Feeling frustrated

[Guest]

Hi all..want a rant to those that I feel will understand. I am manager of a packaway setting. There are only 2 of us to run it (committee) and on our busiest day we have 15. Got a high proportion of SEND so lots of meetings ehafs to attend.I attend network meetings,training when I can and I also do finances and admissions. Its hard work as you know! So committee are now saying that they will pay me to set up, be at preschool.we are also only paid until the time preschool closes so if we havent managed to packaway or a parent is late!??They want to standardise my overtime payments for doing all the other bits. Not quite sure what sort of hours they are thinking of but you can guarantee that it won't be for the time I actually do. When I only get 50p more per hour than deputy I do feel like they are taking advantage. I don't actually claim for all I do now. I think they want me to do things whilst in session or during my OBS time.

I know they want to reduce the overtime bill and this is their answer. I haven't got a contract. I can appreciate that money coming in from PS is tight but even so. I am waiting to see the chair and wondered if any of you had any thoughts? I blame the government. Arrrrrrggghhh!! I know many of us are in the same position..how would it be if we said..sorry don't get paid to go to that important meeting. Do feel frustrated when a carer, not ta, at school has an hourly rate of more when I have so much responsibility.. Ill be alright later now that I have ranted!

[Panders]

Ooh Marley, I feel your pain. Before going further, why not work out, as well as you can, how many hours you actually spend on pre-school business. Set it out on paper, negotiate with yourself first how many of those hours you are prepared to do for nothing, if any. Then go to your committee and explain the situation and how you feel it is best put right. There is another thread running about wages at the moment which could be helpful to you and your committee.

 

Good luck with all of this, it is not a good feeling being taken for granted - you need to feel appreciated!

[sunnyday]

I'm owner/manager of my pre-school - so have no experience of committees - however my message to you would be - don't stand for it - staff are the biggest, most valuable asset to a setting (in my humble) - I would find another way to cut costs before ever asking more of my staff

[sunnyday]

Oh crossed posts with panders.....

Oh and why haven't you got a contract - not sure that's legal :blink:

[Mouseketeer]

That's not good at all Marley, why should you do all that work for nothing, I'd certainly be telling them that if they didn't pay packing up time they best sort out a committee rota to do it, that usually puts things into perspective for them ! We all do a certain amount of unpaid work, but what they are expecting from you is taking the p*** ! ......and only 50p an hour more than deputy, that's just crazy, I wouldn't do it for that, I hope you can make them see sense

[finleysmaid]

Ok Marley ...firstly is the pre-school making any money? where do the profits go and why do they want to cut costs? Has the business got reserves etc . Although i completely understand where you are coming from there is no point kicking up a fuss if they simply can't afford it. You have to create a balanced argument and understand the workings of the finances (which im sure you do) in order to fight your corner.

[Fredbear]

First of all Marley a big hug coming your way. I so empathise with you.

In reality nearly all of us do way and beyond any pay we receive which is a pittance in my humble opinion.

However expecting you to tidy after your finishing time is not acceptable.

I think as others have posted, writing down all that you do unpaid already might help them understand that you are giving more than you should, and they need to seriously consider how they are going to resolve this.

As for not having a contract, this is not acceptable either and needs to be dealt with swiftly too.

Fx

[Guest]

We all work ours way beyond what we are paid for particularly manages. I have been home for an hour now and we be setting off soon to L&M meeting......another 3 hours unpaid....maybe its time we all stood up for the unpaid time we do .....

[zigzag]

No you should not have to do this, in no other job would it be expected to do this amount of unpaid work. I know loads of us put in many unpaid hours to go that extra mile for our children and our settings but it is one thing to want to do it and annother for it to be an expectation. Take a stand now!!

[SueJ]

I used to work for a packaway committee group (until I ran away to set up my own) and there was very much an ethos of doing an awful lot for nothing - times however have moved on and irrespective of the make up of your setting you are an employee and as such are protected by employment law.

You should have a contract or terms and conditions under which you are employed for starters

Your committee are your employers and whether or not they understand their responsibilities they have a legal duty to ensure that you are paid at least the minimum wage for the number of hours that you work and holiday pay (pro rata if you work term time only).

All work, including set ups, pack aways, meetings and training that you are required to do as part of your job role must be paid.

Work you "choose" to do including meetings and training that are not essential to the operation of the business do not have to be paid.

In committee groups the only way to "cut costs" is for members of the committee to step up to the plate and undertake some of the work load on a voluntary unpaid basis - obviously this is the point where most committee members run for the hills :blink:

It may well be that your committee have no real grasp of what is actually involved in being the manager of an early years setting so a suggestion would be for you to log every hour that you work for a week and then for another week ask that a committee member shadows you logging your hours. You can then as informed partners sit and discuss your actual working hours, your terms and conditions etc. You might also want to list the responsibilities that you undertake as manager that your deputy doesn't do on a regular basis and discuss the disparity between roles and responsibilities and remuneration.

The fact that early years is chronically underfunded is woeful but you should not be bearing the brunt of this via your wage packet. This is a can of worms that your committee have chosen to open - time to "let them have it" - to quote L-Oreal - you're worth it

[Beau]

I had a very variable experience of committees when I was a Playleader. Some were very generous in terms of what they paid and others wanted to cut it back to the bone. One committee expected me to do most of my work unpaid and only the hours I spent with the children paid. 2 of those committee members were teachers and it made me cross that they would expect this knowing that I was paid minimum wage. It's one of the reasons I stoppped working.

[Guest]

Thank you for the feedback and some good ideas there which I am going to look at before my meeting with the committee.

[Inge]

I once did an experiment by logging all the hours I worked.. paid and unpaid... sorted out hose essential to the running abainst those I chose to do... this gave me a weekly hours worked... and then I worked out from those hours what my 'actual' hourly rate really was... it was under the minimum wage, making it illegal... having taken this to committee and showing the figures they eventually paid me for the hours... I was willing to look into it further at this point to see if there was some way of forcing them if necessary to recognise they were employing someone to do the work, not a dogsbody to do it free... it didn't get that far..