differences in the treatment of staff

Reds-on-Sea

Hiya,

I currently work (coming up for 6 years) in a meduim sized (around 200 staff I think) company. There are office based staff who are paid monthly (salary) including project managers and admin etc, and there are factory/production staff who are paid weekly (hourly rate).

I count as "factory" even though I sit in front of a computer in an office all day long doing designy things.

There is a relatively low turnover of staff here, this includes the factory staff. There are many people who have been here in excess of 20 years.

What gets my goat is that the hourly paid staff are treated as 2nd class citizens (in my opinion), when there is actually no justification for it.

There are a number (what seem to me) unfair differences, including:

Salary staff get sick pay from day 1 - hourly don't get anything for the first 2 days, but get sick pay from day 3 (at the company's discretion).

Salary get to start 30 mins after the hourly staff.

Even very petty things now like, hourly staff aren't allowed to make tea apart from tea break & lunch now, (we're still allowed to drink water) whereas salary staff are still allowed to make it whenever they like.

This may sound petty and it would be easier to swallow if it was across the board, but the tea thing is a very recent change and a lot of people are annoyed about it. Girls in the next office walk through with mugs of tea & coffee all day and I have to sit here gasping! (lol!):beer:

I could understand the sick pay difference if people were shown to be abusing it, but then I'd (if it was my company) deal with them on an individual basis. There hasn't been any overtime for about a year, so it's not as if hourly are raking in the extra cash.....

just a rant really, just wondered if there's anyone out there who's in a similar position & thoughts on the matter. I was salary staff for 4 years and really noticed the difference when I went hourly, especially when my pay got docked for 2 days sick (out of the whole year!). I would've been at home today off sick with a stinking headache, but I can't afford to lose the money so I've dragged myself in even though I'm in pain & feeling dizzy. All very well saying "your health is more important" but keeping my bills paid and a roof over my head comes before that right now.

ceridwen

True - its not fair that different types of worker get treated differently.

You're not going to be able to get your firm to equalise the whole set-up though. What I am wondering is how come you are classified as "hourly" staff - since, as you say, you are in an office on a computer? That is puzzling me. You say you used to be salaried staff - I'm wondering why you swopped or were swopped? Is it possible to swop back to the correct "status"?

HappyG1rl

I think the differences between salaried staff and the 'shop floor' (hourly paid staff) that you refer to are generally replicated in most manufacturing companies across the country.

A lot of companies have specific break times for the shop floor. The salaried staff often aren't entitled to these breaks and drink their drinks 'on the go'. Sometimes it will take longer to go back over a task to understand what stage you are at so it is better to complete the task and fit in making refreshments around the tasks. It is probably counter-productive to give salaried staff official breaks as a company wouldn't want them to not answer telephones at break times or not be available to answer a question from the FD or Production Manager or whoever.

It isn't all one way though - many salaried staff are expected to work additional hours for no extra pay as part of their role whereas hourly paid staff get paid for every hour worked.

I don't think it is fair about sick pay kicking in immediately for salaried staff and not for others but....perhaps controversially...I think there would be far less sick time taken if sick pay for everyone only kicked in on the third day. I have known many people take a week off 'sick' purely because this is how long they can take off without having to provide a doctor's note. This loss of productivity costs companies so much money and maybe if people only took time off when they are genuinely sick then our products would be cheaper and we would be more able to compete in the world markets.

SandC

Yes it is the norm in manufacturing - another one is hourly paid staff have to clock in and salaried don't. I did work at one place where salaried staff clocked in and had the same start and finish time (officially) as hourly paid as they wanted everyone treated the same, but they still weren't really.

I am salaried and really do feel very grateful to be so. The hourly paid staff work their socks off. There has been talk of staff having to swipe in, similar to clocking and I'm all for that - those who are whinging are the ones who leave 5 mins early all the time and slope in after official start time.

But, yes, unfortunately it's normal, oh another thing for us too is the company contribution to the pension is a lot higher.

Reds-on-Sea

oooh yes, salary contributions, that's another one.

Yes salary staff are expected to work a few more hours if the need arises, but it's meant to be accounted for in their higher wages, so they get paid whether they work it or not. They get more pension contributions as a result.

I changed from salary as I'm officially counted as production staff, although my job role has barely changed to when I was salary.

The basic feeling is that factory aren't as trustworthy as salary..... my company is prejudiced in sooo many other ways though!