An internal job with a pay cut - Help!!

esprit

My daughter currently works in a call centre and has been interviewed successfully for another position within the company - she is now being told that she will have to take a paycut and is effectively being told she would be treated as a new person entering the company.

Personnel have told her that the director of the new section has said she would start on basic pay with 6 month probabtion etc - the same as all is his staff and if she stayed on her current salary she would be earning more than any of the others!

She has been with the company a year, completed her 6 month probabtion, received a payrise and received another pay rise as part of the company's annual pay rise. She is on basic pay and does not receive an allowance for shift work etc.

I would welcome any advice as I am completely at a loss and very puzzled having never come across this situation.

Thankyou

PaulK_3

She has applied for a new position on a different wage structure, was the salary made clear on the job advertisement? It is quite normal for someone taking a new role within the same company to have to start with a clean slate unless it has already been discussed and agreed before hand.
If the new role is totally different to the one she has been doing and the salary structure was advertised and defined then I don't think there is much that can be done.

esprit

Thank you for responding. There was no salary information in the advert and has only come to light now several weeks after the interview

LittleVoice

Just because she has been successfullly interviewed for the new post does not mean she has to take the job on the terms offered. She now has to balance the reduced pay against whatever improvement to her job prospects may result from the change.

I would not worry about the probationary period. She already has unfair dismissal protection by having been with the company for more than a year. They can't re-set the clock on that.

cazziebo

Just a note to add on to LV's post

She will have unfair dismissal protection but if she should fail to make the grade in the new role (and call centres sometimes have very strict performance metrics) then she could be dismissed for poor performance.

Your daughter has to weigh up what she wants in the future. Is there more potential to grow earnings in the new role? Will she find the job more rewarding? If so it may well be worth it.

Because your daughter has chosen to apply for this role (ie it's not a redeployment or suchlike) then the company can do this. If she's been there a year and benefited from two payrises in that time then she's doing well. Also, if she's been offered then the company think she has the potential. Sometimes to make a big step forward you might have to take a little step back. It's her decision. Wish her luck!

esprit

Thank you for your responses - I will pass them onto her.

The pay cut is quite substantial and would take her below what she started on in the first place.

Incisor

esprit wrote: »

Thank you for your responses - I will pass them onto her.

The pay cut is quite substantial and would take her below what she started on in the first place.

In which case, it probably is a very bad idea for her to take it. The company will most likely treat her as stupid for accepting this. It will most likely go downhill from here.

Obviously, it exposes anomalies in the company pay structure, but if they value her as an employee, then regardless of pay levels in the new department, they would maintain her existing pay.

esprit

Thanks Incisor - I agree about it exposing anomalies in the company and that they should maintain her current pay, if they value their staff. A sign of our times perhaps?

Though they are now reviewing how they advertise their jobs!!

cazziebo

I would disagree about this not being a good practice.

This is a call centre and to have employees doing exactly the same jobs and starting on a variety of different pay structures is simply not good practice. Once someone is in the job and reaches objective performance measures then yes, pay rates can be differentiated but not on entry.

I once worked for a former nationalised company where the long term employees had very generous holiday entitlement as well as other benefits, and a pay rate three times that of some of the employees they sat next to. The job was basic call handling. Not much team spirit there!

esprit

Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice.

She tried negotiating and mutually agreed not to accept the post. However during the discussions, she was offerred another position within the same department at similar salary to her current one. Perhaps she impressed the managers with her quiet determination!!

floss2

esprit wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all your helpful advice.

She tried negotiating and mutually agreed not to accept the post. However during the discussions, she was offerred another position within the same department at similar salary to her current one. Perhaps she impressed the managers with her quiet determination!!

Good decision & a positive outcome then!