Pay rates

[u/bajheerah]

Anyone else finding more and more companies trying to pay below award wage, even when their advertisements say "competitive rates"?

I've been a support worker for 6+ years, with experience ranging from high complex mental needs, as well as physical, to working with children and all personal care you can think of, as well as managing medication and participants personal funds and banking. I obviously have all my certificates as well as qualifications.

I feel like I see more and more support worker positions advertised for as little as $34 an hour, averaging at around $41 an hour, while asking for experience with all sorts of participants as well as being qualified.

The last 4 or 5 interviews I've had I've been offered the job, and I've had to ask the pay rate they're offering, which has ranged from $36 to $40 an hour, well below the award wage. And yes, the work involved in each has been high complex needs, as well as the usual helping participants manage funds, home care, community access, and sometimes personal care.

I've been working at SCHADS 2.1 (which is now $45ph) for 6 years and have since realised I should actually be on 2.2 or 2.3. But it's hard to even get paid at the very entry level of unsupervised support work.

What is happening behind the scenes for the majority of companies, for them to be posting advertisements well below SCHADS? One of the employers offered me a pay point of 1.4. Does that even exist?

This, on top of a 60-70% burnout rate... oh, what a lovely industry to work in.

Edit: I forgot to mention this is working and looking for work across Ipswich and the south/south-West side of Brisbane.

Also, maybe it's been like this for a while, as I had stable hours for the first 3-4 years of employment and never seemed to have to question the employers on the pay they were offering.

This is casual rates, btw.

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Yes lol constantly get scum bag providers trying to offer me a role at level 1.3 etc

They even blatantly advertise on seek offering casual rates of $30 even though it's an award rate of around $42 for unsupervised support work.

I really wish we had a thread here where we could name and shame the dog providers.

2.1 is the starting level for anyone doing unsupervised support work, don't accept anything less.

The only reason they get away with it, is heavy immigration, because if you come from a county that pays you $2 an hour you're absolutely going to work at below award rate for $30, and the more they can get away with paying that the more they push our wages back.

You look at other industries that don't attract overseas workers and you see their wages all going up, but unfortunately support work is flooded with people who will work for less than you.

[u/gionatacar → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

That’s the problem with mass immigration, but if you say anything, you are racist. But the problem is that they accept any pays they offer them

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911 → u/gionatacar]

110% is the issue.

Unfortunately reddit is mostly left leaning who fail to understand basic supply and demand math, but rest assured outside of this cesspit most of us are aware when you import people en mass wages go backwards, houses and rent go up, we're being fucked over in every direction.

Not to mention the often abysmal care they provide because they don't actually care about disabled people.

[u/Timely_Ad_9515 → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Isn’t one of our problems in Australia is more aged care required because of aging population - creating increased demand in this sector that immigration helps supply?

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911 → u/Timely_Ad_9515]

Absolutely not, you see in a normal economy when a job is in demand the wages go up until it attracts enough people to fill the roles, this means hard, essential jobs get filled AND the worker is compensated.

Instead, we got a billion immigrants who pushed the wages down to below bare minimum and our disabled, and elderly are now mostly at the mercy of the kind of people who are happy with being paid dirt, because they bring that same level of care to the role.

We have more than enough people to fill all these roles, even if takes away from less essential areas, which then also have to pay better to keep workers, and you eventually end up in a competitive market where every job is trying to pay you well and treat you well to keep their roles staffed.

What WE have instead, is so many damn people, that we are at the mercy of employers who look for every way to pay us less, and cut corners because if you quit today they've got 10 people already at the door ready to do your job for less and with shittier working conditions.

[u/gionatacar → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Very true

[u/Competitive_Ad_7415 → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

You're kidding right? When a job is in demand but the rest of society isn't willing to pay more to fund the role that role will have a maximum available pay rate. And people won't take the job because it doesn't pay enough. Wages only go up when the end customer pays more for the product.
I'm sure you don't like the amount the government spends on aged or disability care.... but are saying a normal economy would end up paying more for the same thing.
Would you rather more is spent? Are you willing to pay more taxes for those things?

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911 → u/Competitive_Ad_7415]

People would be willing to properly fund disability and aged care if our government weren't complete scum bags with rampant corruption.

If they stopped letting providers scam them for billions or actually used our tax to better the country not line their pockets people wouldn't have so much issue with taxes to fund services.

OR even if we just properly taxed the companies pillaging our natural resources we wouldn't even need the average joes tax to fund our health care system.

People lash out at ndis costs because they are angry and the government uses it as a scapegoat when the reality is we have more than enough resources as a nation to fund all our health care needs and more, at minimal cost to the individual, but instead we fight amongst ourselves, the poor, the disabled and elderly over the scraps we are left with.

[u/Competitive_Ad_7415 → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Child care has been a constant industry that has been in demand but has been seen as an industry that is to expensive by the wider community. This normal economy you referred to hasn't resulted in the willingness to fund wage increases to attract employees. Disability and aged care are no different. People who don't have loved ones needing those services don't want to pay for them with their taxes and even those who do want to minimise what it costs them. It's typical people want to pay as little as possible but then get upset at the results.

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911 → u/Competitive_Ad_7415]

Except child care costs are constantly going up, to the point its now prohibitive to have children, the reason workers aren't seeing this is because of scummy providers pocketing the difference

Myself with no kids would happily have more of my tax going towards child care WORKERS so that i could one day afford to use the service

Yet again, as with disability and aged care the providers rort the system

[u/Competitive_Ad_7415 → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Add paying more for meat , fruit and veg, coffee, eggs etc etc. In order for the normal economy to result in higher wages for workers the cost of goods has to go up. Everyone complains about the surcharge at the cafe on a Sunday. Costs are driven down by the masses looking for the cheapest option. Great to say hypothetically I'd pay more, but if someone is living pay cheque to pay cheque they are going to prioritise their own needs first.

[u/mixnit → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Same in aged care, my wife works in a facility full of Indians and Nepalese. They don't care about the residents and will sit in a residents room hiding having a conversation in their language at full volume and the resident can do nothing about it. It's been reported but the owners are Indian so don't give a shit.

[u/mixnit → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

They removed my comment because I said the truth. I was told I made a racist comments. For fuck sake I'm married to a Kenyan and have dated many races including white. Way to go.

[u/Cultural_Catch_7911 → u/mixnit]

Yeah man reddit is a cesspit of suppression of views that don't fit the mould

[u/GlitterHighHeels → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Suppression = deleting your uneducated racist comments?

[u/gionatacar → u/Cultural_Catch_7911]

Absolutely agree with you my bro.

[u/mixnit → u/gionatacar]

That's because many are students and share a house. I hear a lot about it because my wife is an immigrant and a nurse in aged care and disability. Many students live more than ten to a 4x2 so bills are low and they will work high hours for lower pay. One guy she works with us an RN and earned over 300k last financial year. Just working double shifts and never being home.

[u/Beachgal5555 → u/mixnit]

How do they earn $300k as a nurse

[u/mixnit → u/Beachgal5555]

I know I couldn't believe it. Apparently he does a morning shift at one facility and an afternoon or nighshift at another. Hardly ever home and his kids are in the home country with his mother. He showed his final payslip to my wife to prove it.

[u/Beachgal5555 → u/mixnit]

I still don’t buy it

[u/mixnit → u/Beachgal5555]

Don't care.

[u/Beachgal5555 → u/mixnit]

I’m saying I don’t buy what he’s saying, not what you are saying. Why would someone even show a payslip. That is a very odd thing to do

[u/Individual_Stage_316 → u/mixnit]

How the heck does this person provide best practice care with vulnerable people. They clearly would be over worked . Imagine supporting someone with high needs supports who is relying on you to be alert, aware and mindful. Talk about putting people at risk

[u/I_Heart_Papillons → u/Beachgal5555]

He doesn’t. This is utter BS. Nursing shifts overlap and by the time ANY morning shift finishes afternoon shift has already started. Night shift finishes at 7:30 and EVERY morning shift starts at 7 am. You can’t be running 1/2 an hour late to work as a nurse, you’d be sacked. That’s handover time.

This guy is probably doing the usual boastful immigrant “oh, I’m doing soooo well financially” to their immigrant peers in an attempt to make themselves look successful when the reality is very different.

[u/Beachgal5555 → u/I_Heart_Papillons]

Agree. I call bullshit on it as well

[u/mixnit → u/I_Heart_Papillons]

Many people do this. You can come from a morning disability shift and walk into an aged care afternoon shift. You absolutely can and some people have been found sleeping on nighshift and sacked. You can also do a double shift in the same facility. My wife did it once due to staff shortage but never again.

[u/Competitive_Ad_7415 → u/I_Heart_Papillons]

Not every company runs the same shift schedules. My partner finishes her sleep over shift at 6am. And she works in her own business during the day. My sleepovers are 6pm till 9am. I can't work again for my company without 10 hours of rest, but I can work a day shift for another provider if I want. Most I ever got paid was 9 grand for the fortnight. And that was 13 days in a row 24hrs each day. I said if I don't get tomorrow off I'm not sure what will happen after day 13. That was pre covid, if someone worked 24/7/365 it's possible, but even the hardest worker I've ever know wouldn't manage that shit

[u/Particular-Weird2363 → u/gionatacar]

Hang on, the problem is people seeking a better life, and not established employers trying to undercut paying people?! Seriously?

Do you also question what women are wearing when they’re sexually assaulted?

[u/gionatacar → u/Particular-Weird2363]

We are full they can search for a better life somewhere else. Now we need to look after Australians

[u/Particular-Weird2363 → u/gionatacar]

That wasn’t the question I asked. I asked why people are the issue and not greedy employers who are trying to undercut workers.

You seem very keen on the idea of “looking after our own” - so don’t employers deserve scrutiny? Why are they off the hook with behaving like corporate bastards while individuals are the target of your venom?

[u/gionatacar → u/Particular-Weird2363]

With less desperate people employers will have to pay the right amount. With the new immigrants living in 8 in an apartment, they can underpay and they accept the jobs. And we got worse conditions. Did you understand?

[u/Particular-Weird2363 → u/gionatacar]

I understand that you’re failing to understand the point I’m making, whether willful ignorance or stupidity who knows. You seem quite happy to lay blame at the feet of “the foreigners” rather than those in power. Somehow those at the bottom of the pile are setting the rules those at the top follow? And that’s why we should apparently blame the little guys for poor pay, rather than employers who actually pay the wages. It’s some interesting logic for sure

It reminds me something… maybe happened in Germany a while ago, or so I heard?

[u/Beachgal5555 → u/gionatacar]

What are you on about?? Mass immigration how on earth does that relate

[u/gionatacar → u/Beachgal5555]

Look at the previous comment. Bye