16th April 2011, 01:48 PM
Hi Doug, interesting stuff, bit confused which thread to post on, but I'll put this here as it seems more relevant to several previous posts.
The difficulty of comparing like with like in terms of pay and conditions has been known for a long time, and there have been various attempts to look at the issue and quantify it including Outwage. Responses to the variations in pay and conditions have included the IfA publishing figures stating what benefits such as paid holiday, sick cover or pension are 'worth' at each minima level and by how much the minima should be upped if these benefits are not given by an employer: http://www.archaeologists.net/practices/salary
Another attempt that is ongoing is the survey by the Diggers' Forum aimed at establishing what the current practices are in commercial archaeology: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/diggersforumtravelsurvey This survey of workers and employers is primarily about away work and travel, but also gathers data on the wider package of pay and benefits and what they mean to us out on site. Using the data we are gathering we hope to not only understand what is happening out there, but also be able to establish what the real total renumeration is for a job so we can finally compare one job to another.
I would hope that employers advertising for staff would realise that the 'extras' are often the clincher as to whether that employment is viable or not, and start expressly stating the terms of their travel/away subs etc etc. Then we will have a slightly more level playing field where everyone can tell whether Job A pays better than Job B. At the moment you can be working next to a colleague on a joint venture where the basic pay is essentially the same, but one earns several thousand pounds a year more in 'extras' as well as incurring lower costs via accomodation etc than the other.
There is still time to complete the DF away-work survey, we've some very useful results so far but could always do with more responses. The survey is open to all who work on site in British commercial archaeology.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/diggersforumtravelsurvey
Chiz
The difficulty of comparing like with like in terms of pay and conditions has been known for a long time, and there have been various attempts to look at the issue and quantify it including Outwage. Responses to the variations in pay and conditions have included the IfA publishing figures stating what benefits such as paid holiday, sick cover or pension are 'worth' at each minima level and by how much the minima should be upped if these benefits are not given by an employer: http://www.archaeologists.net/practices/salary
Another attempt that is ongoing is the survey by the Diggers' Forum aimed at establishing what the current practices are in commercial archaeology: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/diggersforumtravelsurvey This survey of workers and employers is primarily about away work and travel, but also gathers data on the wider package of pay and benefits and what they mean to us out on site. Using the data we are gathering we hope to not only understand what is happening out there, but also be able to establish what the real total renumeration is for a job so we can finally compare one job to another.
I would hope that employers advertising for staff would realise that the 'extras' are often the clincher as to whether that employment is viable or not, and start expressly stating the terms of their travel/away subs etc etc. Then we will have a slightly more level playing field where everyone can tell whether Job A pays better than Job B. At the moment you can be working next to a colleague on a joint venture where the basic pay is essentially the same, but one earns several thousand pounds a year more in 'extras' as well as incurring lower costs via accomodation etc than the other.
There is still time to complete the DF away-work survey, we've some very useful results so far but could always do with more responses. The survey is open to all who work on site in British commercial archaeology.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/diggersforumtravelsurvey
Chiz