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Does most low paid work = Poor conditions?

Is it just part and parcel of it all? Or is it even possible to find out what a companies like before applying for a job?

Reading through various posts on here i'd like to know how people score a job with

Christmas bonus or works party
Annual pay rises
Sick pay
Better holidays than statutory

Even heating would be a welcomed perk at the moment. OK firms don't need to supply anything bar the minimum by law but by doing something it shows that you are looked after at least by the company rather than being treated as just a number, and surely its bound to help workplace moral? I know the atmosphere in my firm is horrible, and the number 1 topic of conversation among workers is how much they hate the place.
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Comments

  • bugslet
    bugslet Posts: 6,874 Forumite
    falko89 wrote: »
    Reading through various posts on here i'd like to know how people score a job with

    Christmas bonus or works party
    Annual pay rises
    Sick pay
    Better holidays than statutory

    Its' often luck I think, being in the right place at the right time. The last three people we have taken on ahve been on the suggestion of current employees. We do interview them first, but they've all turned out really well.

    We do a bonus and a bottle, no party - everyone works different hours, so it would be hard work.

    Only one year in 22 that there hasn't been an annual pay rise, usually around the 3% mark.

    We only pay SSP, that includes me and explains why I carry insurance to cover that shortfall.

    Ours are standard holidays, but we do have days when there is no work and pay through. Not easy to plan, but handy none the less.

    Our staff retention rate is very high -a bout 80% till they retire. Of the rest, at least half try to come back!
  • falko89
    falko89 Posts: 1,687 Forumite
    bugslet wrote: »
    Its' often luck I think, being in the right place at the right time. The last three people we have taken on ahve been on the suggestion of current employees. We do interview them first, but they've all turned out really well.

    We do a bonus and a bottle, no party - everyone works different hours, so it would be hard work.

    Only one year in 22 that there hasn't been an annual pay rise, usually around the 3% mark.

    We only pay SSP, that includes me and explains why I carry insurance to cover that shortfall.

    Ours are standard holidays, but we do have days when there is no work and pay through. Not easy to plan, but handy none the less.

    Our staff retention rate is very high -a bout 80% till they retire. Of the rest, at least half try to come back!

    I would say it is, and why our retention rate is low, I think I mentioned in a previous post about our firm advertising and no one applying.
  • bugslet
    bugslet Posts: 6,874 Forumite
    I used to work for a horrible couple of companies and swore that I wouldn't deliberately make peoples' lives miserable if I got to be a boss. You can't quantify an intangible like goodwill from staff, but it definitely adds to the bottom line.

    Seeing things from the other side of the fence, it's hard work to get a customer that wants to work with a supplier and not screw them down all the time. I think sometimes how a firm behaves, though not necessarily so, is down to the pressure they get from customers.

    Anyway, ask all your mates for the heads up when a job comes up at their works.
  • AP007
    AP007 Posts: 7,109 Forumite
    falko89 wrote: »
    Is it just part and parcel of it all? Or is it even possible to find out what a companies like before applying for a job?

    Reading through various posts on here i'd like to know how people score a job with

    Christmas bonus or works party
    Annual pay rises
    Sick pay
    Better holidays than statutory

    Even heating would be a welcomed perk at the moment. OK firms don't need to supply anything bar the minimum by law but by doing something it shows that you are looked after at least by the company rather than being treated as just a number, and surely its bound to help workplace moral? I know the atmosphere in my firm is horrible, and the number 1 topic of conversation among workers is how much they hate the place.


    Christmas bonus or works party - erm no
    Annual pay rises - Everyone got different - some zero and not based on appraisals or what you contributed at all
    Sick pay - None
    Better holidays than statutory - they put this up to 1 extra day per year after you had been there 2 years just 4 months before I left them.

    The above is why I worked with so many people in the 5 years I was there. In a team that started out as 8 and then ended up as 6 I had worked with 22 different people and an agency bill for fess that was sky high!

    They could have used the £100k + and tried to keep the staff wit it instead of using it to recruit!

    The pay for the accounts team was a bit on the low side - sy some were about 4K less than the going rate too.

    Offices under a railway arch and damn, no windows and a bit musty!
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  • falko89
    falko89 Posts: 1,687 Forumite
    AP007 wrote: »
    Christmas bonus or works party - erm no
    Annual pay rises - Everyone got different - some zero and not based on appraisals or what you contributed at all
    Sick pay - None
    Better holidays than statutory - they put this up to 1 extra day per year after you had been there 2 years just 4 months before I left them.

    The above is why I worked with so many people in the 5 years I was there. In a team that started out as 8 and then ended up as 6 I had worked with 22 different people and an agency bill for fess that was sky high!

    They could have used the £100k + and tried to keep the staff wit it instead of using it to recruit!

    The pay for the accounts team was a bit on the low side - sy some were about 4K less than the going rate too.

    Offices under a railway arch and damn, no windows and a bit musty!

    I just don't understand the logic behind it all, I'm sure my firm pays out the same in agency fee's if not more as we seem to have someone new every other week, all that's needed is to treat folk a bit better, but hey that's probably why I'm just a worker and not a manager.
  • AP007
    AP007 Posts: 7,109 Forumite
    falko89 wrote: »
    I just don't understand the logic behind it all, I'm sure my firm pays out the same in agency fee's if not more as we seem to have someone new every other week, all that's needed is to treat folk a bit better, but hey that's probably why I'm just a worker and not a manager.
    Fees are based on salary (most over 22k) and it was a low guess mark there I gave. Probably a lot more and a waste of time. If only they just paid better by £2k or so people would have stayed. Even extra holidays they still would have got the work done as most of it sat on your desk till you got back so wasn't really a holiday.
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  • TrickyWicky
    TrickyWicky Posts: 4,025 Forumite
    falko89 wrote: »
    Christmas bonus or works party
    Annual pay rises
    Sick pay
    Better holidays than statutory

    Never had a christmas party.

    Annual pay rises were usually carp but in one job I had two in a year :D I felt proper guilty about that and kept my gob shut lol. Then just months later we got another :cool: Shame the job was so much hassle with such a rotten boss lol

    Sick pay is only ever in the public services. You won't get it in the private sector unless you're in management. Get a council or civil service job and you'll get sick pay.

    Never had a decent holiday allowance. 20 days seems to be the norm. The civil service are pretty good for that though, 25 days starting and then privilege days (oh and some depts offer 1/2 day off for xmas shopping too).

    You'll never get all 4 in one job though.
  • AP007
    AP007 Posts: 7,109 Forumite
    Sick pay is only ever in the public services. You won't get it in the private sector unless you're in management. Get a council or civil service job and you'll get sick pay.
    .
    Not totally true. Everyone I know gets sick pay and they are not in management. Depends who you work for. None or the people I know work in the public sector either.
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  • Southend1
    Southend1 Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker

    Sick pay is only ever in the public services. You won't get it in the private sector unless you're in management. Get a council or civil service job and you'll get sick pay.

    Don't be ridiculous. I have worked in a number of private sector firms where all staff receive company sick pay.

    Also there is SSP.

    Terms and conditions vary between employers, yes. You will probably find that where there is a strong union presence and terms and conditions are negotiated collectively, or have been historically, there will be more favourable T&Cs like decent sick pay provision.
  • Xmas party and bonus. Only if you work in the office
    Annual pay rise . Only if you work in the office
    Sick pay. Only if you work in the office
    Better holidays . Only if you work in the office

    This year all of us who work on tools got nothing not a merry Xmas kiss me backside or nothing

    Where as the office workers came in 1 morning moaning about their hangovers from their little staff party the night before
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