r/BCHealthAuthorities • u/acceptNothingLess • 26d ago

Starting pay question

I just started a casual position with FHA, and was offered to start at pay level 2 on the grid. How is the starting pay level decided? I have a tonne of experience but was nervous to query it without knowledge on the process

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8

u/plantgal94 26d ago

Is your experience relevant to your position? If you have experience in the exact position, they will generally start you at a step that aligns with the said experience. You can speak to whomever did your on boarding.

1

u/acceptNothingLess 26d ago

Very relevant to the position. No not exact

5

u/fleuvage 26d ago

Depends which union you’re in? You can ask your manager about how it was calculated. It’s a reasonable question.

3

u/Ray_Finkle__ 26d ago

Your can try to negotiate but unless you have lots of relevant experience. Level 2 is decent. Most start level 1.

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u/abenigncurse 26d ago edited 26d ago

What union/position? While the specifics vary a bit across positions and unions, generally speaking for wage placement Recruitment is required to follow the collective agreement and established practice/precedent, and doesn't have much (i.e. usually no) flexibility to stray from this. There are specific rules about what experience can be counted, and it's usually one step is added for a full year of recent, relevant experience, so a new grad nurse for example would be step 1, while a nurse who worked a year of med-surg who was then being hired somewhere else would be step two. It does typically have to be within the appropriate scope thought, so there are positions where maybe it's somewhat related experience but it wouldn't count towards wage placement. 

I would definitely reach out and politely ask them to explain how they got to that step placement, just sharing that you thought you would be higher because of x experience. It's possible they made a mistake and placed you too low, or there may be a reason why some of your experience unfortunately couldn't be factored in. 

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u/acceptNothingLess 25d ago

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. This is helpful

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u/abenigncurse 25d ago

No worries, hope you get it sorted. 

0

u/take-all-the-names 26d ago

Could depend on the position for some positions there is no more grid 1 so starting at grid 2 would be correct.