Estate Agent... Minimum Wage?
Discussion
Hello!
I have just got a job as an Estate Agent and the basic salary is less than minimum wage.
Do jobs with commission have to pay minimum wage or are they exempt?
It's just a bit annoying as to make it up to minimum wage I will have to sell 1 property a month (no problem!) but for the hours and pressure of the job it seems a little low.
Cheers
I have just got a job as an Estate Agent and the basic salary is less than minimum wage.
Do jobs with commission have to pay minimum wage or are they exempt?
It's just a bit annoying as to make it up to minimum wage I will have to sell 1 property a month (no problem!) but for the hours and pressure of the job it seems a little low.
Cheers
BigGingerBob said:
Hello!
I have just got a job as an Estate Agent and the basic salary is less than minimum wage.
Do jobs with commission have to pay minimum wage or are they exempt?
It's just a bit annoying as to make it up to minimum wage I will have to sell 1 property a month (no problem!) but for the hours and pressure of the job it seems a little low.
Cheers
You will have signed some waiver in there somewhere probably, many car sales, estate agency roles pay very small basic salaries, I think mine was £10k when I used to do it back in the day.I have just got a job as an Estate Agent and the basic salary is less than minimum wage.
Do jobs with commission have to pay minimum wage or are they exempt?
It's just a bit annoying as to make it up to minimum wage I will have to sell 1 property a month (no problem!) but for the hours and pressure of the job it seems a little low.
Cheers
Well, the idea is to sell multiple houses per month and then you might do alright out of it?
You should reasonably expect to earn more than the minimum wage in this job. If you dont, they'll pay the top up. There's a pretty good chance that even if you sit on your hands all month stuff will roll in with your name on it and the comms on that will put you above the minimum wage.
My sis is a Branch Manager, and she's taken on people regularly. The decent ones will earn £30k'ish, the crap ones will earn just over the minimum wage and last probably one quarter, maybe two depending on their personality. At her place they do a guaranteed wage/commission for the first month
My sis is a Branch Manager, and she's taken on people regularly. The decent ones will earn £30k'ish, the crap ones will earn just over the minimum wage and last probably one quarter, maybe two depending on their personality. At her place they do a guaranteed wage/commission for the first month
I find the OP a little frustrating.
You have voluntarily accepted a sales job. If you sell a bit, you will get paid a bit. If you sell a lot, you will get paid a lot. If you don't sell anything you will get the sack.
Surely you knew this before you took the job.
You have said above that if you sell just one property a month you will get above NMW. Seems fair to me.
The amount of hours you put in is irrelevant. The more you put in the more you get out. NMW is there to stop exploitation. They are not exploiting you if your sole job is to sell property and you aren't selling it. They aren't forcing you to work extra hours over and above what is demanded of all their employees.
It's pretty simple for me: Work a little, get paid a little. Work a lot, hopefully get paid a lot.
You have voluntarily accepted a sales job. If you sell a bit, you will get paid a bit. If you sell a lot, you will get paid a lot. If you don't sell anything you will get the sack.
Surely you knew this before you took the job.
You have said above that if you sell just one property a month you will get above NMW. Seems fair to me.
The amount of hours you put in is irrelevant. The more you put in the more you get out. NMW is there to stop exploitation. They are not exploiting you if your sole job is to sell property and you aren't selling it. They aren't forcing you to work extra hours over and above what is demanded of all their employees.
It's pretty simple for me: Work a little, get paid a little. Work a lot, hopefully get paid a lot.
freenote said:
I find the OP a little frustrating.
You have voluntarily accepted a sales job. If you sell a bit, you will get paid a bit. If you sell a lot, you will get paid a lot. If you don't sell anything you will get the sack.
Surely you knew this before you took the job.
You have said above that if you sell just one property a month you will get above NMW. Seems fair to me.
The amount of hours you put in is irrelevant. The more you put in the more you get out. NMW is there to stop exploitation. They are not exploiting you if your sole job is to sell property and you aren't selling it. They aren't forcing you to work extra hours over and above what is demanded of all their employees.
It's pretty simple for me: Work a little, get paid a little. Work a lot, hopefully get paid a lot.
None of that changes the fact that it's ILLEGAL to pay less than the minimum wage. You have voluntarily accepted a sales job. If you sell a bit, you will get paid a bit. If you sell a lot, you will get paid a lot. If you don't sell anything you will get the sack.
Surely you knew this before you took the job.
You have said above that if you sell just one property a month you will get above NMW. Seems fair to me.
The amount of hours you put in is irrelevant. The more you put in the more you get out. NMW is there to stop exploitation. They are not exploiting you if your sole job is to sell property and you aren't selling it. They aren't forcing you to work extra hours over and above what is demanded of all their employees.
It's pretty simple for me: Work a little, get paid a little. Work a lot, hopefully get paid a lot.
zarjaz1991 said:
None of that changes the fact that it's ILLEGAL to pay less than the minimum wage.
He says above that if he just does his job properly even a bit then he will get more than NMW. So either he does his job and makes that, or he doesn't and probably loses his job. They will pay him NMW for the months that he hasn't done his job but really legalities here are irrelevant as there won't be a job for him if he doesn't earn over NMW by himself.freenote said:
He says above that if he just does his job properly even a bit then he will get more than NMW. So either he does his job and makes that, or he doesn't and probably loses his job. They will pay him NMW for the months that he hasn't done his job but really legalities here are irrelevant as there won't be a job for him if he doesn't earn over NMW by himself.
Still doesn't change the legal position.I'm guessing that freenote is not or hasn't been in a sales position. You make it sound like a salesman just turns up, does his thing, and watches the money roll in.
In the real world, a lot of work can be done absolutely perfectly and still not result in a sale, especially in a field like estate agency where chains break down, gazzumping/gazzundering goes on, sellers change their mind, buyers-are-liars, they got on the be-back-later bus, solicitors fail to complete on time, survey comes in too low, etc.
In the real world, a lot of work can be done absolutely perfectly and still not result in a sale, especially in a field like estate agency where chains break down, gazzumping/gazzundering goes on, sellers change their mind, buyers-are-liars, they got on the be-back-later bus, solicitors fail to complete on time, survey comes in too low, etc.
GoneAnon said:
I'm guessing that freenote is not or hasn't been in a sales position. You make it sound like a salesman just turns up, does his thing, and watches the money roll in.
In the real world, a lot of work can be done absolutely perfectly and still not result in a sale, especially in a field like estate agency where chains break down, gazzumping/gazzundering goes on, sellers change their mind, buyers-are-liars, they got on the be-back-later bus, solicitors fail to complete on time, survey comes in too low, etc.
Is, of course, the correct answer.In the real world, a lot of work can be done absolutely perfectly and still not result in a sale, especially in a field like estate agency where chains break down, gazzumping/gazzundering goes on, sellers change their mind, buyers-are-liars, they got on the be-back-later bus, solicitors fail to complete on time, survey comes in too low, etc.
Estate agency is not a job where hard/good work automatically results in sales.
Garbage.
All sales jobs I've done (inc estate agency) - generally putting more in generally gets more out. You can not and will not convince me that the bloke doing a couple of viewings a week will sell more than the guy out there doing 5 a day and working every weekend. Of course there are deals that fall through, but on average he who does the most viewings, is going to get the most offers, and likely the most tied up offers and likely the most offers that go through to exchange/completion etc.
I forget which golfer said it, but it rings kinda true "the more I practice, the luckier I get"
All sales jobs I've done (inc estate agency) - generally putting more in generally gets more out. You can not and will not convince me that the bloke doing a couple of viewings a week will sell more than the guy out there doing 5 a day and working every weekend. Of course there are deals that fall through, but on average he who does the most viewings, is going to get the most offers, and likely the most tied up offers and likely the most offers that go through to exchange/completion etc.
I forget which golfer said it, but it rings kinda true "the more I practice, the luckier I get"
Edited by okgo on Wednesday 2nd December 09:42
okgo said:
*snip*
I forget which golfer said it, but it rings kinda true "the more I practice, the luckier I get"
Your quote took me on quite the fun knowledge adventure:I forget which golfer said it, but it rings kinda true "the more I practice, the luckier I get"
Edited by okgo on Wednesday 2nd December 09:42
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/21/luck-hard-...
swerni said:
However, don't forget the definition of "insanity:
"the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness."
you'd have to be to work in estate agency unless you were on profit share 
Yes I know what you really meant but all of what I said is what manager will drill into you, you don't get a choice really at the beginning whether you work smart or hard.
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