So, this will probably be a little bit of a rant and an ongoing tale of current events, sorry for any intelligibility, I can have an odd way of expressing things.
In my line of work, truck driver, I’ve got 10 years experience, with 7 in a particular style of truck. The same type of truck I drive now. I’ve got a near perfect driving record, I’ve got more license upgrades recorded than infractions, it’s almost boring to look at. And I can easily prove my ability in this line of work, without trying to brag, I’m damn good at what I do.
I’ve also got a significant amount of experience in other areas, mechanic, management, sales, basic IT and a fair whack more. Jack of all trades, master of (n)one.
Basically, my company will hire out the trucks to other companies as required on an hourly basis, these other companies generally have the same type of vehicles and just need more due to the workload. Being an hourly basis, if I do a full 12 hours worth of work in 12 hours, the company I work for gets the exact same if I did 6 hours work and stretched it to last 12 hours. Hopefully that makes sense. The client company obviously prefers the first option as it’s proper value for their money. And it’s the option I provide. The guys I work with at the client company are great, friendly and supportive.
In doing this work I found out that they earn at least 25% more than me per hour. Even the guys with a lot less experience or none. And following a bit more research I found that the market rate for my line of work had me underpaid by at least that same 25%.
So, I sent all that to my manager via text and arranged an in person talk when I returned to the yard in the afternoon. In the meantime, talking to the manager at the client company, I mentioned I was trying to return to the yard by a certain time and why. He asked what I was paid, laughed at the answer and said if I wasn’t happy with what they offered me he’d put me on in a second for nearly 30% above my hourly rate. But it’d be a longer commute.
However, it just shows that my value is set between that 25-30% and explained that in the meeting. One of the things said to me was that he wouldn’t try and stop people chasing the money to a different company, which looking back on it, sounds pretty pathetic.
The answer I got though, was that they’d look into it Monday.
I let the guy who offered me the other job know what was said, as I said I would follow up with him either way, he just laughed. Not at me, but how shortsighted the company is.
So, now I wait. I’m going to enjoy my weekend. Play with my son, and not let work bother me. And I’ll see how it plays out next week.