Am I being paid enough?
Discussion
I started over a year ago with my friend and his new company. he ran a bedroom recruitment consultancy operation for a while and just recently branched out to offices. It's just me and him at the moment. I used to get 10% commission on all the deals I made, but now that's on a sliding scale depending on how much I bring in a month. I was on a trainee salary of £600/pm for a long time, then went up to £1100/pm. Because I failed to hit my last quarterly he's put me down to a "returning trainee" salary of £800/pm. I do 10 hours a day 5 days a week. I've worked out that currently (on returning trainee sal) I'm earning a basic wage of £4/ph. On normal salary it's £5.50/ph.
Is he legally able to give me less than minimum wage? He told me he can and gave me a convoluted explanation of it but I remain confused. Can someone please advise?
Is he legally able to give me less than minimum wage? He told me he can and gave me a convoluted explanation of it but I remain confused. Can someone please advise?
Is our contract for less hours ?
Ie are you contracted 9-5 but the extra time is discretionary ? Chances of winning a sucessful employment case against a struggling one man band recruitment guy are virtually zero. After all what could you win ?
Why not find another role in a decent reputable firm, with a brand name.
Michael Page, Hays etc - I could list plenty of decent places. £800 is too low, provided of course you are any good.
(I worked agency for 15 years, so if you need any help - pm me.) Rog007 is another good man for this.
Ie are you contracted 9-5 but the extra time is discretionary ? Chances of winning a sucessful employment case against a struggling one man band recruitment guy are virtually zero. After all what could you win ?
Why not find another role in a decent reputable firm, with a brand name.
Michael Page, Hays etc - I could list plenty of decent places. £800 is too low, provided of course you are any good.
(I worked agency for 15 years, so if you need any help - pm me.) Rog007 is another good man for this.
He runs an engineering recruitment consultancy company. He ran it from his bedroom for a while. I am contracted to work 10 hours per day. I resource candidates via websites, database and advertisements, generate business with new, old and current clients, negotiate terms and work on filling those positions. I do the full job basically. I consider myself to be a good consultant but I hardly think that matters when it comes down to basic salaries and minimum wages.
I wouldn't want to pursue a court action against him, he is my friend after all. I just wanted to know if I'm getting the wool pulled over my eyes as I have suspected for a while.
I wouldn't want to pursue a court action against him, he is my friend after all. I just wanted to know if I'm getting the wool pulled over my eyes as I have suspected for a while.
Edited by mauddub on Tuesday 20th August 13:40
Your contract sounds b
ks to begin with. You cannot be contracted to work more than 48 hours on average in a week. Having a standard 50 hour contract week is illegal.
You can VOLUNTARILY opt out of the EU Working Time Directive and work more hours than this. This is often put into contracts that you do opt out. However, you can refuse to opt out and cannot be sacked if you do. You can also cancel your agreement to opt-out by giving your employer notice of this, even if it is in your contract.
Bumping your salary down by £300/month because you missed 1 quarter's targets is very excessive. If my sales team miss a quarter, they don't get their commission and they will have some tough questions t answer in the sales meeting but I would never drop their basic.
As has been said above taking him to court would be fruitless as I doubtfully he has significant assets to pay you recompense. I wouldn't worry about taking him to court because he is your friend. He isn't your friend, he is taking the piss and quite frankly, from what you have described he sounds like a twunt.
The best advice is to vote with your feet and get a job somewhere that pays you a decent wedge and treats you with a modicum of respect.
ks to begin with. You cannot be contracted to work more than 48 hours on average in a week. Having a standard 50 hour contract week is illegal.You can VOLUNTARILY opt out of the EU Working Time Directive and work more hours than this. This is often put into contracts that you do opt out. However, you can refuse to opt out and cannot be sacked if you do. You can also cancel your agreement to opt-out by giving your employer notice of this, even if it is in your contract.
Bumping your salary down by £300/month because you missed 1 quarter's targets is very excessive. If my sales team miss a quarter, they don't get their commission and they will have some tough questions t answer in the sales meeting but I would never drop their basic.
As has been said above taking him to court would be fruitless as I doubtfully he has significant assets to pay you recompense. I wouldn't worry about taking him to court because he is your friend. He isn't your friend, he is taking the piss and quite frankly, from what you have described he sounds like a twunt.
The best advice is to vote with your feet and get a job somewhere that pays you a decent wedge and treats you with a modicum of respect.
Thanks Chris!
OP; you are worth what the open market is willing to pay you; you and me both. If either of us thinks we are worth more, we usually have 3 options: do nothing; ask for an increase; leave and attract the market value we feel we are truly worth. Whilst things are never quite this simple, they are the basic choices. What we do next is based upon our attitude to risk. I think I know what you're feeling, but do not know your attitude to risk. If it's low, you'll stay put and hope for the best. If it's medium, you'll set up a meeting and discuss this man-to-man with your 'friend'. If you have a greater appetitite to risk, you'll be pushing your CV out there faster than I can provide you feedback on it! Good luck!
OP; you are worth what the open market is willing to pay you; you and me both. If either of us thinks we are worth more, we usually have 3 options: do nothing; ask for an increase; leave and attract the market value we feel we are truly worth. Whilst things are never quite this simple, they are the basic choices. What we do next is based upon our attitude to risk. I think I know what you're feeling, but do not know your attitude to risk. If it's low, you'll stay put and hope for the best. If it's medium, you'll set up a meeting and discuss this man-to-man with your 'friend'. If you have a greater appetitite to risk, you'll be pushing your CV out there faster than I can provide you feedback on it! Good luck!
Original Poster said:
How much business are you brining in, on average, per month?
We're looking for recruiters at the moment to work from home, PM me if you like!
Thanks everyone for your advice i really appreciate it. I'll have to give it some thought before making a decision. We're looking for recruiters at the moment to work from home, PM me if you like!
In regards to your post original poster, I pull between 10k and 15k as an average
mauddub said:
Original Poster said:
How much business are you brining in, on average, per month?
We're looking for recruiters at the moment to work from home, PM me if you like!
Thanks everyone for your advice i really appreciate it. I'll have to give it some thought before making a decision. We're looking for recruiters at the moment to work from home, PM me if you like!
In regards to your post original poster, I pull between 10k and 15k as an average
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