Are you being paid enough? was the header on the email sent out for the latest Optician salary survey.
Contentious headlines always grab people’s attention and, as with any survey, the more people who take part the more meaningful the results will be, hence the headline. The reaction Optician received following delivery of this email makes me think it is overdue. I urge you to participate.
Within minutes of the email going out comments rolled in. One suggested that allowing people to compare their salaries would cause problems for employers, another that allowing staff and locums to compare salaries was harmful to both and an employer’s (tongue-in-cheek) comment said the survey would be giving his staff ideas for a pay rise.
Alongside the light-hearted banter there are serious reasons why professional staff should be able to benchmark their salaries. Daily rates for staff and locums can’t be directly compared but understanding what locums earn each year will help staff put their salary into perspective. Locums vary from ‘regulars’ (another tax issue in itself) and the number crunchers, refracting machines that sell themselves on volume and dispensing turnover potential. Perhaps some of the above will provide clues to why the number of locums is increasing and help practices hang on to their employed staff. Is it high salaries or flexibility that employees want?
Geography is always a hot topic for employment. Why is it that some of the most beautiful parts of the country with the lowest house prices and the highest salaries have the biggest employment problems?
All useful data for employees and employers alike and data only you can provide. So please take part by clicking here.
