This story encompasses everything wrong with modern buisness’.
My wife is currently on maternity leave, and is due back in work late August. This is our first child, and the thought of going back to work full time is playing on my wife’s mind very heavily. It’s not just that the cost of full time child care is so high, meaning that more than half of her pay check would go towards it; it’s the idea that she would only get to see her 9 month old daughter for 2-3 hours a day that is really difficult.
Now, my wife’s company claims to be ‘all about family’, but when she has discussed her concerns and mental unrest at this grim prospect, and even offered several work-arounds like part-time hours or WFH so that she can still spend time with her first born child, her company has made it painfully clear that they are not interested in helping her out, as they haven’t even entertained the idea or feigned consideration.
All of this is made even worse by the fact that her manager and the MD constantly work from home to facilitate their needs, yet they are the ones who are shutting the dialogue down.
But the letter she got from her work regarding a ‘pay raise’ has really put the final nail in the coffin.
The company recently sent her a letter that stated “the company has always worked to keep your salary competitive, and with a minimum wage increase and increased living cost we want to give you a raise ; that’s why we have given you an pay increase of £240 per year (1%). Due to this pay increase, you will not be eligible for another pay review for 12 months.”
This fucking company had the balls to deny her any help as a first time mother returning to work, and sends her a letter that outlines a pay increase that means she is marginally above the new minimum wage, whilst also stating that because of this generous and gracious gift (which she didn’t ask for) she will not be eligible for a pay review.
Whilst inflation rages at around ~13%, and the minimum wage increases by about 7%, her company gives a 1% increase. This puts her salary at a few hundred £’s above minimum wage, and her company expects her to stay for that amount of pay, instead of just finding some other part time job.
We did some maths on the MD’s salary; and worked out that he roughly makes my wife’s yearly salary in a month, which makes it all the more sickening. He also doesn’t really do anything, as my wife and her team essentially do all his leg work whilst he rakes in hundreds of thousands a year.
This company states that maternity pay must be repayed if the employee leaves the company before 3 months of returning to work. As a result, she will use all her holidays to effectively extended her leave for a month, then go off sick with a note from her GP regarding her mental health. Once the 3 months is past, she is going to leave without a lick of work.
Fuck them.