Job offer but no company sick pay

jonnybravo147

Hi, I have a new job offer in IT.

The thing that really got my attention is no company sick pay, only statutory sick pay. I've never been with a company like that.

The other benefits aren't great. Just the legal minimum of 20 holidays, pension with 4% employer contribution, no health insurance or anything else.

Would this put you off accepting the job? Does it indicate broader issues with the company in how they treat their employees?

I had only a 30 min video interview, with a director who's not based where I'll be working (and had his camera turned off!) and haven't seen the offices.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

saker75

Yes, I would avoid if I was in a position to do so. Suggests they don’t value staff, only do the bear minimum. Quality of life is so important.

MovingForwards

The overall package would put me off as a couple of better 'benefits' can outweigh the reduced ones. I wouldn't have stood for being interviewed online without them having their camera on.

My current role only pays SSP, first time I've worked for a company without company sick pay. I'm saving in case I'm off for a while, but I'm not the kind of person who has much time off sick.

It's a 4% pension too, which has been pretty standard across most companies I've worked at, only a few have matched a bit more. I've been paying into a SIPP for a few years now.

The better benefits are a higher salary, negotiated before being interviewed, more holidays and being able to step away from my desk when I want; crucial as I'm disabled and in constant pain. Since starting I can ask for any reasonable adjustments I want and get them.

If you're already employed and have doubts about the new company, look elsewhere.

TELLIT01

It seems more companies are taking the route of SSP only but I would look for somewhere with a better package if you are currently in work.  If you are unemployed then take the job but keep looking.  Apart from when I started work in the late 1960's I never worked anywhere which had SSP only.

The place my niece works pays nothing for the first 3 days but then company sick pay does kick in.  She has only been there 4 months but has already commented on how few people a chucking one day sickies!

Undervalued

Well, at least you know where you stand!

The vast majority of company sick pay schemes are "discretionary" these days so you have no guarantee that anything beyond SSP will actually be paid. The law allows really quite wide "discretion" so you basically have to decide if you trust the company to behave decently should the need arise.

Ultimately it is the bottom line that counts. Employee "benefits" all come at a cost to the employer. Even with the statutory minimum holiday an employee only works for about 46 weeks in exchange for 52 weeks money. That is factored in to the salary, just as a more generous holiday allowance would be.

Only you can decide how you feel about the place, based on what you have found out so far. Also, only you know what alternatives are available.

Savvy_Sue

I only once accepted a job offer without seeing where I'd be working.

Never again...

Andy_L

How does the salary compare to the rest of the industry?

If its higher then does it balance out the cost of paying extra into your pension and some health cover?

jonnybravo147

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have a job now and the salary is quite a bit more, so weighing that against how much sick leave I might take and lower pension contributions.

I might be able to arrange a visit to the offices before deciding.

There was one more thing at the end of the contract, a non-disparaging clause, ie. can't say anything bad about the company anywhere. Never seen that before!

Really on the the fence at the moment, 50/50.

Plus it's a $1b company, not small change

getmore4less

The legal minimum holiday is 5.6 weeks(28 days).

Is this an IT job with an IT company or IT for another type of business.

If the latter then the type of business can drive the way the IT people get treated and the sort of pay on offer.

Sandtree

Coming from a day rate contractor.... you have to look at the total package which is salary + benefits. From a personal perspective not having any benefits is my norm but the cash income has to make up for it

Given you say its a large company, are you sure they don't operate a flexible benefit policy? A former employer (bank) decided to go this route and gave everyone a 5%, 20% or 35% pay rise based on seniority, removed all benefits but allowed everyone to "buy" what benefits they wanted from their gross pay like extra holidays, PMI, etc or if you didn't want any then it just got paid as salary. The only restricted benefit was a company car where you had to be a certain managerial level to opt for it.

I wouldn't be surprised on the sick pay front... just look at the difference in attendance rate between perms and contractors and you see that getting no/minimal pay for being off sick does move the needle significantly on what level of illness you need to be suffering before you decide you cannot work.

Marcon

jonnybravo147 said:

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have a job now and the salary is quite a bit more, so weighing that against how much sick leave I might take and lower pension contributions.

I might be able to arrange a visit to the offices before deciding.

There was one more thing at the end of the contract, a non-disparaging clause, ie. can't say anything bad about the company anywhere. Never seen that before!

Really on the the fence at the moment, 50/50.

Plus it's a $1b company, not small change

If you're being paid a higher salary, then you could always take out your own insurance to cover you in case of extended sickness absence.

The non-disparaging clause sounds as if they've had their fingers burned before on social media.

If you're on the fence, think about the actual job and what you'll be doing. That's what really matters, surely (provided the remuneration package overall is acceptable)?