What do you think is the most highly skilled/challenging minimum wage job in the UK?

Posted by OneManagement6802@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 351 comments

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. Are there any very low paid jobs that you think deserve more money? Do you have a job where you think the skill/difficulty level outweighs the wage? I think a ot of minimum wage jobs are very simple but there are others that are actually far more mentally and physically demanding

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poofypie384@reddit

fact is, in the uk EVERYONE thinks they deserve more than they are paid lol.. so much wrong with the mentality here.. dont get me wrong, many do, but cetainly not most. A good example is the nhs, in that case though, they use the inefficiencies as leverage/threats and enjoy there enhanced employment freedoms to stay in work for life, providing shit service (why not, they cant get fired because nhs is staff-starved) and cost everyone else more money , while always playing victims. there are issues but the staff that brits worshipped and clapped for during covid have harmed patients in sinister ways, you just dont hear about it on your TV

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Fucktheredditappp@reddit

You do realise a large part of the reason we have unfireable shit staff ( along with turning decent staff to shit) is because of the low wages right? The competent ones leave for other fields or the private sector when they get sick of being treated like shit and put in dangerous situations for chump change .

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poofypie384@reddit

problem is, if what you said was true, they would all do it.. yet they stay.. and dont get me started on GP's .. the mafia no one has heard about. they are gatekeepers for treatment and literally block people with chronic conditions from access to services so their practice can rake in cash (which they are partners) .. wake up

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Fucktheredditappp@reddit

They can’t all do it because even when the shit ones manage to get into the well paid positions many people want , theyre far more likely to get the boot when they don’t perform because upstairs knows they can fill the job . Crappy jobs of any stripe take what they can get because no bugger wants to keep them unless they can’t get better , fairly paid jobs don’t. Tbh I was talking more about hospital and surgery staff rather than gps who have a bit more control , that said Gp partnerships or individual ownership counts for less than Half of gp practises . So no most arnt raking it in . Their treatment of basically anything that can’t be treated with a pack of paracetamol is generally utter shite especially the chronically Ill and there’s a few reasons for that but you’ll notice I said wages were a large part of the problem not the only one . All That said you don’t seem to know the difference between a comma , a full stop and an ellipsis so perhaps asking you to think logically or consider a multifaceted approach to the issue is a bit unfair .

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poofypie384@reddit

fallacies, strawmans , assumptions and other nonsense. you continue being a typical redditor im sure that will work out great for you

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Aggressive-Hold9470@reddit

I used to work in a hub dispensing medications using robotics, with computers attached, hundreds a day because they were monthly packs for individuals, sealed and then sent to local pharmacies to basically ease up the work load for them. Even though we had a pharmacy tech to check, the motto was you had to have it perfect, in case they miss it as there’s only 1 person to check. We also halved medication, stocked it, a lot of them look similar. Even someone there was so allergic to certain ones he couldn’t even be near if we opened it. It does make you think we’re doing all this for minimum wage when the responsibility of someone’s life is on our hands as the wrong medication could be lethal in circumstances. I loved the job though but I had to leave because I was so unwell with pregnancy and it’s hard to focus when you have a raging headache, on your feet and feel nauseous all day.

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KingkLou@reddit

Teaching assistants and support workers of any kind really.

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Fitzular@reddit

Care work I'd say, I certainly wouldn't hack it.

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blozzerg@reddit

It’s wild that carers are on min wage, there’s so much responsibility involved. Not only helping people move around and day to day tasks but you can have their whole lives at your mercy, things like making sure they have medication, they don’t harm themselves, dealing with complex mental health issues, learning disabilities and conditions like dementia which can have a wild and unique set of symptoms to be managed. The physical parts such as carrying and lifting fragile or vulnerable people, protecting them from various harms, keeping them company, keeping them dignified when helping them with personal hygiene, all for minimum wage?

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SavingsSquare2649@reddit

An industry dominated by women, no surprise it’s been undervalued (criminally so) for so long. Can’t respect them enough for doing it!

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carlovski99@reddit

Dominated by women, and probably more importantly never unionised.

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Chigtube@reddit

Making it a Female or Male issue is something you need to leave in 2024. Fact of the matter is they pay minimum because they can. Same as Nurses their *kindness* is taken advantage of at every opportunity. They don't even give a shit if you get burned out and leave because there is a queue of people from other countries waiting to take it off your hands because even at minimum wage it's still more than they would be getting back home. Africans, Indians, Philippinos to name a few.

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Sidian@reddit

Famously, all back-breakingly difficult work that primarily put the lives of men at work like going down mines or fighting in wars has provided a salary allowing for a life of luxury.

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pajamakitten@reddit

But also one in a race to the bottom to provide the worst service for the least amount of money possible. Old people are seen as a cash cow, which is why companies are bleeding them dry while paying carers peanuts.

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getstabbed@reddit

My grandfather's care home was nearly £5k a month, I always wondered where the hell that money was going because there really weren't that many staff compared to how many residents.

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Present-Technology36@reddit

There are not many NHS government owned care homes so the government will contract outside companies such as Bupa who will charge a hell of a lot of money to look after the elderly but the government have no choice but to use these services because they have not invested and still havent invested in building their own care homes over the years. My mother used to work at Bupa and told me some of the residents are costing about 10 grand a month and all they ever do is stay in bed all day.

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ToLose76lbs@reddit

I work in local authority social work and regularly see costing breakdowns. The profit margin is usually set to 7/8%. This will often be more for private paying residents, but it really isn’t very high. Combine that with empty beds and prepping and assessing for new residents/advertising, it’s paper thin. Staffing costs are high and agency staffing costs are even higher, but think of all the additional things required such as training, food, staff you’d never see (chef, ground staff, it staff, head office staff etc), insurance, keeping the business up to date, equipment, rent/mortgage, office supplies… it racks up. £5k a month is about average for what it costs where we are, yet it’s meant to cost £650pw. Pre covid, residential care was realistically around £600pw. Now it’s pretty much doubled. Also, demand is so high and they’re not charities. Market forces have pushed rates up. We’re all living longer, but we aren’t living better after a certain age.

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Vehlin@reddit

If I make it to that age I want taking out back and shooting

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NoSweat_PrinceAndrew@reddit

Get one of those Austrian(or Swiss?) suicide pods!

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OkOrganization8125@reddit

Not me - I don't wanna know it's coming. Just have someone with a gun and a steak.

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Mabenue@reddit

It’s because property is so expensive. The building itself is a big cost, you have to consider it pretty much as a hotel with care on top.

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JohnnyRyallsDentist@reddit

Our local shitty care home often has brand new Ferrari parked outside when the boss comes to visit.

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Diasl@reddit

Straight into the directors bank accounts. Used to work next to a care provider and the management all had multiple cars (Ferrari, Aston Martins to name a couple).

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broken888@reddit

I used to work at a private equity firm which bought loads of care homes. This was in 2017-18 but I recall the state would pay around £575-£650 a week for care homes (maybe a tad higher in London but not much more). £5k a month sounds like a lot of money but in the care sector that’s entry level private care. If you own a house it’s so much cheaper to pay for full time carers at home and from what I’ve seen of them places, a far better life (though some people do prefer to be around other people of their own age)!

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omgu8mynewt@reddit

I wonder that too, because those business aren't huge profit makers and do go bust fairly often. Needing qualified medical staff on site 24/7 maybe?

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Present-Technology36@reddit

Care workers actually get a lot of downtime, especially if they work during the night, thats why its so underpaid.

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tdr_visual@reddit

You ever paid care home fees? Greediest cunts going. I'll never forget after covid, despite it costing about 1200 a week, getting a letter from my nan's care home company justifying a price hike by saying "we think you'll agree our staff deserve a pay rise after covid". Here's an idea, mate - how about you give them the pay rise instead of having your residents foot the bill. Dirtiest, scummiest game, going.

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the_spiky_one@reddit

and some of the you have to are unpleasant personal care its like having adult size baby

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Dolgar01@reddit

A few years back there was major flooding and all the schools closed and we couldn’t get to any family or friends so one of us had to stay at home. Despite my role being more senior and better paid, I told my boss that I was staying because ‘if I don’t go to work, the worse case is the branch dies it open. If my wife doesn’t go to work, people don’t get their meds and die.’

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Competitive_Art_4480@reddit

Welcome to Britain. We have many people working for minimum wage or there abouts that would be decently paid and not at the bottom of the ladder in other countries.

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svenselecta@reddit

Spent today in the home with my grandma. Last day with her. I don’t know how carers etc can do it, and go home a normal person, let alone for that little money. I don’t have enough hats to take off for these people.

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fhdhsu@reddit

Yep, because minimum wage is acceptable when you’re from a third world country where the minimum is £1 an hour.

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Screaming_lambs@reddit

It is hard work. I used to be a carer in dementia nursing (people with dementia that need a nurse on site and a lot of care) the physical part got too much for me. Some aspects of the job were really sad.

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Wearethedevil@reddit

Also the emotionally impact of these jobs. My cousin has the biggest heart going and has spent years being a personal carer to different people. She burnt out eventually. She has attended so many funerals of people who she genuinely loved through that job. When you care for someone so intimately, help them with all aspects of life and give them reason to keep going, it gives you reason to keep going. Watching a loved one die, being there right through to end, it breaks people... And to do all that for such a laughably low wage! Carers deserve so much more 😞

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

I’d agree, I’ve just done a nursing apprenticeship and was paid minimum wage for it. Part of the apprenticeship is that you take increasing responsibility until you are practicing independently under supervision. I’ve been working as a nurse the last 6 months for minimum wage. When I qualify now this month I go from min wage to £13.57 an hour. About £2 above min wage, it’s a joke.

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Oriachim@reddit

Nurses start on £15.33 an hour, not £13.57. https://nursingnotes.co.uk/agenda-for-change-nhs-pay-bands/

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Low_Net9859@reddit

But not nursing associates - which is only paid at band 4 and not band 5 on AfC - despite entailing much of the same workload and responsibilities.

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Oriachim@reddit

I agree every band is low pay and everyone is underpaid. Nursing associates though, are just created to prop up understaffed wards with even cheaper versions of nurses. They’re paid like £7000 or so less than an RN to do a very similar job (apart from taking charge and in some trusts extra jobs like IVs). Worst of all, many trusts won’t even pay for their top up, so they’re perpetually stuck as nursing associates. In my trust, 200 applied for it and only 9 got on the course to top up.

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

This attitude always confuses me. The nursing associate role is exactly that. It’s not “a nurse awaiting a funded place to top up to RN”. The trusts are under no obligation to pay for the training of NAs to RN. Those that applied for and trained as NAs claimed to want to be NAs. That’s how they got those posts. It’s not a stepping stone role that everyone uses it for. It’s a stand alone role.

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Oriachim@reddit

Majority of them in my experience definitely use it as a stepping stone, as the trust will fund their education from HCA to NA to RN.

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

But that doesn’t mean that it is a stepping stone. These people applied for this role. They did not apply for a fast pass into and RN. If you aren’t happy to work as an NA then don’t apply to be one. Go to uni and do the degree. I’m not saying places shouldn’t be available and shouldn’t be funded I’m saying that there should be funded places for people to train as RNs without having to do the pretence of the NA bit in between.

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

Most TNAs have families or previous degrees and can’t afford the massive drop in wages during a 3 year degree, myself included. A lot of the girls in my Cohort from my trust are single mums and leaving a permanent job for university is just not feasible for them. I can however, afford 12-18 months top up if my trust decides not to fund me. Not a single one of us wants to work as an NA. If trusts funded straight through to band 5, we’d ALL pick that option.

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Oriachim@reddit

Nope. There are limited spaces on the RN top up, so you’ll have to do the actual course from year 2.

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

That’s how we do it in my trust. You start mid-year 2. We all know this, one of the interview questions is do you want to do the top up. Every single one of us from my trust said yes, and we obviously got on the course. So they don’t want people who strictly want to stay as NAs.

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Oriachim@reddit

Do you seriously think people in my trust also weren’t promised the RN top up? Or were content on being an NA their entire careers?

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

No one in my trust was promised a top up. We were told there was one available but it’s extremely competitive and in all likelihood we’ll have to work for a few years before being eligible because there’s a backlog. We all accepted the terms and conditions when applying, as I said it was one of the interview questions. I have 4 close colleagues on the top up now who have been qualified 2 years. Seems like your trust sold the employees a lie - mine hasn’t.

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Dismal_Fox_22@reddit

You’re missing my point. You were hired as an NA. At no point were you hired as an NA for a little while then funded to an RN. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a pathway like that, but that isn’t what was signed up to, so arguing that it’s unfair of trusts not to fund the “top up” is ridiculous. They are under no obligation to do so. You were employed as an NA. The trusts wanted NAs. What are they going to do if every NA goes on to train as an RN? Fully staff a ward with RNs? How could the trust then save money by cheating on on poetically trained nursing staff if they did this

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

My trust is quite upfront that there are less top up places than NA places, but do top up quite a few NAs per year. They are well aware it is the pathway people want. There is zero progression for NAs. In practice they do a nurses job. Piece the puzzle together and it’s obvious most, if not all NAs will top up. I said in the interview I wanted to be a band 7, and laid out my entire career plan. I got the apprenticeship.

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Oriachim@reddit

Well, that’s something to bring up with them. Shrug. As it stands, NAs are just cheaper nurses used to prop up understaffed wards. Even in my previous trust, NAs were doing IV meds. It’s no surprise they want to be RNs.

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anonymouse39993@reddit

Without the same level of education Nursing associates are not nurses It’s people providing nursing care on the cheap

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

Registered nurses, yes. Nursing associates by and large do the same job (with the exception of CDs and IVs) and take their own patient load. Whether you like it or not they are nurses. Just not RNs as that’s a protected title. “Nurse” is not.

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Oriachim@reddit

Nursing associates are not nurses. You are fake nurses used to prop up wards with cheap labour,

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throwawaydhehshshsss@reddit

My trust is quite good with providing the top up, and I don’t know a single previous NA, now RN that has stated they’ve learned anything significant on their top up. And I know quite a few.

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Low_Net9859@reddit

Though nursing apprenticeships often lead to being a nursing associate after registration - also a highly demanding and skilled role, but band 4 not band 5 on AfC. (I’m assuming that’s what’s being referenced here as I think that’s about the pay level described). Anyway, either pay point is way too low in comparison to other lines of work, for what it entails. (Speaking as someone who has worked as an HCA in the past, now a nurse).

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BrieflyVerbose@reddit

Used to do mental health and LD care. I quit after receiving a letter congratulating me on my pay rise. What had actually happened was nobody had a pay rise for so long the minimum wage overtook what was being paid. The company lost about 40% of its staff over the next 3 months

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

Got mates who have worked in care during the last 15 years and I have no idea how they did it for so long on such a low wage, they were always knackered and working 12+ hours a day if they were in a home or care in the community type jobs. Then they'd have to do the same training courses over and over to stay "up to date" always complaining that there weren't enough people on shift with them and hardly getting breaks. Definitely not for me.

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DarkLuxio92@reddit

They don't even do otj NVQs at a lot of firms now, no benefits, no breaks, minimum wage. And they wonder why people are leaving the profession in droves.

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DarkLuxio92@reddit

100% it's care work. I did it for 6 years looking after 3 profoundly disabled adults who required round the clock care. Had to do personal care, tube feeding, medication, look after finances, fill out endless paperwork, cook meals, clean the house, do their shopping, everything. All for minimum wage. Unless the wage increases I will never return to care, as much as I loved it. Its just not worth my mental health.

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

I once got downvoted into oblivion for suggesting care workers should be paid on a par with plasterers and electricians.

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palmwinedr1nkard@reddit

Paid by who, though?

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

Care homes could pass on some of their riches for one

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Rev_Biscuit@reddit

As an electrician I am offended being compared to a plasterer. Can you link your post so I can downvote it too?!😁

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geoffs3310@reddit

Childcare as well. There was an awful story in my local news relatively recently about a baby at nursery that was crying so someone wrapped it up in a blanket and strapped it face down to a bean bag for 90 minutes to shut it up. The baby died and she got jailed for 14 years.

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Devilish2476@reddit

Carers in our local authority are on £16:84 per hour.

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BudgetBonk@reddit

Agree 100% as have done it before and am actually returning to it soon when my DBS clears. The pay is better this time but not much, progression is available but takes a while and you are offered overtime which you want to up your income but you cannot study and work at the same time and the study is mandatory. It is rewarding in terms of helping those who need it but for the responsibility it’s definitely underpaid and harder than many think, I and some former colleagues have had breaks from it and some say they will never return but it is just about the only thing I happen to be naturally good at so I’m going for it but the need for a new DBS means such a long wait, not the fault of the company but you get the job and if you can’t find temp work elsewhere you have no wage coming in until it is cleared and you have worked up to your first pay due date.

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thedannybyrdclub@reddit

Honestly look for a private hire role if you can , it cuts out the middle man of an agency and it makes it so much easier for you too form w close relationship with the person you are assisting. And because of the lack of agency oversight they will be able to pay you Significantly better

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Colonel_Wildtrousers@reddit

FWIW thank you to you and your colleagues for your criminally under-appreciated service

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thedannybyrdclub@reddit

Don’t normally comment but thought I’d weigh in with my experience as a ‘care worker’. For me and my personal situation it is actually reasonably well paid I think , considering there’s no qualifications or experience necessary too get yourself a consistent, enjoyable role . Too clarify this is from my own experience of providing one to one care, where my hours are flexible but average 40 a week , and I then have a nice boost of doing sleeping nights 30x a year. I get paid four weekly but my friends and peers are always surprised when I tell them (if pressed) that I consistently clear 40k a year . Now I know it’s not mega money , but for a job I love , I’m pretty happy .

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thedannybyrdclub@reddit

Also just to clarify my work Is with adults with learning difficulties, not Nursing care as such. I fully appreciate I get To do ‘fun activities’ as part of my daily role, which is a huge factor of why I enjoy My job so much. If my role was purely providing care from a medical perspective I have no doubt i wouldn’t enjoy it as much

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Jlloyd83@reddit

I watched my Mum coming home from her shifts frustrated and exhausted for 20 years, Elderly Care Work is something I could never hack. I worked in Childcare with young people from difficult backgrounds for a couple of years but that left me burnt out as well, don't think I could ever go back to that kind of job.

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SirGeorgeAgdgdgwngo@reddit

I cared for my dad (along with my mum) at home for the final month of his life. Taking the emotional side out of it, it was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. It's demanding and exhausting. Massive respect to people who do that for strangers for a lot less money than they deserve.

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ten_shunts@reddit

Me too. My mum and I kept dad out of a care home for just under two years following his stroke. The doctors were amazed he survived that going by the brain scans, told us he'd be a vegetable at best when came out of the coma. He started to make a recovery but I was the only person he recognised or showed any enthusiasm for. He was so bad they didn't want to discharge him as he couldn't pass any occupational therapy etc - unless I was present. He came to life, smiled, talked, passed the tests (at the bare minimum) and came home. I needed to be around for it to continue though, so sacked my business off and became full time carer alongside my mum. Hardest thing I've ever done in my life, wouldn't wish it on anyone, and I have nothing but respect and gratitude for those who do it for such a shit wage, for people who aren't even relatives. Good on you for doing what many don't have the option of doing and taking an active role in caring for a parent at the end, and good on all the carers out there for those who can't do it themselves!

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SirGeorgeAgdgdgwngo@reddit

Massive respect to you and I can empathise to a lot of what you said. After my old man had a cardiac arrest, they tried several times to turn of his life support in the hours immediately after as they said he'd be in a vegetative state, even when I told them he was squeezing my hand etc. He did regain consciousness and was fully mentally capable, but sadly couldn't overcome the initial infection and died a few weeks later. I was severely frustrated that, without me, he wouldn't have been afforded the chance to fight it. I'm grateful of the extra time together, and to get to be there for him when he needed me. I ended up quitting my job in the aftermath and starting my own business. Hopefully you got yourself back on track after mate. All the best.

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ten_shunts@reddit

That's awful, sounds like he was lucky to have you there watching over him. No discredit to medical professionals, but it can seem so harsh when they are quick to give up on someone who means the world to you that easily. They have their reasons, but you are still right to fight for them. I'd been self employed for 10 years and gave it up to look after him. Ended up changing careers and life had its ups and downs since, but have never regretted it. Covid left me more embittered than anything - when we couldn't meet his needs at home, he went into care and then covid hit. He declined rapidly without us, just withered away in isolation as we weren't allowed to visit. We got a couple hours with him at the end when they realised it was close. It was only later when we all found out our politicians were having a nice time at parties while people like my dad died of loneliness and abandonment that I ever felt real anger over it all. Knobs. Good luck to you bud!

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SirGeorgeAgdgdgwngo@reddit

Re the covid thing, one of the reasons I'm grateful for the extra time we got at the end is because it was covid we hadn't been able to visit him in hospital for 6 weeks prior. After the cardiac arrest, myself and my mum stayed with him 24/7 in hospital for about 3 weeks before he was discharged for palliative care. They fed us when they fed the patients every day, and I have no complaints about that, but it kind of made a mockery of not being allowed in for an hour in the 6 weeks before. I'm really sorry to hear about your experience mate, but I can guarantee you your old was proud to see the child he raised step up for him when he needed you most. It's easy to think that you just done what anyone would do, but it's not. My own brother didn't do a single thing. He couldn't even get the train we bought for him to come and see my dad on the final day... 60 missed calls and 20 hours later he decided fo answer the phone. Anyway, I'm not saying this for any other reason than to say you should be proud of stepping up to the plate when needed. Hope neither of us need to wipe any adult backsides anytime soon! Cheers mate.

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mxmoffed@reddit

100%. I cared for my nan for the last two years of her life alongside a hospice team. There were definitely some people who shouldn't have been in that job, but the good ones deserved the world. They kept telling me and my sister that we should consider applying, but I can not imagine having to do that for multiple people every single day.

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martyrees76@reddit

Yep, I’ve worked on care for about 25 years now and do t think I can hack it much longer. It is so heartbreaking to see people come in relatively healthy and deteriorate (worse still if they realise it’s happening) Or seeing somebody come in who has no family or friends celebrate their birthday / Christmas with the staff and nobody else. Sometimes, you’re their family and it’s heartbreaking to see them go Also, hey we don’t get minimum wage, we get about 10p an hour more do it can be advertised as “pays above minimum wage”

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Ok-Kitchen2768@reddit

One of my carers came from working in McDonald's. She went back to McDonald's in the same year. (Context it was because of the hours and pay, she got a better deal at McDonald's)

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Upset-Woodpecker-662@reddit

This is what the UK needs to fight for. For their recognition, hard work, mental strength, and much more! Also, simply because, at one point in our life, we will likely need their help as we age! All for doctors and nurses, but the carers need a serious review of what their minimum income should be. They are the one who help freeing beds at the hospital. They are such an essential part of the NHS

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TheEmpressEllaseen@reddit

Agreed. My stepmother works in a facility for people with Huntingdon’s disease. If you know anything about it, then you’ll be aware how fucking vile that illness is. Honestly, if I was diagnosed with it then I’d rather just be shot. She’s basically on minimum wage, but the stuff she has to deal with is absolutely haunting. She’s one of the strongest people I know, she refuses to cry even when some really awful stuff has happened in her personal life. I think the job has made her shut down - she’s almost completely emotionless, although she cares deeply for her patients, family, and friends. She just struggles to show it. I take my hat off to her, there’s no way I’d ever be able to do that job, even if they paid me a fortune.

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Crazystaffylady@reddit

Especially with moving and handling of people. Training in the community (where carers go to people’s houses) is abysmal. If something goes wrong (which it can do and it ends up at coroners court) then it’s all on you. Your company absolutely won’t have your back either. The online training and hour of moving and handling training is meant to somehow be sufficient.

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AbuBenHaddock@reddit

I love my mam and dad, but I cannot fathom the thought of feeding them as they regress into "second childishness" or wiping their arses for 10, 15, 20 years. Am I a cunt?

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SirGeorgeAgdgdgwngo@reddit

I done it for a month and, whilst I'm appreciative and proud of being able to be there for my dad when he needed me most, I simply couldn't imagine having to do it for an extended period of time. It's exhausting, challenging and at times very frustrating.

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Sylvester88@reddit

This was going to be my comment. My wife works as a support worker for adults with prayer willi syndrome and I can't believe it's minimum wage. And because of the low wage, turnover is extremely high so the supported individuals never get the care that they need/deserver

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madnasher@reddit

My mother worked in dementia care homes for many years, I know for a fact that I couldn't do that job, I wouldn't have the mental or emotional capacity to handle it.

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what_the_actual_fc@reddit

30 years ago I did it in a care home for 6 weeks to get funds for working in Spain for the summer (I was a student). Talk about opening your eyes. A hard job, that also gets you a bit hard to things after a couple of weeks. For people on minimum wage to deal with older folks who have dementia is pushing it. It's difficult and also harrowing. Those who do it full-time should be rewarded with at least a decent wage.

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CliffyGiro@reddit

Doubt there can be many other answers as bang on as this.

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Cesssmith@reddit

Absolutely, my mum did it for almost 20 years, I don't know how she did it without a car. Sometimes in summer she would nap in the park to waste time between clients. Some would be kind enough to let her rest at their house on their chair for the company. When 7/7 happened, she walked from Islington to Russell Square ( Brunswick) to go check on her clients. She wanted to make sure they had eaten in case their carer didn't turn up. She was getting £6 -8 per hour for years doing agency work. Some people were abusive, racist and some would be left living in their own waste without carers. Not an easy job at all.

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GeordieJumper@reddit

I was going to say that as a qualified arborist in 2019 I was earning £10 per hour which was £1.19 over minimum wage and massively undervalued. But honestly care worker blows it out the water.

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bumlove@reddit

It’s an absolute failure of our society that care work is so underfunded and under appreciated.

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OldBathBomb@reddit

100,000% Every one I know who did care work packed it in for very understandable reasons. Absolutely fuck that.

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Metal_Octopus1888@reddit

Driving test examiner. 12 quid an hour to put your life in the hands of potential lunatics

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PT-PUPPET@reddit

Highly skilled or challenging… sitting in a car while someone else is driving is arguably neither

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Metal_Octopus1888@reddit

The person driving might not be able to drive safely or legally. Not everyone who goes for a test is test ready, which is why half the time people fail. With many making dangerous faults.

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PT-PUPPET@reddit

That’s on the driving instructors putting them forward for tests. I can’t imagine there’s an awful lot of people booking driving tests without first having had lessons.

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Easy-Reserve7401@reddit

Luckily, that's not what driving examiners do.

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PT-PUPPET@reddit

Correct me if I’m wrong but are they not literally just assessing someone else’s driving with a tick box chart?

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thenerdisageek@reddit

and ready to jump in with either pedals or using the wheel, yes

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BroodLord1962@reddit

Not really the minimum wage though

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Metal_Octopus1888@reddit

OP said “low paid jobs” and “people you think deserve more money” not just min wage strictly.

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SittingBull1988@reddit

They are on minimum wage? Being civil servants who strike alot i thought they would be on a better number than that.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

> They are on minimum wage? Nope, £28,119 [according to the civil service website](https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=cGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0Jm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJm93bmVyPTUwNzAwMDAmcGFnZWNsYXNzPUpvYnMmdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9OTg0MzI2NTImc2VhcmNoc29ydD1zY29yZSZzZWFyY2hwYWdlPTEmam9ibGlzdF92aWV3X3ZhYz0xOTI0MzA2JnJlcXNpZz0xNzI3Njg3ODAwLTEwNTA1ZjQ2NWM0ZWYyNDdlMjFiNDc4OTllODkzZDM2MDQ4YzI5N2U) with an extra £4,000 weighting for London.

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Legitimate_Beyond785@reddit

Why do so many people think that 'a lot' and 'at least' are single words? They're not.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

Driving examiner roles are £28,119 [according the Civil Service job site](https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=cGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0Jm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJm93bmVyPTUwNzAwMDAmcGFnZWNsYXNzPUpvYnMmdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9OTg0MzI2NTImc2VhcmNoc29ydD1zY29yZSZzZWFyY2hwYWdlPTEmam9ibGlzdF92aWV3X3ZhYz0xOTI0MzA2JnJlcXNpZz0xNzI3Njg3ODAwLTEwNTA1ZjQ2NWM0ZWYyNDdlMjFiNDc4OTllODkzZDM2MDQ4YzI5N2U), with a £4,000 extra weighting for test centres within the M25.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Any kind of Teaching Assistants, Pupil Support Workers, Learning Support Workers, Care Workers Every day you see children and families who are struggling with their mental health, physical, social, emotional challenges. I had worked in a school (mainstream) where I was spat at, swore at, kicked at, headbutted, had tables and chairs thrown at regularly (multiple times a week) all while trying to keep other children safe, support children in their learning and not let it show. For minimum wage. Every evening I was physically and mentally exhausted, thinking I should have been able to preempt and prevent, trying how to make the next day better - how to be that person who can give care to those children who need it the most - but feeling guilty for finding it challenging when you're on the receiving end of the attack.

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edgecumbe@reddit

Totally agree. In Special Educational Needs settings, I had colleagues who had their noses broken, colleagues who were headbutted. I was punched in the face. Had books and chairs thrown at me. Worried about keeping the other children safe. Constantly stressed. And then you get reprimanded for not handling it properly, and little to no emotional support. I left not even knowing how it could be handled properly - some days it felt utterly impossible to provide these kids with the care they needed.

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

My wife was punched in the face the other day by an eight year old, the schools response? Write it in the incident book. Didn’t even bother to tell the parent. I know the parent because I used to work with the kid myself for the last 4 years, they called me that evening to apologise because the kid had gone home and told them what she’d done, they were absolutely horrified the school said or did nothing. Same child also ended the career of another TA last year by breaking their back with a chair.

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mistakes-were-mad-e@reddit

Worked for a vindictive head in SEN she couldn't cope with the kids. She would however back her staff, fight the pupils corner with other agencies. Then she was replaced by a head who couldn't do any part of the role. He had a business focus but didn't have a clue about SEN, education, interacting with staff, kids, parents or I would guess business. Everything became about presentation rather than reality and the job went from difficult to near impossible. Staff fractured with no leadership and everything got worse. The rest of slt stepping stoned out, as have all who replaced them.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Seeing that more often within MATs. Seeing school leadership as just a management stepping stone.

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

You’ve just described my wife’s deputy head.

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mistakes-were-mad-e@reddit

It was grinding. The job is hard enough to do without an slt using divide and conquer against its staff. Higher ups just getting material for their CV before departing. Hope your wife is doing okay.

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

Yeah she’s fine thanks although I think she counting down the days and is considering a move to mainstream.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Jesus! Sounds right though. There are some children I look at who I have a strong feeling will be the cause of someone's death. School can only do so much and other agencies are stretched to their limit too.

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

Fortunately I’ve been moved to another location (it’s a MAT) so I don’t have to deal with her anymore (we both worked with her for the last 4 years), as much as it’s horrible to say I’ve come out the reshuffle with the better deal, now I work with two kids, one wheelchair bound and one DD, the worst thing I have to worry about is being hit by a soft toy, I don’t have to be worried about being punched or have a furbie thrown at my head while driving down a road because I stopped at the wrong set of traffic lights.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

It angers me so much when people argue that police officers have it like this/worse also. Yes, if I'd trained to be a police officer I probably would expect it some. And if a police officer is attacked, something can be done. Expecting to be subjected to repeated physical violence in a school setting shouldn't be standard. It shouldn't be the norm. And try telling your HT, your local council, your education team that you want the police involved when a 7yo has bitten you, slapped you and kicked you, you'd be heavily discouraged

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CiderDrinker2@reddit

As the parent of a neurodiverse child with all sorts of complicated behavioural challenges and learning needs, thank you for your service. I know how difficult it can be, and what an important difference the learning support staff make.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Thank you. I didn't want this to read as a complaint either. It's hard to put into words. There are some children who just are not cared for by their parents and know no better than being dragged up. There are some who are neurodiverse and we try to find better ways of communicating and understanding needs. There are some with loving households and no diagnosis but are constantly disruptive. It's a smorgasboard of challenges, but please be assured that we truly try our best and do care.

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The_Brookie@reddit

Definitely Pupil support assistants(PSA’s) a close relative of mine is one and she is appalled by the lack of discipline within her high school and how horrendously the parents raise their children. She’s told me horror stories about her job. A certain pupil runs around and assaults people every week and hasn’t been expelled. They’re mentally disabled but that shouldn’t excuse them from shoving and pulling people around. Another pupil flooded the junior girls toilets and got no suspension. And another is known for bothering people in the toilets by being a complete prick to everyone. It’s safe to say all PSA’s at that school will be gone in a matter of months.

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Thatsnotderek@reddit

You worded what I was trying to say perfectly! I should have read before I posted.its a mostly thankless job, for minimal wage and you can end up very seriously injured.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

I'm pleased you posted yours too, it needs loads of voices to break through for people to hear and understand. Also, you don't switch off. I spent too many hours thinking if those children were safe at home, being fed, being looked after, are they warm, clean, do they feel safe and loved. Do they have a clean bed to climb into and a hug from a parent. And a lot of the time I knew they didn't.

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Thatsnotderek@reddit

I think education as a whole is at a crisis point, and until TA/LSA/ support staff are recognised for the job that they do and work extremely hard for its not going to get better. I loved being a TA, but as you said, when you come home emotionally and physically wrecked it consumes you and its not healthy. I eventually had to quit, I got a serious physical injury from the job that ill likely never recover fully from. I'm still working within SEN but from a distance and I miss working with children every day, but not 15,000 a year my health had to come first.

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

The problem is every May there is a fresh set of college and/or university graduates looking to jump on the teaching ladder. At the school the wife and I work at is always fully staffed from May to July.

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sybil-vimes@reddit

Yes! I worked as an LSA in an infant school: I loved the kids (when I wasn't being sworn at, threatened or injured), but it was emotionally draining, minimum wage and I would often take in resources I had paid for out of my own pocket and take the class for hours at a time, by myself, with no training, so the teacher could take their PPA. And then one day I was called into the head teacher's office and told they couldn't afford to keep me and I would finish in 2 weeks. In many ways I'm glad, as I'm now in a great job I love, but it was rough.

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icklepeach@reddit

What makes TA work even worse is that even if it’s full time (unlikely) you lose 8 weeks pay a year for holidays The hours are such that I was paying for before and after school childcare, and taking home <£900 a month. And I was a higher level teaching assistant, so teaching 2 subjects across 5 classes.

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RufusBowland@reddit

Teacher here. A good TA is worth their weight in gold. They deserve more money and less shit.

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NifferKat@reddit

This is very enlightening read

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AbjectGovernment1247@reddit

Even if there was more money in it, I still could never be a teacher. It's so hard.

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_Ghost_07@reddit

1000% this is the correct answer. These roles are grossly underpaid and under appreciated.

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MrNippyNippy@reddit

I’ve never had a “very simple” minimum wage job. Granted decades ago but Bingo worker - i dealt with grumpy old women and thousands of pounds every night, if my floats/till was out by more than £1 it came off my wages. Had to stand in front of hundreds of people and call the numbers in a legally approved manner. Van driver - fucking hard physically, had to know all the local routes, horrible hours Computer repair tech/sales for PCWorld - I had to be able to repair computers, run a customer service desk and try and sell people shitty addons like £10 usb cables that cost 30p. All of the jobs you were treated like shit by customers and management/company alike. I have it much easier as a senior Unix admin and I’m paid a fuck ton more now. Just look at the spate of “undercover boss” type shows a few years ago - the CEOs couldn’t manage a day let alone a week.

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zulu9812@reddit

I think this is the answer. Nearly all minimum wage jobs are hard work.

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OkSmoke3575@reddit

They certainly are. I've had plenty and they're either physically hard, mentally draining/mind-numbing, or a combination of both. Yet most if not all minimum wage jobs are actually essential to a functioning society. I'll add a little story to this comment about some of my personal experience but feel free to not read it 😅; When I was a bit younger in my early 20's, I was essentially a bin man for the local hospital. I'd go and empty the clinical waste bins, sharps bins, as well as general rubbish and also the dirty laundry. It was physically hard work when pushing the full bins, and I'd easily walk 5-8 miles a shift around a large hospital taking bins up and down to the yard and back to the wards. Plus the fact we had to handball most of the rubbish into the skips because the trash compactor was always out of service. It was minimum wage, and I didn't even get extra for working nights or weekends (one of the downfalls of NHS using agencies to hire support staff). Yet my sister was a recent graduate from university, she got a 2.1 degree in psychology, and landed some random admin type job on £40k at 21 years old. I couldn't believe it, hate to say I actually resented her for it. I know physically she couldn't do one shift on the hospital bins, and in my mind it was a very important and thankless job. Yet she had all these perks such as free tea and coffee, works drinks every Friday (where boss would usually get everyone a free round). She had a deposit on a house before she turned 23, I was still working shit jobs barely getting by renting a shit hole flat. Eventually joined the army in my late 20's just to get out, which is a terrible reason to sign up (as I quickly found out). Stuck it out for 5 years but left when I could, and been working in a semi-skilled manual job since. It's still hard work but the pay is better than minimum wage, but its very unfulfilling.

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feedmepizzaplease99@reddit

I’ve been in so many minimum wage jobs. Every single one was harder physically or/and mentally and more responsibility than any other higher paid job. It’s horrific. I want to continue climbing the career ladder because shit gets easier not harder!

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mellonians@reddit

It's the minimum wage paradox. I was in that trap and when I was in it I could only dream I'd ever earn as much as I am now. I'm not channelling Scrooge McDuck by any means but I'm comfortable. I haven't heard "time to lean, time to clean!" for years, I don't constantly feel like I have no other better opportunities, I'm not staying in my job because I have to, I don't feel beaten by "the man" every day, I'm entrusted to make decisions, my boss asks my opinions. Essentially, it's fair to say I work a lot less now in the sense I'm a lot less brow-beaten and hen pecked and happier for it. My wife earns even more and works a lot less than me.

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OkSmoke3575@reddit

I'm glad you worked hard to get out of that trap, and I'm glad you're grateful for the money you make and the fact the work is actually fulfilling. When I was a bit younger in my early 20's, I was essentially a bin man for the local hospital. I'd go and empty the clinical waste bins, sharps bins, as well as general rubbish and also the dirty laundry. It was physically hard work when pushing the full bins, and I'd easily walk 5-8 miles a shift around a large hospital taking bins up and down to the yard and back to the wards. Plus the fact we had to handball most of the rubbish into the skips because the trash compactor was always out of service. It was minimum wage, and I didn't even get extra for working nights or weekends (one of the downfalls of NHS using agencies to hire support staff). Yet my sister was a recent graduate from university, she got a 2.1 degree in psychology, and landed some random admin type job on £40k at 21 years old. I couldn't believe it, hate to say I actually resented her for it. I know physically she couldn't do one shift on the hospital bins, and in my mind it was a very important and thankless job. Yet she had all these perks such as free tea and coffee, works drinks every Friday (where boss would usually get everyone a free round). She had a deposit on a house before she turned 23, I was still working shit jobs barely getting by renting a shit hole flat. Eventually joined the army in my late 20's just to get out, which is a terrible reason to sign up (as I quickly found out). Stuck it out for 5 years but left when I could, and been working in a semi-skilled manual job since. It's still hard work but the pay is better than minimum wage, but its very unfulfilling.

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The-Mayor-of-Italy@reddit

Depends on the job. I'm a delivery driver earning not much more than minimum wage and the stress is far lower than in more lucrative jobs I worked (sales, recruitment). People are genuinely nice as you're bringing them things they want and have been waiting for, management team are alright. I'm never stressed about going to work the next day and would happily work seven days a week if I didn't have a family, since I can listen to podcasts etc while doing it.

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averagesophonenjoyer@reddit

Damn how are PC world managing to pay min wage for a specialist job and still finding employees?

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tomegerton99@reddit

It’s the going rate for that sort of thing, I work for a pc manufacturer and all the operatives are all on just slightly above minimum wage. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a technical part of the warehouse or goods in, everyone is on the same money.

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Neverreadthemall@reddit

I used to work in a pharmacy for minimum wage as a HCA. I had to know a lot about medicines and I had to deal with a bunch of abuse. People get very angry when it comes to their medicines or when they’re ill. Not saying it’s the most highly skilled, but pharmacy workers definitely deserve more than they’re paid. Even dispensers and ACTs were on barely more than min wage.

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MathCharacter3313@reddit

Retail pharmacy was absolutely shit lol. Acting as if it’s MY fault that the doctor hasn’t sent their prescription to us yet. Better still, when they just go to ANY random pharmacy expecting the Px to be there. Hospital pharmacy was an absolute gamechanger

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Neverreadthemall@reddit

Oh my god, yes! I so clearly remember one guy saying, “It can’t always be the doctor’s fault, can it?” And I just wanted to say “yes” but it was a business to I had to just smile and be friendly.

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fr3yababii33@reddit

Pharmacy was HORRIBLE to work in. It genuinely traumatised me.

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

Early years educator (nursery worker). An incredibly complex role, akin to teaching primary but requires a much deeper understanding of complex, holistic, child-led learning and development. Also involves much more care and family support. It's a role I've laboured in and loved for many years, but can't afford to keep doing. Long hours, high stress, high workload, never enough resources. Not only do I change nappies, clean the rooms, settle crying babies, clean up vomit - I am responsible for observing, planning and assessing for my group of key children (usually 15-20 children). As room leader and as SENCo I've barely earned above min wage. And I have a first class degree! I'm retraining as an SLT because I can't keep running myself into the ground just to get by month to month

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The-Mayor-of-Italy@reddit

I have to say the people who run our son's nursery really are fantastic. There's one whose title is Nursery Teacher and another who is an Early Years Support Worker. I'd have assumed the former was at least on like £35-40k and the latter like £27-30k. Both jobs seem pretty demanding and the EYSW is a key person.

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

The weird thing about the UK is, to be an EYFS teacher in a school or school based nursery you need QTS, which covers ages 3-7. If you specialise in ages 0-5 you can get EYTS but you won't be able to be a class teacher in a school or school based nursery, you'll be paid the same as someone with level 3 early years educator status. I personally have a degree in early childhood studies and could have pursued EYTS or QTS, but to what gain? Working as an EYE and key person, and with added responsibility of room lead (this is equiv to a teaching role in a school based nursery) I earned £13 an hour. Previously as SENCo and EYE I earned £13 an hour. These positions are term time only and extra holiday is unpaid and come to like £17-18k a year. Best pay I've ever had was working full time (11 hour shifts!!) and taking home £240000 - I had to battle for the upper end of the payscale

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Overthinker-dreamer@reddit

This is so true. You have to have a understanding of child development, understanding about how to handle bad behaviour, how to handle learning difficulties. How to help the children how are ahead. You have to support children who have different languages. You have to deal with food everyday, making bottles, changing nappies, toilet training. You have to deal with children that bite and hit. So many bumped heads. You are they to support emotional needs. Educational needs. On top of that all the training you have to do. Food safety, first aid, prevent, e safety, FGM, and lots more And of course we have to be cleaners as well. And you have to find time to write down planning and observations and whatever paperwork the higher ups want you to do. And sometimes the people you work with can make your day better or a lot more stressful.

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indecisivepelican@reddit

Oh dear god thank you. I've just started as an EYE, two months in, working on my L3. Hilarious and rewarding, but holy crap, the hardest work I've ever done. And I know in my bones that it can't be forever. Not at the wages I'm paid.

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

Well done, please enjoy it while you can!! I've had 8 years of sharing joy with little ones, and it's rare to find a job that's so rewarding and so fun (despite all the stress). You'll know when the time is right to move on, and it'll be difficult, but you can feel proud of all the work you've done for those kiddos. I recommend finding a Reggio Emilia or forest school nursery if you can, really incredible approaches

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Tale-Twine@reddit

Interesting you mention this, because I'm from New Zealand, and at home it's done completely differently. You had to have a degree to be a preachool teacher/early childhood teacher. There might be a couple of untrained members of staff, usually education students themselves, but the majority of the staff are teachers, and you usually have 5 key children each, not 15, that's terrifying! So you might have a preschool of 30 with 4-6 teachers in. My mum is a a preschool teacher and she makes about £15 an hour. They also pay you your sick days at home. It's a very important job and it's slightly horrifying to me that the people who do it here are so underpaid and often have no relevant qualifications.

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

We actually studied the NZ curriculum and approach in my degree - it was fascinating, but really disheartening to compare with the UK. There's a whole bunch of complex reasons why it's ended up this way and it is just getting worse. The sector is totally disparate, so it's hard to say an average, but in my experience most people in a setting do have a level 2 or 3 qualification in early years. It's probably on the decline though. A lot of people have good hearts but are not academically minded and don't have the time or resources to pursue further education. Especially as it's optional and doesn't bring any financial gain - I have a degree but my role and pay is the same as someone with level 3! It's heartbreaking that we don't value the work

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Strong_Put3857@reddit

This was my first job out of university, 40 hours a week and I was taking home less than a grand a month. I’m on £40k in a very different industry now and working in the baby room of a nursery is by far the most difficult job I’ve ever had. Unreal level of responsibility looking after up to 12 under-2s at once and having to be on constant alert 7:30am - 6pm with only a half hour break, whilst simultaneously having no real engagement with adults all day or doing anything that stimulated/challenged your mind. Early years workers who do it as a career are absolute heroes.

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Intelligent_Bar_710@reddit

We effectively had joint custody with our kid’s nursery from 8 months to 4.5 years. You (and the profession) have my utmost respect and admiration. Your pay (and frequently the way EY educators are treated) is abysmal and reflects a total lack of understanding of the complexity and demands of your role. Thank you for your work.

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iFelldowne@reddit

Wish I could upvote this more.

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WiganGirl-2523@reddit

Definitely care work. Cleaning up shit. Paid shit. Treated like shit.

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TransatlanticMadame@reddit

Care workers. The work they do is so essential and yet we treat them horribly, from a financial perspective.

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TheBrassDancer@reddit

Not just financially, but socially. It's seen as ‘unskilled’ labour that supposedly requires no qualifications to do, thus carries the same connotations that other such labelled jobs (e.g. retail, catering, hospitality) are lumbered with. There is absolutely nothing ‘unskilled’ about it.

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DarkLuxio92@reddit

People don't realise the training that happens on the job. Carers get training in first aid, safeguarding, manual handling, medication administration, dysphagia, sign language, and that's just the basics. It's an incredibly skilled job.

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WickedWitchWestend@reddit

exactly what I was about to say - they should be paid so much more.

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thedannybyrdclub@reddit

I’m never gunna argue I get Paid less than I should, but I will honestly say there are situations and positions where you Can earn well in a care worker roll . Often the major issue pay wise Is For Those working through an agency who Obviously take a huge cut. My personal experience is of people working one to one privately hired , and it really can be well rewarding in that situation . If you form a personal relationship with the person you’re caring for you have job satisfaction, and if you’re the main provider of their care the job almost becomes easy, and can get to a point of just ‘spending time with a friend’

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TransatlanticMadame@reddit

You are being so honourable in how you approach your work - but you shouldn't be financially preyed upon in search of job satisfaction. Kudos to you for your work.

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Bacon4Lyf@reddit

Not exactly highly skilled though

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EndeavourToFreefall@reddit

The issue is that doing it well is highly skilled as many of the clients develop complex needs which should require much more training, but as a society we don't want to fund it and prefer to use those skills in other more important roles. We push unskilled workers into placements they're not equipped for instead, and bury our head in the sand, hoping we don't end up requiring that same care some day.

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PoliticsNerd76@reddit

Supply and demand. There’s lots of people who view it as their calling and tolerate it.

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LazySparrows@reddit

I work in care. Unfortunately I don't think this is the case, there are plenty of people who are wonderful and empathetic but very few who consider care work as their 'calling'. I think it's more a low barrier to entry and an opportunity to get out of retail/hospitality for 'low skilled' people

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bekahfromearth@reddit

It is definitely a job that you have to love otherwise you need to leave. My mum was a cared for about 25 years and only left because the council she worked for changed the job role so it was less “caring” and more “efficient” and she was told she wasn’t there to be a friend to those in the sheltered housing, despite knowing a lot of clients for 20 years. It is a low entry, because there is a shortage of staff, but with that there is a high turnover as it’s hard work for little pay and a LOT of responsibilities.

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Tomoshaamoosh@reddit

There really isn't that many of these types. The "supply" is mostly coming from abroad. There is a tonne of immigrants from the second and third world willing to put up with the shit pay because it's more than they'd ever earn at home. They make up the bulk of staff at a lot of agencies and care homes.

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Prasiatko@reddit

I dare say demand in the economic sense of what people can afford to pay is also low.

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wrighty2009@reddit

Yep care workers & healthcare assistants 100%

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ukbeasts@reddit

It's mentally and physically draining with limited support from those that I know who have done it.

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spelan1@reddit

Being a care worker is, without a doubt, the most stressful job I've ever had in my life. You're a nanny, a therapist, a cook, a driver, a cleaner, and a social worker all in one. You should be paid accordingly, but instead it's minimum wage. Absolute insane. I now work an office job on way more money and it's genuinely so easy compared to care work. I feel like I'm stealing a living

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cbreeeze@reddit

I could have written this. About a year ago I reduced my HCA role to 27hrs and took up a part time admin role for the rest of my week and I always feel like I’m stealing a salary in the admin job. The difference is night and day - I genuinely think I do F all in my admin job and am unsure if that’s the case or if it’s just the comparison against the HCA workload… 🤯

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NumeroRyan@reddit

I think anyone that has to deal with public, work shift patterns and weekends is so much harder than people give it credit for.

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Hungry-Falcon3005@reddit

Shift patterns are far better than 9-5. I love days off during the week. You can get stuff done

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thenerdisageek@reddit

if i do a 2-10, and then have to do a 10-4 the next day, when am i getting stuff done? i have to sleep, eat, and get to work in that gap. i can’t plan anything with friends or because i don’t know when (of if) i’ll be working. doctors appointments are a nightmare for the same reason. banks close at 5, and 2 on a saturday. you must be thinking of patterns being ‘every other day’ when there are no patterns in shift work if you aren’t salaried

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Euyfdvfhj@reddit

I think they're referring to rotating shifts like night shifts, followed by day shifts etc. not Tuesdays off and Saturdays on

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pajamakitten@reddit

Which is why many of those fields are struggling to hire permanent staff. We spend a fortune on agency/locum staff because no one wants to do shift patterns like ours.

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memcwho@reddit

The simple answer feels like 'don't have those shift patterns then'

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pajamakitten@reddit

That would make things worse for us. I'm a biomedical scientist in the NHS and there are not many of us at all, especially compared to the amount of work there is. You won't find many willing to do three to four twelve hour shifts back to back without the same issue.

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Beneficial-Metal-666@reddit

Yeah I just flat out won't do a job that has rotating shifts. Working weekends and evenings is fine, if I've got a consistent weekly schedule that never changes. Then I can still plan my life. But if I was constantly working different shifts every week then fuck that.

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scotleeds@reddit

It's hell. You can't plan anything. We'd get our timetable two weeks ahead. Sometimes if you had a Monday Tuesday off, your next days off would be the Saturday Sunday in two weeks, working 10 days in a row, often with a late finish early start in the mix just to kick you once more. Just getting a Monday-Friday job felt like winning the lottery after that misery.

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Rowanx3@reddit

Ive always done shift work and i usually get my new rota 2 days before it starts.

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wildjones@reddit

Yeah my first job was care. Would rarely have more than one day off at a time, and constantly had late finishes and early starts, doing medication for people on less than 6 hrs sleep. Not to mention getting texted/rang outside work to come in on your days off, or being asked when you're about to go home to stay on and do a 15 HR shift when the next shift didn't call in. Never again. Now I do a hybrid Mon-Fri job and WFH 3 days a week and count myself lucky every single day. To be honest I would maybe do the care job itself if it was Mon-Fri 9-5 and no overtime, it was just the hours that wrecked me.

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AE_Phoenix@reddit

I'll take 9-5 any day over 10-3 and 17-22 6 days a week.

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gloomsbury@reddit

Having days off mid-week definitely makes running errands easier, but it's isolating from a social standpoint if everyone else you know has a 9-5 job. I end up using up pretty much all my holidays just to actually see family/friends who only get weekends off work.

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Tao626@reddit

What's the stuff getting done that can't be done on a weekend, though? Whenever I go into town or something on a weekday, it's never that much, if any, different from when I go on a weekend. Meanwhile, it ends up easier planning around other people because if they aren't working similar static hours, then my hours don't change so are easy to plan around.

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Misskinkykitty@reddit

Doctors, dentists, hospital, and veterinary appointments. Forced into using holidays.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

They're not saying it can't be done, it's just easier mid-week when it's quieter.

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rainbow-songbird@reddit

Have you tried getting to the doctors on a weekend?

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NaturalSuccessful521@reddit

Having tuesday Wednesday as a weekend, same as my wife is the absolute bomb.

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kumran@reddit

I hated never getting more than one day off in a row. It was never enough to properly rest.

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Teawillfixit@reddit

I worked for min wage (well technically below min wage but cash in hand) as a taxi dispatcher in an airport about 12 years ago. Hands down the most insanely stressful (lone worker, many angry people including angry drivers) and it was the most challenging/confusing work I have ever done (I've worked in Healthcare, with sexual assault survivors/advocacy, research & my current job required a PhD etc). No money on this earth would make me do that job again though.

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DawnRising00@reddit

I used to work as a ramp agent (airport ground handler) pretty much minimum wage and anyone can walk into it. Working shift patterns, coming in at very early hours and nights. Doing things like doing the pushback and the final walkaround checks of a multimillion aircraft is a hell of a lot of responsibility for such low pay.

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alpringin@reddit

I work in airport security- know exactly how you feel.

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evijguano@reddit

Yup same, people couldn't believe the responsibilities for such a low wage in Airport Security. We worked random shifts, very early/late, had to pass airfield driving course inc talking to ATC, manning the arch, xray machine exam/ongoing training, constantly being vetted/tested, dealing with abandoned baggage, personal searches, the list goes on. A lot of responsibility and dreadful bullying. Worst job I ever had.

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DDFingers@reddit

I did this and it was exhausting but considering the two weeks unpaid training we had to do as well as dangerous conditions, understaffing and I was paid below minimum wage it is something I would never return to. Also the rest of the airport staff looked down on us. Bastards

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Theo_Cherry@reddit

>two weeks unpaid training Really? Where were you based?

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DDFingers@reddit

Newcastle

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Theo_Cherry@reddit

!thanks

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DawnRising00@reddit

Yeah, I would never do it again, worst job I've ever had (and I was in the army too lol). It's no wonder they're always hiring, the turnover is insane.

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ijustwatchedlost2k20@reddit

literally any job dealing with the public who think you are beneath them because you work said job (I work in a shop)

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BigfootsBestBud@reddit

Anything to do with teaching should have a lawyers salary imo

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BroodLord1962@reddit

So many people have mentioned teacher assistants. It does make me wonder how our teachers coped back in my day when they didn't have these assistants. And based on the average class size for secondary schools today, it's slightly lower than the class sizes I was taught in.

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wormfries@reddit

Can we get a list of minimum wage jobs that are 'simple' but not mentally and physically draining please? asking for a friend.....

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CHILLIOVERDOSE@reddit

working in the bookies was pretty simple, behind a glass screen all day with a few nice regulars. Sometimes they’d bring in sausage rolls or tip some of their winnings

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BroodLord1962@reddit

I've known a few people that worked at bookies, they were all very good at maths

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Icy_Obligation4293@reddit

Barista is pretty straightforward.

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TheGrammatonCleric@reddit

Not the good ones.

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Icy_Obligation4293@reddit

I'm a pretty damn good barista, and yes it is extremely straightforward . In fact the better you are, the less physically and mentally draining it becomes. It has nothing in common with care work or teaching.

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RobertTheSpruce@reddit

Being the one person that has to cover a bank of about 20 self checkouts at a supermarket.

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JohnCasey3306@reddit

So I'm a software engineer _now_ working day-to-day on pretty technically complicated work BUT 20 years ago as a student I worked at McDonald's and let me tell you, _that_ was a hell of a lot harder work! Contrary also to the stereotype, the people I worked with at McDonald's are among the most capable people I've ever had the pleasure to work with — people who fit the "idiot mcjob" stereotype simply don't last ... Those guys deserve well over minimum wage for the hard work, tough conditions and shit they have to tolerate. TLDR; McDonald's employees absolutely deserve more than minimum wage.

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closertothetree@reddit

Absolutely care work/support work. Not only is it a bit of an underbelly of a workforce that’s overlooked by wider society but they’re also underpaid for the variety of skills required to not even do well but just get by in their role. They need to be therapists, accountants, a friend, personal shoppers, cleaners every single shift and that’s only naming a few! If that has made it sound like it carries any level of glamour then rest assured it couldn’t be any less glamorous! I have so many stories of clients treating their carer/support worker as less than human and yet they continue to care anyway, not to mention being looked down on and constantly patronised by other agencies like social workers etc. Absolute troopers in society. Having said that, it’s nice to see in this thread that other people recognise this also.

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PuzzleheadedFold503@reddit

Piano moving. Paid £8/hr in a 4 person team to carry concert sized grand pianos into and out of venues, homes, yachts etc. 485kg before you add in any bump frames or wheels. Yacht people didn't like us wearing safety boots.

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invaderjournal@reddit

Not minimum wage but not much more than, bouncers. I worked at a club where there were bouncers working for £12.50/hour which I thought was ridiculous for the shit they had to put up with.

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Jonnyporridge@reddit

Care. Hospital auxiliary jobs. Or anyone who works in these services on a low wage generally. Our govts do not regard this sector as they should, a pivotal trade in our society.

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Lopsided-Variety1544@reddit

High end kitchens / Michelin - unbelievably under paid, 70-85+ hours - unbelievable skill and work ethic required, mental physical abuse

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BrightGuava1@reddit

Farm work I'd suggest is up there. Long hours, bad pay, high risk of injury or mutilation from machinery or livestock, exposure to the elements, never a decent staff room in my experience, an expectation to be as committed as the landowner without having the same stake. Meanwhile your responsible for using 100k+ machinery, machinery maintenance, power tools, producing high quality food for us all safely, not damaging the environment and getting it all done on time whilst tired, stressed and often bored know that you have little to no chance of progression beyond getting to do the same thing again this time next year. That said some folk love it!

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

Worked in mcdonalds and you go from doing your actual job as a cheeseburger technician, cashier, cleaner and host, to then fighting with customers who are blaming you because the cream egg mcflury is only out once a year. You're a psychotherapist for the people who regress to childhood whenever they walk through the doors of mcdonalds, and have a toddler tantrum because the ice cream machine is either being cleaned or needs 30 minutes to freeze some mix. (It's never broken, customers just aren't rational enough to hear the truth). You get spat at. Held at gunpoint and knifepoint for the handful of 5p coins in your till. Pickles thrown at you by the people who have picked them out of their burger. You have to clean the toilets after someone has shat alover the walls or you have to deal with someone injecting heroin inbetween their toes in the cubicle whilst kids are waiting to use the toilet. Every shift your till balance is calculated against your transactional total by a manager who either can't count or is on the rob and sends his girlfriend to shop for some cans, so you're constantly on a warning for cash discrepancies. But atleast they feed you on shift.

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pinkylovesme@reddit

The food they give you on shift being McDonald’s ?

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

We used to get a meal allowance which which entitled you to a medium extra value meal. People also used to steal food and eat it in the toilers

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Lightertecha@reddit

Sorry but most of the jobs mentioned so are are not highly skilled, maybe challenging because they are dealing with the public or difficult people. Highly skilled but low paid jobs are jobs which take years to learn and become skilled but are in relatively low demand. These include the arts and crafts, and jobs where people do it for the love not money.

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dazzpiece123@reddit

Junior doctor

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caeseron@reddit

Shutup

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dazzpiece123@reddit

Work 60 hour weeks for about 14 pounds an hour. Responsible for life and death decisions. Working through the night with high stress. Graduate with tons of debt from 5-6 years of uni. Why should I shut up?

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wkrich1@reddit

*resident

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Hannahloux@reddit

Care work! People don’t understand how demanding care work can be both physically and mentally demanding days. The long hours take a toll. When I tell people I work in care all I get told is “Oh all you’ve got to do is wipe bums and get to go to the cinema all the time.” People just don’t get it. I know so many people who have gone into do care work and left shortly after as they thought it was easy.

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Fit_Manufacturer4568@reddit

Probably an analytical chemist. They can't be far from being minimum wage jobs now if not already.

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WoollyPigs@reddit

Working with horses, purely because it would take months/years to train someone up to be able to competently handle a variety of horses independently. Got to be one of the only minimum wage jobs where you've not got a chance at getting hired without previous experience.

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Rowanx3@reddit

Any care work/child care. Chefs

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Standard-Spite-6885@reddit

Call centre

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Automation999@reddit

I would agree. Care work. Especially if having to drive from one client to another without getting paid for the time to travel between clients.

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wyzo94@reddit

Entry level soldiers aren't paid particularly well. Getting shot at sounds quite challenging

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Daewoo40@reddit

They've recently gotten a pay rise to £25,500 across the board, which is something like a £5k pay rise.

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Suspicious_Lab505@reddit

Also they get paid extra when at war.

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Ok_Teacher6490@reddit

I wouldn't call it minimum wage as a lot of costs are taken care of for you so your wage is essentially disposable income. Hard work yes, minimum wage no.

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RuneClash007@reddit

When you account for the fact they're never really off work until they get leave, then it's severely below minimum wage

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RyanRhysRU@reddit

for what doing feels like it

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Apprehensive_Wash802@reddit

Criminal defence solicitor

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

You mean barrister

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zznznbznnnz@reddit

The back breaking thing seems wild… surely that would trigger a very formal response/investigation? from the health & safety regulations side, let alone ofsted

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Suitable-Ant8840@reddit

Criminal law solicitor / barrister. In most cases you need two degrees and the pay and hours are awful

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badmother@reddit

I'm not sure they fall into the minimum wage criteria of this thread, but the defense lawyers have such a hard life it must be a vocation.

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Comprehensive_Buy527@reddit

They absolutely do. Many criminal law caseworkers and pupil barristers are paid, pro rata, less than minimum wage

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

Solicitors are waged, where as barristers (the only ones who can appear in front of a judge) are self employed - and barristers are definitely under the minimum wage for the amount of hours they do. They recently went on strike because of it.

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Automatic-Plan-9087@reddit

You forgot to add /s so we all knew you were being sarcastic 👍

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otheroneop@reddit

For real, criminal barristers are paid appallingly and have extremely difficult work to do, long hours, have to practically beg for their pay, and it costs lot to be educated and trained to get to that point in the first place. I know someone who spent hundreds of hours working on a case to be paid £200 at the end of it.

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

Being an NHS A&E nurse

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absent-mindedperson@reddit

PhD scientists

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85Neon85@reddit

Poker dealer. When you’re filling in official forms it’s classed as ‘manual- unskilled’ and no it fucking isn’t. Do it without any prior experience and see how far you get.

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Michaelh12345@reddit

I was a flight instructor - still need to self-fund the same route as an airline pilot. Cost me £85,000. And actually on top of this I paid for an £11,500 instructor rating. 2 years of intense training, exams, flying skill tests etc. I was teaching people to gain their private pilots licence. Very stressful having to sign students off first solo as you are authorising them to fly on your licence. Anything goes wrong there is a huge investigation. When I left after 18 months I calculated that I was underpaid £2300 less than minimum wage. Thankfully, now left for a much better paid job in aviation.

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snarkycrumpet@reddit

the support staff in hospitals often do very skilled jobs that are incredibly necessary, yet low wages and poor recognition. I have a family member stuck in hospital with an aggressive cancer and no immunity, and those people are there every day wheeling things in and out, cleaning the room to keep germs down, bringing in a cuppa, trying to tempt them to eat. often English isn't their first language yet they do so well, and we repay them with minimum wage

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gintokireddit@reddit

So many jobs are unexpectedly min wage nowadays. Admin, kitchen, caring, building labouring, cleaning, factory operative, warehouse operative. They're not always min wage, but you'll find adverts for those jobs on min wage. What's most difficult depends on what someone's natural aptitudes are - like neurodiverse people sometimes struggle with the demands of entry-level roles to a disproportionate degree, compared to higher up roles. Someone with atypical body language will struggle more on the front line on min wage than in a back office in a technical role. Someone with dyspraxia or just bad with their hands would struggle with handsy min wage jobs, eg some warehouse or factory roles (a lot of variation between roles). Someone who needs to write notes to remember things will stuggle more on till than in an office doing engineering - I'm have an A in A-level maths, but struggle more with maths on a cash register more than people who don't have a C in GCSE maths, due to my ADHD meaning I just forget the numbers in my head). To me the most skilled is caring, because of the mix of emotional and physical demands. The hardest is going to vary depending on workplace management and systems, but caring is up there, plus some warehouse, labouring and kitchen jobs are very busy and physically demanding. I'd say most guys wouldn't cut in the kitchen I worked in (too slow and wimpy). My friend's muscles clearly grew from labouring and some of the tasks sound treacherous.

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Subcora@reddit

In addition to all listed+ early years practitioners. It is the most critical stage of life, yet those who work in nurseries for instance are criminally underpaid for such important job.

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springsomnia@reddit

Care workers, cleaners, bus drivers, teachers and junior doctors.

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Designer-Wrangler656@reddit

I’d argue that being a barista is one of the most skilled minimum wage jobs out there. Juggling orders, crafting the perfect coffee, and managing to do it all with a smile (while under pressure) is no small feat. Plus, there’s a whole art to making those fancy lattes! Another contender has to be care workers. The emotional labor and physical demands they face every day are immense, and they often get paid far less than they deserve for the critical work they do. It’s wild how some jobs that require so much skill and dedication are still stuck at minimum wage while others barely break a sweat and get paid way more.

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SwanExternal4025@reddit

For me it has to be Teaching Assistants and Care Workers, my Mum was a TA who had to deal with challenging children and was given no respect from teachers above her. My friend is a care worker and the level of responsibility for the pay they get is awful, he tried to convince me to go into at one point when I was in between jobs, not a chance I will lol.

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cryptex23@reddit

Bus drivers

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AE_Phoenix@reddit

I'd say chef comes close. 10 hours a day at least, 6 days a week. You need to be skilled to do the job but you'll rarely be paid above minimum wage. You get (short) breaks, but you have to be at work when everybody else is going out so say goodbye to your social life outside of the kitchen. Most chefs turn to drugs and alcohol to cope because they're that overworked. It's awful.

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60sstuff@reddit

Anything that forces you to deal with the general public. I am not exaggerating when I state that about 50% of people are just really fucking dumb.

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MagicianTAO@reddit

Call centre/telephony work. Especially for those on the front lines.

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DangerousAvocado208@reddit

Care workers and nursery/childcare workers.

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indecisivepelican@reddit

I've just started as a nursery worker. Scrolling through this feeling so vindicated whenever this is mentioned lol

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clever-cowardly-crow@reddit

care workers absolutely, but i just started as a teaching assistant, and man… its utterly wild to me that to be supporting SEN kids, you need zero qualifications and are paid essentially less than minimum wage. i’m paid 19k/39 weeks, bc summer holidays are unpaid (not true for teachers). the job needs massive union support imo, but there just arent enough of us, theres such a shortage

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AxisOfAverage@reddit

Teaching Assistants, particularly in special needs schools. Over the years I did it I had chairs thrown at my head, I was kicked, punched, had hair ripped out, had shit literally thrown at me, a masturbating child and had a lump bitten out of the back of my hand. We had a supply TA once whose sun was a pupil at the school. He was quite high functioning and after a day in our class she said she never wanted to work SEND again.

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Nightfire_Reddit@reddit

Haven't seen it mentioned yet but Multi-activity instructing, particularly in watersports, was mad work when I look back on it. Long, physically demanding days, minding groups of kids intent on killing themselves with the equipment (from jumping onto your powerboats prop blades to capsizing a dinghy on their head and not being able to get out from underneath). Not to mention you need loads of hours in training in a particularly expensive sports like windsurfing, sailing and powerboating then potentially having to pay for multiple NGB memberships from your already pitiful salary. The level of responsibility given for the pay is pretty crazy, though between it and the other options I see on this post, there were definitely some nicer days that were worth being there for!

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manamara1@reddit

Childcare

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DavidC_is_me@reddit

I reckon childcare must be a tougher job than it used to be. A disturbing amount of parents now seem to think their child should be able to do what they want and it doesn't matter who else the behaviour affects.

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Forsaken-Original-28@reddit

My partner works in early years childcare. Unsure if it's due to the demographics of the nursery/town changing or maybe pandemic related but there seems to be far more children coming into nursery with developmental issues now than there was when she started 8 years ago or so

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DavidC_is_me@reddit

Could be the pandemic, but I think it's far more a case of parents who are addicted to their phones. Kids don't get as much normal social interaction as they are supposed to and it's messing them up. Adults today seem more dysfunctional than they did 20 years ago. Imagine what lies ahead, when the current generation of kids reach adulthood.

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Forsaken-Original-28@reddit

I'm not sure. She reckons loads more kids have serious developmental issues now which can't just be caused by crap parenting. There's a steady stream of kids coming in who she can't imagine ever being able to become a productive part of society.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Anyone over the age of 40 are screwed when they're looking at this current generation for caring in the next 30-40 years. The government (or the last) will have you believe it's caused by the pandemic, but there's been so many years of failings and cuts before that.

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Forsaken-Original-28@reddit

It's alright all the caring will be done by imported workers in slave wages. Nothing can go wrong with that

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MoseSchrute70@reddit

Hear hear I think the wage is half the reason people believe we do much less than we do - most of us are degree educated childhood development and education professionals. We’re often the first port of call in noticing delays and implementing early intervention in children’s learning and development. But it’s still heavily implied on a daily basis that I’m only there to play with the children.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

I don't want to assume gender here, but it is still typically a role filled by women, and I genuinely think that if it was a male orientated role the wage wouldn't be so shite.

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pennypenny22@reddit

Jobs that area female coded are paid badly. Childcare, adult care, teaching (to some extent, definitely TA's as mentioned), cleaning, etc. If something gets female coded the wages drop. Social media roles in companies for example. Women used to be hired to be 'computers' and the wages were low. Then tech improved and men started to enter in bigger numbers, and now it's a high paying industry.

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MoseSchrute70@reddit

100% It’s also a shame that when men try to enter the sector they’re shamed and made to feel like they’re doing something wrong for wanting to work with children. (Weirdly only seems to happen in Early Years though? If a man wanted to go and work with a similar age group in a primary school it’s a different story.)

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Absolutely appalling!

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myredditname8@reddit

The amount of hours teachers do it basically works out to be minimum wage!

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byjimini@reddit

When I worked in retail I was often a carer and metal health nurse before a shop assistant, given the amount of elderly, lonely, and stressed people I had to deal with, talk to, calm down, etc.

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grubbygromit@reddit

Careers are not properly paid for their skills and commitment.

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Creative-Cookie7494@reddit

Teaching assistants

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cornishjb@reddit

Children’s home carers. Very difficult job

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Icy-Project6261@reddit

I do care work.. it's not for everyone. I do 7am to 9pm, killing myself for fuck all.

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PrimeZodiac@reddit

Grooms / working with horses. If done well, a good groom will have skills and/or knowledge of: equine first aid (could be low level identifying whats wrong to actual bandages or poulticing (lame, ill etc.), tacking up with correct equipment, rugging up, grooming, feeding, stabling etc. and then there's the in-hand work (how to correctly lead, lunge, etc.), or actually riding (insert list of disciplines and the niche requirements for each! Should add the cleaning, general yard maintenance is pretty manual (throwing bales of hay around). On top of all that, then there's the actual horses themselves, which can be unpredictable at best! So, many horror stories of when things go wrong on or off them (or to themselves...). So, for a pretty low wage, it really is a thing of passion rather than a job!

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PotatoOld9579@reddit

Carers!!!!!!

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Original_Bad_3416@reddit

School support staff. They are the back bone.

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Koholinthibiscus@reddit

Got to be care work

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StiffAssedBrit@reddit

Care workers should be on double, or even triple, and then I still wouldn't do it.

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RoyalFormer6538@reddit

Care work 100% So underpaid & undervalued from Carers, HCA to Nurses. & everyone in-between.

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Kingsworth@reddit

ITT: people listing low skilled jobs…

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TedSaladLightArtist@reddit

Firefighter

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Jazzylondonuk@reddit

Care workers are so underpaid

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Evening-Ad9149@reddit

Care work or teaching assistant in special education needs school (depends on school, but state run SEN schools are effectively minimum wage for being a punch bag).

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atomic_mermaid@reddit

Carer, every single time. I used to work in the head office for one and fuck me the level of work, detail, knowledge and responsibility these businesses expect off minimum wage is astonishing.

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New-Strategy-1673@reddit

Late evening weekend checkout worker.. I work in a blue light role, my wife works Saturday nights in a supermarket. I have no doubt that she gets more shit and is in greater danger than me. In 10 years she's been assault more often than me. It plays on my mind every weekend

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stay_kind91@reddit

I'm a carer for young disabled people. And I'm on 11.44ph. I get bit,punch,spat on daily. I love my job but I think the pay is shite. And I think the goverment are sick to think we are worth nothing. Everyone will need a carer one day (maybe a few % will not) but most of us will.

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nlttttt@reddit

Handyman I always deal with chemicals, hazards and work at height but getting paid minimum wage

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Difficult_Cat_7287@reddit

Care work. I've worked in every area of health care, but the hardest, albeit my favourite sector was working in a psychiatric hospital. I was a senior so did get paid a little more (laughable still) but everyone else was minimum wage. The patients were all incredible and I'm proud of every single one, but its such a difficult job, physically and mentally with no support, lack of staff and resources and hardly any pay. The things we witnessed and went through was unbelievable. I could write books about my years working there.

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Ferretonline@reddit

Nursery nurse. People leave their children in their safe hands.

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x_becktah@reddit

Sorry what's a "nursery nurse"? Do you mean nursery worker?

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

The up to date term is early years educator!

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x_becktah@reddit

No, that's just one of the roles. [https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/nursery-worker](https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/nursery-worker) Many times it will be someone without a level 2 or 3 cert that is "helping" out. Nursery worker is much more inclusive of the various levels of qualification and roles in a nursery. (My sister also works in a nursery)

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Da1sycha1n@reddit

Yes, there are other roles in nurseries, but the term 'nursery nurse' specifically is the old school term for the role of early years educator.

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Abject-Raspberry5875@reddit

Carers

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

Kitchen assistants. Cooking various meals and baking desserts at once whilst being mindful of allergens and religious requirements. Regular training required and knowledge of legal requirements, temps, hazardous chemicals and suppliers

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ArcadeCrossfire@reddit

For what it’s worth, kitchen assistants don’t do any of that and they forget all mandatory training as soon as they’ve done it. Well that’s if the dozens of assistants I’ve had to deal with over the last 2 decades are anything to go by at least.

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

I did have to do all of the above in my previous role for 8p above minimum wage. Different settings may not be as strict but there certainly are Kitchen Assistants who are regularly monitored to ensure they follow all of these procedures

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ArcadeCrossfire@reddit

You were definitely being taken advantage of then. Assistants are there to assist, not to do the chefs job. I’ll generally only get mine to help with veg prep & very minor things like sandwich fillings. What sector were you in? I’ve had a go in most types of kitchens except the huge development or office canteen corporate type places and haven’t expected that sort of work from KAs

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idontlikemondays321@reddit

Yes I think most of us were taken advantage of and the contracts were deliberately vague. I worked for a cash strapped council

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SmokyBarnable01@reddit

Speciality retail e.g. Wine. Years of courses to learn all about your specialist field and you end up on minimum wage. Obviously not the *most highly skilled/challenging* job but considering what you have to know to do the job effectively, the rewards are terrible.

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2004ClubChampion@reddit

Teaching assistants. Nursery nurses. The actual job is complex given the needs of the children, the risks attached being responsible for dozens of children in the TA example, babies at nursery.

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Katodz@reddit

Teaching assistants/learning Support. Because most places are pro rata the wage is terrible

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Silly-Marionberry332@reddit

Security

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knitscones@reddit

Care workers and early years workers.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

I wonder what op are using these answers for...

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DomoreSS@reddit

Pool lifeguard. 5 day qualification, monthly mandatory 2 hour refresh training, it's unbearably hot, many parents are lazy and don't look after their kids correctly and their lives are in your hands. You could lose focus for 1minute of a 6 hour shift and have a dead kid to deal with.

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otheroneop@reddit

Care work absolutely

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Katharinemaddison@reddit

Carer work obviously. Many many minimum wage jobs involve hard work and high skills. But care work is the most important and the one it is most criminal how low paid it is.

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Affectionate_Day7543@reddit

Trainee vet nurse. I would literally be responsible for keeping someone’s pet alive under anaesthetic and be getting paid minimum wage.

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Automatic-Plan-9087@reddit

There’s so many bottom end jobs that require a huge amount of physical effort and carry a lot of responsibility. On the other hand, we’re a society that pays more per year than most bottom end workers will earn in a lifetime, to a bunch of overgrown schoolboys who kick a bag of wind up and down a field for 90 minutes. Or give £85M to someone to write and record 5 albums of music - say 10 hours worth? Worst of all? The government, of whichever persuasion, will have all the peasants at each others throats, worrying about someone getting a pound an hour more, or being given a pitiful amount of benefits, or being an immigrant getting put up in a hotel, when they are milking the country for all they can, either by pushing multi million pound contracts to their mates and families or taking “directorships” where they can funnel those same contracts to line their own pockets. Best of all? They’ve got us so used to the system that we let them empty our pockets of our hard earned coin by way of taxes whilst they employ accountants to avoid any such liability.

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mronion82@reddit

My first job was taking 999 calls for £6.25- which was time and a quarter for the night shift.

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PoliticsNerd76@reddit

Care Work. It’s insane they get so much as a single soul doing it lol

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x_becktah@reddit

It's an easy way for foreigners to get work visas. Luckily some of those countries also have a great work ethic and do a great work in care work. Workers from the Philippines are fantastic - India: hit and miss.

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fleetwood_mag@reddit

Daycare workers. Dealing with several screaming toddlers all day long. We pay them peanuts and they have a massive influence on the lives of the next generation. It makes no sense.

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LittleSheff@reddit

Architect

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psychopathic_shark@reddit

I worked (just left) in a mental health crisis care centre for the NHS. I was a call handler and would take crisis calls that were deemed a year ago due to the intensity of the calls to be handled by a mental health nurse. Due to low staffing levels the hcsws (unqualified staff) were left to deal with these calls. There was guidance from a qualified member of staff however this staff member had a lot on and it became more difficult to speak with them. We had no official training as to how to deal with these calls you simply learnt on the job. You could take a call from someone who was stressed about their radiator not working to someone actively overdosing or stating on a bridge and would not disclose their location or who they are. Some calls have been very difficult to a 15 year old ligaturing whist on the phone to myself to a male who kept hanging up yet you could hear trains scarily close by. This was a £13 an hour job and yes that pays more than most. You become an exceptional negotiator and in 5 years of doing that job I have only been to coroners court once (I never ever want to go again!) a tactile and skilled response is second to none but due to the fact that the risks are so high and the stress levels so high the qualified staff refuse to take that responsibility. I loved the job but sadly management were tough on us and always told us we were not good enough to be doing the job yet they would not implement training so that we could manage the calls they simply told us we were not fast enough to answer calls and we were not skilled enough to answer these calls and never put qualified staff on the call. There were constant threats of conduct management yet no praise for actually all the hard work we did.

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jlb8@reddit

I'd go with care work.

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SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit

Any sort of care work and childcare. The general public begrudge decent pay or at least don't think they should have to pay much for people to carry out this work and that makes the low pay and challenging work even more devaluing

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lethargyundone@reddit

It's probably not the absolute worst for minimum wage but mine is close - hotel receptionist. Often left on shift alone to deal with any kind of guest issue, lots of responsibility, lots of different tasks and you need some serious customer service skills. Horrendous shifts and often not given 12 hours rest break between shifts - forget taking the breaks we are not even paid for while on shift. I could stack shelves or operate a checkout for the same wage and I think I just might because this job is a nightmare.

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barrybreslau@reddit

Teaching Assistant. They are responsible for delivering half the syllabus, interventions for SEN kids and also have to deal with the bad behaviour and pastoral care. They get paid peanuts. To add insult to injury, they allow schools to save money they used to spend on supply teachers.

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goldenbrowncow@reddit

There was no such thing when I was at school. Are the teachers less skilled now or are the pupils more demanding?

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icklepeach@reddit

It feels like the latter, but I’d say it’s more to do with the pace of the curriculum and the expected standards. Kids are doing stuff by the end of KS2 that I did in my 2nd year of secondary school. It’s relentless and exhausting and overwhelming, and there’s precious little opportunity for fun. And then you meet kids who are 12 who tell you that they “aren’t allowed to do art*” because they’ve always been taken out for more maths and English catch up sessions. *or computing, or cooking, or drama, or music or anything else that’s fun. It was art in this kid’s case and my heart broke.

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barrybreslau@reddit

Class sizes are massive, children are more disruptive, SEN kids are mostly mainstream, unless they are seriously disabled and as per comment. TAs also deliver lessons when teachers are either a) they are covering for the teacher who is doing the endless paperwork, referrals and other non teaching stuff and b) when the teacher is off sick. TAs also do interventions where they take kids out of class to help children who can't speak and spell etc.

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riverbadger@reddit

Teachers are more skilled now. Lots of factors at play here. Closure of special needs schools, long NHS waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment of SEND, no family support workers, understaffed social services, closure of early intervention services and the decimation of school funding. All of that has led to this situation.

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movetotherhythm@reddit

There’s more pupils per teacher now, and they’re working with a legacy of fifteen years of chronic underfunding

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AnnoyedHaddock@reddit

Teachers generally have much larger classes now, they often teach more classes than they used too as well.

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Intelligent_Bar_710@reddit

It’s possible that your school didn’t have TAs. We had a TA in my secondary school class in the mid 1990:. It’s not a new role by any stretch.

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dlystyr@reddit

Health Care Assistants

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pigmapuss@reddit

Nursery workers! I am constantly amazed by the sheer breadth of what they do with my child from changing nappies, helping with potty training, following early years curriculum, even dealing with the range of ages at that level (6 months & 2 years are very different beasts to manage), the customer service aspect of role when managing parents particularly with constant updates that are now required, working with children who have additional needs often before anything has been formally diagnosed due to age, safeguarding, etc.

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Japanese-Gigolo@reddit

Truck driving

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SquidgeSquadge@reddit

Care work and dental nursing. I went from one to the other. I love dental nursing and the better house/ more responsibilities but fuck it's depressing how little it pays despite it's essential role and need of renewing training. Care work I did crazy extra hours for but I definitely worked overtime most days and didn't get paid for all of it. Dental nursing I get paid barely more than minimum but I see many jobs out there wanting a qualified nurse for minimum wage. I'd get more working in Lidl.

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Dragon_M4st3r@reddit

Dealing with you lot in any capacity (the public)

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Eire-head@reddit

Any job looking after the vulnerable, care work, childminding, etc

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Mundane_Revolution46@reddit

Care work, hands down. The lack of value placed on care is shocking

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Old_Introduction_395@reddit

I was a carer for adults with complex diagnosis, and challenging behaviours. On strong medication. Living in secure residential accommodation. Man weighing 15+ stone having a meltdown is scarey. Two staff at all times. 14 hour shifts. Several staff needed visits to casualty. All for minimum wage.

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fioridave08@reddit

It simply has to be care work. The workload/physical and emotional toll vs the remuneration is a joke.

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LAcasper@reddit

I work in education payroll, specifically for support staff. Teaching assistants get paid fuck all and SEN teaching assistants get paid less than fuck all - it's despicable.

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Tammer_Stern@reddit

HGV drivers sometimes are getting minimum wage which is bull for such a huge amount of responsibility and risk.

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Thatsnotderek@reddit

Teaching assistant. Especially these days,in the past it may have been whole class support/admin/ supporting the teacher but these days you're usually working with the most vulnerable children, left with no devices beyond an ehcp and expected to "manage" the behaviour of that child/children with very little input. Paid less than minimum wage and physically attacked regularly and never thanked for it. Is it a wonder schools are struggling to employ TAs these days?!

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Precipiceofasneeze@reddit

Literally anything that falls under the "customer service" umbrella. If you're dealing with the general public, on shitty shift patterns, are consistently treated like shit by management as well as customers, are expected to clean up bodily fluids as part of your regular tasks, are at the frontline of disgruntled people and at risk of being attacked etc etc etc, then the job should come with a significant hazard pay premium.

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shaneo8668@reddit

Simply Living.

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Nyx_Necrodragon101@reddit

Carers in the NHS. No argument, hands down. The shit these people have to put up with sometimes literally is nuts.

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