Apprientice wages

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by markysparky, Nov 18, 2005.

  1. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    Anybody got an apprientice and if so how much are you paying him??

    My apprientice is on his 3rd year with his part1 already under his belt and I pay him £6.50 per hour including days at college.

    I know the JIB rate is over £7 but does anybody actually pay the JIB rates??

    Or am I paying him too much?? :(
     
  2. Top Trumper

    Top Trumper New Member

    MARKYSPARKY, U ARE A ***........
     
  3. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    Thanks we aim to please!! ;)
     
  4. sparkydude

    sparkydude Member

    JIB wages are ** in my oppinion, i was working for the company that i did my apprenticeship with for ten years and when i left 2 years ago i was on £11.50 an hour (non JIB company) i moved up north , was self employed for a while subbing , i was on £15.50 an hour then, but had to pay digs money out of that and now working for a JIB company with the pittance of £10.84 an hour . In my experience the JIB rates are the bare minimum you can expect to get, so if your paying less than JIB your out of order,

    [Edited by: forum admin]
     
  5. 3c Electrics

    3c Electrics New Member

    Marky

    Unless he is totally useless , which I assume he's not as he still works for you......You should be paying him JIB rates as a minimum. If you think he is good pay him more.. Any less and your taking the **** and don't be surprised when he jacks at short notice.

    If you pay him 50p per hour more than JIB rates he will maybe do more work so everyone is happy.

    He can then tell all his mates at college what a good boss you are.....

    3c
     
  6. Pyro

    Pyro New Member

    Marky,

    Jeez, man, this is a hornet's nest of a subject!! You're a brave guy to have opened it. Does your appy know of this forum?

    Think back to when you were an appy....
    How much were you on?
    How does your appy pay relate to today's appy pay - is the cost-of-living buying-power of the rates the same?

    Would you be p**d-off if you were in your appy's shoes and on his rate?..... and thinking of legging it on qualification?
    How much do you pay yourself? (don't answer it here, but think about it).

    This is not the same as having an appy, but there is a guy I call in when I get overloaded. He's good at his job and I pay over the odds. He's always keen and always does a good job. If I had enough work, I'd take him on full time, with full consideration to this:
    Good guys are hard to find; if you've got one, make it damn worth his while to stick around. If you are a one-man business what will happen to the company (and your level of income) when you retire? Could he keep you living in the syle you have become accustomed to once you retire?
     
  7. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    Marky,

    Think back to when you were an appy....
    How much were you on?
    How does your appy pay relate to today's appy pay -
    is the cost-of-living buying-power of the rates the
    same?
    >



    FYI I started out on £30 a week for 2 years and not much more after that. That was 1990 so it wasn't that long ago.

    As far as JIB rates go. They are a bit unfair as labour rates vary across the country. I live in the North East which is one of the lowest costs of living in the country. If I even attempted to charge anywhere near what they do in the moneybags South, I'd end up getting chucked in the river tyne but I'm still obliged to pay the same as the southerns are.

    My apprientice takes home £210 a week after deductions which isn't bad considering I only have him 4 days a week. And when I do have him a lot of the time I'm explaining to him what to do and how to do it. Which means that sometimes he is slowing me down.

    He is a good lad and he is useful at times (when he isn't texting his girlfriend)

    Even if he did leave he wouldn't be hard to replace as I am constantly getting phone callls to me every other day from young lads wanting me to take them on.

    I take it that most of the responses, none of them are from people that are actually working for themselves. I would say that most are actually apprientices that expect to start off on £20 grand a year for doing naff all like most young lads are.

    Apprentices should be motivated by experience not money. Take a job where you can chaps as there seems to be more college places than jobs out there. According to the CV's I have been sent.
     
  8. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    Obviously a few of the regular self employed lads are too scared to reply??

    Or aren't there too many of them with apprientices??
     
  9. Trip-Lock

    Trip-Lock New Member

    I would say that most are actually apprientices that expect to start off on £20 grand a year for doing naff all like most young lads are.

    My last 'help' had the same idea. After 3 months he said that has he 'works' as hard as me he should get half the profits !!

    I said good luck in your quest and binned him. Nobody wants to learn the trade over a ccouple of years. They want the big money now for no effort and risk.

    I've almost given up trying to find an apprentice.

    Triplock
     
  10. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

  11. Pyro

    Pyro New Member

    Marky,
    Thanks for the posting. Wow, £30 per week is disgusting and quite an incentive to go self employed.
    Your lad's honey-texting would wind me up as well.

    Yeah, I guess that the concept of big-money now without the effort is a problem with youngsters. None of the interest in the job (like I had as a youngster, and also the guy who I mentioned I pull in when needed).

    My guess is that one of the major factors for us self-employed guys is that we do the work we do because we are interested in it. Maybe the youngsters do not have the same level of interest?
     
  12. Trip-Lock

    Trip-Lock New Member

    My guess is that one of the major factors for us self-employed guys is that we do the work we do because we are interested in it. Maybe the youngsters do not have the same level of interest?

    Thats exactly it. I do it because it because I enjoy what I do. The idea that I work for myself, and that I am not accountable to others always puts a smile on my face.

    When I talk to youngsters, with a view to taking them on, there is no enthusiasm about the trade. All they want to know is how much holiday pay, sick pay and wage increases their going to get. I can't find anyone who actually just wants to learn the trade. They fail to understand that if they knuckled down, they could reaped the rewards in due course, because if I grow as a company, then I would reward them accordingly. But they want it all NOW.

    Rant over. Off to Lakeside shopping. Go help me!!

    Triplock
     
  13. baldelectrician.com

    baldelectrician.com Well-Known Member

    I have found similar, most youngsters who want to be an apprentice don't have an interest in electrics, but want an apprenticeship. It is unusual to find someone who has an interest in the job.

    My apprentice (who broke his wrist last week) in very keen and willing to learn. This type are like hens teeth.

    I had another chap out who was less than interested- he was sitting watching TV whilst I was working in the Kitchen wiring a socket !! (got sacked same day)
     
  14. dingbat

    dingbat New Member

    My experience in further education (both sides of the desk!) entirely bear out the negative comments in this thread. I would say though, that it is not the fault of the kids - after all, whatever garbage they are fed by the 'meedja', they are just kids - but of the society that treats them with such reverence.

    "Children are our future"? Are they now? So what happens when you reach eighteen - are you now simply part of the past?
     
  15. baldelectrician.com

    baldelectrician.com Well-Known Member

    dingbat ?

    18?

    You can do an apprenticeship until you are 24
     
  16. baldelectrician.com

    baldelectrician.com Well-Known Member

  17. dingbat

    dingbat New Member

    Baldy, that comment had nothing to do with apprentices; it was to point out the current political obsession with filling thick kids full of false hope. (No apologies for the breakdown in political correctness there. :) )
     
  18. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    My apprientice is 23 years old he started out when he was 21. Not a bad thing getting an older appy as he has a grip on reality and the sillyness has been flushed out of him but he is learning and is happy which is what it is all about

    I understand fully what you are on about Dingbat, but you will know yourself that being a sole trader is that you cannot carry any passangers for too long or you will find yourself in bother.

    When I started out on the good ole YTS, my boss didn't have to pay me anything so he didn't. So wether or not you where a numpty you still had time to sort yourself out, but now people like myself can't afford to be so accomadating as you will just be throwing good money after bad.

    Things like NI increases and how easy it is to find yourself up in front of an employment tribunal is even less incentive for firms taking on young lads. Not to mention the influx of tradesmen from Eastern Europe.
     
  19. baldelectrician.com

    baldelectrician.com Well-Known Member

    db

    yup I agree , they seem intent in sending kids to UNI to do a course that doesn't get them a job, instead of sending them to an apprenticeship or similar. Then they would wake up in the real world and probably be better for it.
     
  20. markysparky

    markysparky New Member

    Funnilly enough Stuart, that is excatly what happened to my lad!
     

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