When is a good time to talk money?
Pay rises and equality have always been a talking point but this year even more so. More and more companies with unions are striking and with the England Women’s Football Team bringing football home for the first time in 56 years when they were not even allowed to play back in 1966, will they now be paid even close to what the men are for the same ‘job’?
With regards to equality it is surely not even a conversation, there should not be a pay gap between women and men for the same job role, we are in 2022 but, what should pay be based on?
Now I have never worked in public sector nor anywhere that has a union or pay grades. My background is PLC and private companies where there was a female and male pay gap but also depended on ‘who’ you were. Which is where the discussion comes in.
Some public sector companies have been granted a pay rise, the same percentage across a certain group, team, pay grade, company but, does everyone deserve it? There are always people who pull their weight and those who don’t so is a blanket approach appropriate? Does the person who goes over and above but doesn’t want to ‘climb the ladder’ rightly earn the same as the person who scrapes by doing the bare minimum to stay in a role.
I always found it frustrating that I never had any idea of what rise was possible, what I had to do to get a pay rise and those who were recruited on qualifications rather than experience who came in on thousands more than my salary even though the actual job role was the same.
This is where grading would have been good and helpful to know what is achievable and what needs to happen. Bandings give the minimum and maximum in each grade but what about still getting that % rise? Yes, cost of living is going up but if you earn double if not more of the average UK salary but live to your means, is that the Governments issue when a cost of living rise is given – it makes sense for those on minimum wage or National living wage but is this the same for those on £80k+ a year?
Our spending is our own choice, our priorities. There are not many people you see without a mobile phone or other ‘luxury’ items to hand. Money is always a controversial subject and is so personal in some ways however, should we be talking about it more, teaching about it more?
And who does deserve a pay rise and why?
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