued at work - and is constantly stressed out and over worked. they were planning to get in an extra person but they decided that they couldn't really afford it. He's just been given a 3% raise - which he finds almost insulting considering his workload and hours.

He's looked at jobs of a similar responciblity and found them to be much higher paid - £18 -25 K, but how the hell can he now go about discussing this when he's been told that his pay isn't now up for discussion for another year?

He does love his job, but he would like to be doing something that allowed him to spend longer on his music - which seems to be hard to come by when the bills need paying...

any ideas??

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As previouly mentioned, the current market isn't in his favour. It's good he knows his value and has ambition so in terms of creating a better work life balance or remunerating his worth, he wants to take this opportunity to realise how hard it is and begin investing in himself. Get qualified, study a NVQ or Diploma for example, and better engineer himself into a position to go for higher paid jobs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    he's more than qualifed for his job - its not something he really wants to be doing long term, its more of something to pay the bills whilst he's forging his music career. He is looking for higher paid jobs, there just aren't very many unless he goes back into doing managerial retail work, in his area.

    his thoughts were that, considering that the company took over £20,000 in one week, that they could afford a higher pay rise...and considering they are a small business thats pretty damn good!

    we understand that money is tight for most companies, but it doesn't seem so much in this case. But at the end of the day, he does enjoy working there atm, and its not a long term thing but his money jsut doesn't go far where he lives... :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My boyfriend has been working as a PA/Clinical secretary & receptionist for a year and a half at a ophalmic clinic in cheltenham, and he's currently on £15900 - he does overtime most evenings and often works saturdays.

    he lives and works in an expencive town and his salary isn't really in proportion to his living costs. He feels like he's completely undervalued at work - and is constantly stressed out and over worked. they were planning to get in an extra person but they decided that they couldn't really afford it. He's just been given a 3% raise - which he finds almost insulting considering his workload and hours.

    He's looked at jobs of a similar responciblity and found them to be much higher paid - £18 -25 K, but how the hell can he now go about discussing this when he's been told that his pay isn't now up for discussion for another year?

    He does love his job, but he would like to be doing something that allowed him to spend longer on his music - which seems to be hard to come by when the bills need paying...

    any ideas??

    Does he get paid for the overtime he does? If he does, I would expect that his basic of £15.9k would be left well behind.

    If not, then the simple thing would be to stop doing it, at least on the Saturdays. They will soon notice.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    he's more than qualifed for his job - its not something he really wants to be doing long term, its more of something to pay the bills whilst he's forging his music career. He is looking for higher paid jobs, there just aren't very many unless he goes back into doing managerial retail work, in his area.

    his thoughts were that, considering that the company took over £20,000 in one week, that they could afford a higher pay rise...and considering they are a small business thats pretty damn good!

    we understand that money is tight for most companies, but it doesn't seem so much in this case. But at the end of the day, he does enjoy working there atm, and its not a long term thing but his money jsut doesn't go far where he lives... :(
    The problem is they wont give a pay rise when they can just get someone in who does the same job for a lower wages,
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    3% is really not bad considering the current climate. Many places have imposed pay freezes or even cuts. Whilst this doesn't help him, it's representative of how things are. If it's a small business I think he's lucky to get 3%.

    Also, you say in one post that other places are offering 18-25, but then in another you say that there aren't many of these positions. I think that's another indication of the reality of the situation.

    Of course there is no harm in arguing a case for a higher rise if he really thinks he deserves it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    all of his overtime is unpaid - but occational saturdays are part of his contract - though it doesn't state how many.

    there are jobs within that pay grade of a similar responsiblity, but not in his town and he hasn't got transport and can't really move atm...

    he's gonna leave it 3 months and ask again...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    all of his overtime is unpaid - but occational saturdays are part of his contract - though it doesn't state how many.

    there are jobs within that pay grade of a similar responsiblity, but not in his town and he hasn't got transport and can't really move atm...

    he's gonna leave it 3 months and ask again...

    Hmm I could say that about my job, though. There's plenty of jobs that I could take that are the same as mine but in another part of the country paying more money. But if they aren't paying that where I want to be, then it doesn't really count.

    Probably a good idea to try again in a few months, though. The economy may have moved on, also.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    oh for a 3% pay rise! not a chance at the moment in the majority of private sector jobs, its a case of riding it out.

    the cheek of some industries demanding pay rises is absolutely astonishing, namely train drivers and postal workers recently.

    £15.9k doesnt sound bad for a PA/secretary to me, albeit that cheltenham is expensive like you say, but they could employ another person willing to take that sort of salary.

    its not the companies fault that he wants more money/wants to spend more time on his music/over qualified.

    to be honest, people should think themselves lucky to be in a job at the mo.

    you say they took 20k in one week, what about other wages, overheads, NI contribs etc....? 20k isnt a lot really.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nightclub I used to work in took 60/70k some weeks. I still got paid £6 an hour.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MrG wrote: »
    Nightclub I used to work in took 60/70k some weeks. I still got paid £6 an hour.
    :yes: The company I work for and is classified as a small-medium company can rake in upto 300-400k per week yet I never see any off it, you got overheads and costs etc and why would a company willingly give away proffits if they know they can get workers for that price.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hence why all of those cockle pickers who died a few years ago were all foreigners and not your locals, yeah, because it was cheapo.
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Opthalmic companies have been making cuts for months and months due to lower business, I got made redundant from one last November due to cost cutting.

    I wouldn't advise him to push a raise too much
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