Wife offered permanent job after temping.. BUT.... offered less money!

neas

My wife earsn 6.50 an hour and works 40 hours a week which equates to a yearly salary of say £13600 gross.

Now she has been pushing to be offered a permanent position by the company as the roles and responsibilities have been increasing since she joined.

Yesterday they offered her £12,000 gross for her current shift. Notwithstanding the fact this puts it below minimum wage (12,000 /52 = £230 per week divide by 40 hours = £5.77 per hour) and that essentially shes been ofered minimum wage (5.80) when she got 6.50 through the temping agency.

Basically we and she was extremely shocked she had been offered such a pathetic wage when blatantly the company are already paying probably £10-11 per hour for her through the agency. That they'd have the cheek to offer minimum wage. We'd been happy if they offered same or a bit more (say 6.70 an hour but not 5.85!)

She rejected it, stated the following observations:

1. She wont accept less money as its a pay cut. While it is a permanent position she now knows her position is pretty safe.. otherwise why offer a permanent position and with a permanent positon she can be made redundant in the first 2 years without any recompense.
2. She works hard and has been skipping breaks and not booking hours earned to ensure she does her work. With this 'slap in the face' offer she feels pretty dissapointed and depressed/undervalued.
3. She notes that the only reason they offered this job because nother department offered her shift work for a salary of approximately 17-18k per annum....which she is considering taking now.
4.She worked out how much the agency were being paid because they have to pay approx 10% of the yearly cost of the employee if they decide to take them on which is around £2,000.. meaning they are currently paying £20,000 per annum or more for her... but offer her £12k (which is 13.5k including their NI contributions)... meaning a 6.5k saving for them.

Basically just wondering if they can force her to sign the new contract? What they've attempted to done has demolished all confidence she has in her company as they are almost treating her like a slave.

Their response to these concerns were to try and put her down regarding her training and experience and to say 'permanent job is more secure !!!!!!!!'.

Suffice to say im reeling, i cant believe how cheeky they have been after she slaved away working her !!! off for them. Obviously they wanted to keep her from leaving to the other deparment but have offered minimum wage and a pay cut of 11%! Who in their right mind would be pleased with that?

Anyone can realise that....

[Edit] Lets see what happens

lynzpower

No course she doesnt but dont expect she'll be working there long as a ad will go in th epaper and someone will take it wont they!

Do the agency pay her holiday pay out of the 10-11 an hour they receive for her.

Obv a permanent job would include holiday pay and any sick leave policy along with other policy ( maternity leave, special leave when someone dies) etc.

Emmzi

I have always been paid more when tempting/ interim than permanent. It's a trade off for job security, better employment rights, paid holiday, pension, etc.

I do not think it is as black and white as you paint it. If she doesn't like the salary of course she shouldn't take it, but often permananet *does* pay less than temp. I think it's normal/ common.

lynzpower

It is in no way defensible to ever offer lower than the minimum wage, jsut to be clear on that!

The fact is this is what they've offered. If she cant negotiate it up, what else can be done?

Any company might be able to pay more for the role for a short time ( eg a few months) but not potentially for the rest of her career ( dont know old she is but if it were me, another 30 odd years minimum )

terra_ferma

Refusing an offer and explaining it's because she can't afford a pay cut (mortgage, dependants?) hopefully won't cause hard feelings, and they may come back with a better offer.

I agree that her temp job may not last long, but you never know and she may still get the other job.
Unfortunately hard work is not always compensated, but if people thought she was a pushover easy to be taken advantage of, they may change their mind now...

pjcox2005

You say your wife rejected it and stated a number of observations listed above.

Out of interest, what were her boss'/managers' response when presented with the position?

Did they see the reasoning or not understand? Offer to reconsider or just state that was the best they could do?

Or has your wife only stated these observations to you and not had a rational conversation with the employer?

Hammyman

Agency work has usually paid more than permanent. At some places I've been to, my basic rate was the same as employees overtime rate. It goes some way to compensating for the fact you're not guaranteed how long you'll be employed in any year.

What she got paid with the agency is irrelevent in regards to what the company are offering her as the pay agreement between the agency and your wife is completely seperate and none of the companies business.

cazziebo

As other posters have said, temp staff usually get a higher hourly rate then perm staff doing similar roles for the reasons outlined above.

Temp staff are also usually paid for hours worked - so temp staff are more likely to be claiming 40 hours with half hour unpaid lunch, whereas perm staff are more usually on a 35 hour standard contract with an hour unpaid lunch (whether taken or not that's the standard). I would check your calculations again alongside the contracted hours of work.

If she is happy to do shift work then why not take the other role? Shift work attracts a premium rate to compensate for the disruption in lifestyle.

The agency rate includes employment on-costs which cover employers' liabilities; holiday pay, sick pay, payroll admin, maternity, etc. and the company will now be taking on these costs.

She can negotiate a better pay rate or she can refuse the job. The choice is hers.

muskoka

I have always re-negotiated the pay once I've received a job offer, regardless of the state of the economy. They want her, so shes obviously a good worker. She should be confident enough to re-negotiate

Wilma33

There are about 240 working days in a year. So her new wage is actually £12,000 / 240 days / 8 hours = £6.25 an hour. Plus the value of sickness benefits, maternity benefits, job security, pension, etc.

LittleVoice

Wilma33 wrote: »

There are about 240 working days in a year. So her new wage is actually £12,000 / 240 days / 8 hours = £6.25 an hour. Plus the value of sickness benefits, maternity benefits, job security, pension, etc.

You can't exclude the paid holidays from your calculations I'm afraid when you are looking at NMW (or hourly rate generally really).