Accepted job offer before receiving contract - can i still negotiate?

Nataliez13_2

Would love some advice on this! I accepted a job offer in writing as I was ok with the salary, holiday, benefits etc that was offered. They wanted me to accept the offer itself before sending me the contract which i realize now may have been a mistake on my part. I accepted in writing and handed in my notice to my current employer.

I have now received the contract but there are a few things which I didn't consider through my naivety which are not included, the main stickler being company sick pay (only statutary for this one which for me wouldn't be enough for bills, mortgage etc if i do god forbid get sick!) plus with my current job I get an annual small rise to cover inflation which i don't appear to get with this one!

the salary is only slightly better than the old job which was fine but if i was aware of the above before accepting i would have tried to negotiate a bit more!

I still really want the job so don't want to jeopardize the offer, this is only my second job since leaving uni so i guess this is a learning curve! any advice is much appreciated!

Notmyrealname

Unless you're a slacker who likes taking lots of sick days, the company sick pay isn't a problem. You can get insurance policies if it is. No company is guaranteeing wage rises in the current economic climate so you cannot guarantee you'll get one with your current job. Even the public sector who thought they had guaranteed wage rises have found out this is not the case.

heretolearn_2

If those are the only two issues for you, I think you should leave it.

They are extremely unlikely to agree to put you on a different sick pay scheme to the rest of the employees - can you imagine the ruckus if other people found out? If their company policy is SSP only, then that's that. They might consider it if you were very senior, as a perk/part of being on a higher grade, but as it's only your second job I doubt that is the case.

I don't know of any firms that offer a guaranteed cost of living rise these days - you were extremely lucky before. Many firms have a freeze on payrises at the moment unless you earn one through promotion. You may have to accept that. Again, they are not going to give you a 'cost of living' payrise that no-one else gets.

Terms and conditions vary from firm to firm and you shouldn't make any assumptions about them. Sticking to the letter of the law and only meeting statutory requirements is becoming increasingly common as things get tougher. I remember being quite shocked when I started a new job 12 years ago to find it was SSP only, as that was unusual then. But these days it's becoming much more the norm.

LadyMissA

heretolearn wrote: »

I remember being quite shocked when I started a new job 12 years ago to find it was SSP only, as that was unusual then. But these days it's becoming much more the norm.

I have been working 26 years and never had a job where you were paid company sick pay. People who joined my last company after me only ever stayed a year because of this as they assumed they would be paid if they were off sick.

Mistral001

I agree with those people who have said that companies not paying sick pay other than the SSP (which they actually do not pay, but is paid for from public funds) is becoming more common these days.

Company sick pay is a benefit and along with other benifits and the salary is an important part of the renumeration. The prospective employer is under no obligation to say that it is not being offered at the interview or in the letter of offer of a job in the same way that they would not mention that a company car or private health care was not being offered.