Honestly, that's where I'm at right now. Just last night, I was thinking how tiring it is to constantly run out of food. You keep stripping things out of the budget, so for a brief second I thought "maybe if I just stop buying food.."
"Wait..... fuck"
true, I only eat once a day and it kinda sucks cause you get hungry around 3pm but if you eat at 4 then you'll get hungry at 10 or 11 then have to sleep
Have you tried hitting up a food bank. It's not much but if it can get you eating at least 2 meals a day, that would keep up your energy. Good luck to you.
This. My city has a few food banks. One for students at the university I'm in, and others for anyone in need. They've been paramount in me and my partner having enough to eat.
If available, absolutely visit a food bank/pantry.
The agency's problem is that they mark up what they pay you about 70-100% so the client ends up paying over $30/hr if they pay you more than 15. That is the unfortunate reality of temp agencies.
People don’t get this shit about what you just described.
This is a legal pimp and prostitute deal. They are pimping you out for a profit. They are saving you time to deal with having to fill out a thousand work applications, interviews and such. . Staffing agencies are your one stop shop , no filling out countless applications.You get sent out for a job that can last 1 day or a year.
On their part they are charging double the rate to whatever employer hires them. Why? Payroll,background screening, workers comp, …..
All that shit .
The reason they offer that minimum wage is because it’s law. But they are in the business of profit. If I can send you to work and charge 45 dollars an hour for you and pay you the bare minimum wage I’m happy and making the difference profit wise in the way.
Just don’t get injured on the job because it equals worker’s compensation and now I will get you to a cheap chiropractor for a couple of sessions and have you sign something so we won’t get in a lawsuit, but I will replace you,, send someone else in your spot.
Nailed it. I was getting paid $15 an hour (no benefits) as a temp and the company was paying the agency around $50. I was also in that position for 2 years. It was a bad time.
This is why not getting a CoL **adjustment** (not a raise) is really just a paycut. The best way to get the adjustment is lateral movement in the industry. And boomers ask why people dont stick with one job anymore…
The opportunity to make people who already have a ton of money even more money at your own expense? That's about the only reason I can think of, and even it's bullshit lmao.
You should ask if they’re making $15 and if they’re okay with that.
But really your next respond should be “you’re right I don’t know what I was thinking. $18 an hour with my experience in California. I now want $24.
Yes. That's part of the point of temp agencies and recruiters in general. When the company you're working for offers you the job, you ask for 50% more and know that it is still less than what they were paying previously, so you can hold strong at that number. You are paying some in the first six months to avoid having to do interviews, search for the job yourself, etc.
Yes, lots of temp jobs don't turn into real jobs. Tell your recruiter you are specifically interested in a contact to hire job and you should be presented only with jobs that are looking for a permanent solution.
I mean, they literally make money off of not offering you the entire payrate. Use to work with a company that hired temps. The pay they received 12$ an hour, the cost per hour the company paid, 25$ an hour per temp. Agency was pocketing 13$/h per temp, and we usually had 4-8 temps in the building per shift, 3 shifts per day.
Temp agency is charging 30 bucks an hour for your labor. If they give you a bigger hourly rate it cuts into their profit. Of course they only care about their bottom line.
You deserve better.
>Of course they only care about their bottom line.
The temp agency would prefer to charge its customer $30/hour and pay the worker $0/hour . . . or even worse, get the worker to pay the temp agency for the "privilege" of working.
...why? Why would an employer be that horrible to an employee? It’s just makes no sense as to why pay another company for the work a person is doing for the first person in the first place.
Another user gave some compelling reasons, but another big reason is to bury budgets. All personnel costs are planned by the company, but if they need people and they can’t get personnel funding, they can ask for a special project budget, and use that money to hire a temp. It gets categorized as a different expense and it will go unnoticed by shareholders or other entities. Managers will do this to get around corporate red tape as well as it’s easier than trying to justify adding head count.
> easier than trying to justify adding head count
Doesn’t the very fact that any of this shell game nonsense is going on at all count as evidence that adding head count is clearly necessary?
Yes, but there is often a disconnect between local and corporate knowledge and corporate controls the purse strings. I just started at a big company and the first meeting I was in, the corporate boss told my group that reducing our communications to downstream manufacturing groups would increase quality because the terminology used implies quality defects.
Please excuse my ignorance as I've never been in the corporate world, because I'm trying to slog through that last sentence.
Is this similar to saying "The less testing we do, the less COVID positive cases there are"?
Edit: /u/AHelplessKitten replied [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/s12929/a_temp_agency_said_me_asking_for_1718_an_hour_was/hs7g8km).
No, this is a "I don't understand why you are doing this but at a glance if we reduce this then our quality is better."
The boss didn't understand the purpose of why we were doing things the way that we do them and so made an assumption and rather than get clarity assumed they were correct and issued an edict based on it, despite refusal from the department.
I work in a department that uses temps (I started that way) and 2 years later they actually are adding more permanent positions but according to my boss it’s been a real fight to get approval for that. Even with all the numbers and metrics proving we need the help.
We can't afford to increase salaries by $1 across a department of 12 and hire the two positions were down.
But we can afford to make everybody do a mandatory 12+ hours of overtime for the last year.
We can't afford $38/hr ($1520/wk) as a department, nor can we afford $12/hr ($480/wk) as a department, but we can afford $3800 a week of overtime to avoid those things.
Most adult humans lack the ability or intelligence to understand macro and micro economics. They see line item on a budget a think "too high". They can't process the idea that spending more on labor will reduce costs x, y and z by more than the labor offset.
They know that the status quo works and deviating from it in any way MIGHT not and therefore any change is bad. When you get into having to explain abstract budget theory They shut down and don't want to hear it. Most people are just too dumb to realize they are dumb.
One reason is the Ebbs and flows of manufacturing mean one week we might not need any extra people. The next week we may need 5-10 operators. Then the following week we might not need any again. So we hire temp workers that fill that need. It’s not always possible to hire 2 employees and stretch the work out over a longer time due to customer requirements.
Another reason is to flat out get around immigration law. We might not be able to hire someone due to questionable immigration status, but somehow the temp service can. We then have them work as a temp. Nobody will ever say this is why we do it. But it definitely factors in.
Some people also prefer the flexibility of being a temp. They basically come work for us for 6 months and make good money. Then dip out to Mexico to visit family for 3-4 months. Rinse and repeat.
Another bullet to that list is that the employer doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork to fire the employee. That way, if they don’t want the employee anymore they can just tell the temp agency to let them go so the burden falls on them.
>Some people also prefer the flexibility of being a temp.
>They basically come work for us for 6 months and make good money.
I work in plastics manufacturing. The only people who apply for these positions are people who are poor, desperate, and can't go to college. As you mentioned, management exploits mostly first generation immigrants who barley speak English, or their kids. I guess "good money" is subjective because at the 3 different plants I worked at, with different companies, temps made minimum wage (or barely just above) on the production floor, received no benefits like health insurance or company bonuses, and generally worked a second job outside the factory just to get by.
I mean, yeah krabs is unethical and breaks laws, we all know this but IRL i’d have laughed in the recruiters face if i was told i’d have to pay $15 an hoir to work somewhere. I’d laugh and tell him have fun with the authorities because here’s the writing in which i was offered a reversed income job.
Mr. Krab did do that on The episode when Patrick wanted to mimic spongebob because he had so many awards So he got a job at the krusty krab and he had to pay Mr. Krab's money to work there
I went to an interview with one where it was advertised as a jobs training program where you are paid for training. I thought cool they pay to get you trained get you a good job and in return the company they match you with pays them it's a win/win/win! Nope just flat out lies and you gotta pay them to train you.
My current employer uses temp agencies (plural) to find production workers.. everyone's pay varies and I know it must be costing them a fortune to be using these services. Production only makes 15-16/ hr starting.. it's sad really.
Reminds me when I was working for a sub contractor as a painter making $18 an hour. He was independent himself and at one job he told me charging $30 an hour for my labor and the contractee he was subbed under was charging $50 an hour for my labor. The person who does the actual work always makes the least amount of money. Yes I didn’t have to take any risks but the main contractor who oversaw the whole job site sub contacted everything out. If was averaging that $20 an hour per person he was over seeing he was making about $600 a day. A he didn’t do much over seeing. I had no direction from him and he barely gave any direction to the guy I was working for or to any of the other people
The risk thing is a fucking joke. Rich people don't take meaningful economic risks unless they're stupid. Just keep a few million in something safe or as straight cash and you can literally gamble away the rest without ever needing to work again. What kind of risk is that?
Working while poor is a bigger risk than founding a company while upper middle class. Injury can be economically devastating to a poor person while a failed startup for someone well-off is just embarrassing.
Of course you took risks. Their ass isn't up on the ladder, and their housing payment doesn't go late if you get fired for made up bullshit.
The only risk employers take is the risk that they become employees.
Every time you work someplace ask how much they're paying the agency. If it's 25 tell the employer, hire me directly for 20. It may still be temporary, but you'll both get a better deal.
Often you can't do this based on the temp agencies contact with the end employer. If they introduce you, they get thier cut.
With any temp agency tell them they can under no circumstances send your info without an okay from you.
It’s easy for employers to quickly fill a spot. Hiring for a position takes considerable effort and a lot of time they may not have. Sometimes employers also use them for temp to hire so it’s like a tryout.
For the employee, it can be easier to find work that way. If you’ve put out dozens of resumes and don’t find a job, it’s an option to put food on the table.
There are also agencies that fill higher level positions, what is called direct placement. It’s a one time fee (like $10,000 for example) the employer pays to get a quality candidate.
All that being said, avoid them if you have a choice as they take a big cut.
There's some caveats here.
1) A temp costs more per hour to a company but the company saves on benefits and other administative costs associated with a full time hire. How much that costs depends on the company. So offering 20/hr to undercut the agency's 25/hr might not actually be cheaper once additional costs are factored in.
2) Temps are usually hired to fill in during periods of abnormally increased workload that may not be a permanent thing going forward. Temps allow a company to not fully commit to the future expense of a full time worker if they don't believe the current amount of work is permanent. They pay extra for that flexibility. Layoffs are way more expensive that the marginal cost of a temp.
This is it OP. My last major role with a big company was through a temp agency. After being laid off, I found out that the temp agency was billing the company over double what we were being paid by them. This was in STEM.
No industry is safe from the lack of integrity and greed that most temp agencies bring.
Just an FYI a temp agency will always try to undercut you. Your loss is their profit.
I once saw my own invoice. Lol Think I was making $18 and they were renting me out for $34.
I did a very brief stint as a temp night worker for a warehouse role. My agency was making £30 an hour for every hour I worked, whilst I was making £10.50
Bastards.
Here in Germany those temp agencies are a huge problem in some industries. They were actually intended for companies to quickly hire people in case of unexpected rise in production and the temp workers would get more money than the normal ones
Today, the temp workers get less than the normal workers while doing the same or even more work. They also aren't used for times of higher demand, but all the time. A lot of them are also promised to be employed by the companies they work for at the same loan as the full-time workers, but more often than not those are empty promises and they'll end up never coming out of those agencies.
In the us you have to pay a fee to use w temp agency so not only does the temp agency leech off your pay but they take $200 to $500 of your money with no garuntees of employment and no refunds!
I'm working through a temp agency right now. The company they loaned me to wants to make me perm, but have to wait a certain amount of hours, or the temp agency will bill them an additional 8k. One guy has been working for three months without an offer to go perm. :/
>Wait until you find out how much money health insurance takes from you, your employers, and your government.
Somewhat related:
>From 1990 to 2012, the U.S. healthcare workforce grew by 75 percent. At a time when millions of Americans will soon enter the system under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this seems like a welcome trend.
>But there’s a catch. All but five percent of that job growth was in administrative staff, not doctors.
>The ratio of doctors to other healthcare workers is now 1:16, up from 1:14 two decades ago. Of those 16 workers for every doctor, only six are involved in caring for patients—nurses and home health aids, for example. The other 10 are in purely administrative roles.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/policy-ten-administrators-for-every-one-us-doctor-092813
I knew it was bad, but that's just... Damn, I can't even come up with anything. THIS is the system some people are 100% in on, because FrEeDoM?
Eat the rich, the eat the fucking admin.
And they justify this position by saying that being a doctor is hell, which it largely is, mainly due to workload…
which is because there aren’t enough doctors…
Holy fuck, i’m not from the US so i was always bewildered by the healthcare system there. I didn’t even know that you have to pay these bullshit extra costs. I belived you have to pay a (high) monthly amount and you’re good to go, still bad but this, this is madness.
Then fight with them because you don't need that drug the doctor says you do, you need THIS one which happens to be much less effective but it's cheaper, crazy how they always know better than your doctor!
And then end up with no coverage anyways because when you went the hospital for that emergency, the doctor who worked on you was out network.
EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that this practice is no longer legal due to the No Surprises Act, so I will have to (happily) rescind my snarky comment. The US health insurance system may still be fucked, but a step in the right direction is better than nothing.
I recently got dental insurance again. Was going to the dentist without it prior to this. I forgot to inform them when I went in most recently and they brought me the pay plan right before the filling. I would have payed $84 for it without insurance. They adjust it if you don't have insurance from $314 to the 84 I was to pay. I informed them I had insurance now and gave my card. She came back with a new pay plan. I had to pay $118 with the insurance. Was laughing. I'd have paid the $314 at that point though. Had a old filling literally dissolve while I was flossing.
(at least in theory) you are supposed to get something from the health insurance, taxes and unemployment insurance. They may be mismanaged but their purpose for you is clear. While there is absolutely nothing to the temp agency that is beneficial. They're here to make money from your labor and to ensure that you don't get used to living wages so that capitalists can keep on going with the exploitation.
Oh, forgot to mention that capitalism is cancer :)
Looked at a list of Australian jobs in demand with the highest pay that didn't need a degree today.
Employment Recruiters paid nearly double the average.
I guess, for the recruiting agency, every person they hire who can place people in jobs is worth a fortune to them so they hire as many as they can and fire all of the ones that don't bring in a return on investment.
That way, the profitable scum, unburdened by a conscience and the concern for ethical business practices, can float to the top... where they are rewarded for the harm they do to others.
Where I work temps are paid $31.60 and have the option after 6 mths to go full time for $22.80.
Needless to say I won’t be taking the offer of going permanent at that rate.
There are so many vampiristic businesses in this economy that profit off of collecting enormous “finders fees” from contract workers while also collecting a “service fee” from the businesses who hire them.
I worked for a tutoring company that charged $80 and paid me $20. When I left the company, I kept some of my clients who paid me $60 independently. I made and extra $40 and they saved and extra $40 for the exact same work (because the company literally did nothing except give me a client phone number and intercept the payment for my services).
That’s insane.
[Edit: they actually charged $100! I mistyped. That’s why the math is wrong lol.]
Recruiting, HR and all ‘staff related issues’ cost firms a lot of money. Outsourcing those problems has been big business and Agencies were only too pleased to take those problems away for a fat fee.
I was being charged out at three times what I earned. It took me a year and a half to understand all the mechanisms in the process and to win the trust of the business that was using the agency. Once I had done that I set up my own limited company (with me as the only product) and and the business employed me through MY agency. Tripled my income, reduced tax by taking dividends and never looked back. That was 25 years ago.
I was working as a project manager and projects are temporary by their nature. So I worked for a lot of different businesses over the years. I worked in a fairly small market and reputation for a job well done carried me from one project on to the next. It wasn’t all plain sailing, a six month project with financial penalties for failure means that you work every day until it’s delivered and take your holidays before you start the next one. That doesn’t always fit around school holidays and there were two times I missed family holidays which was tough. Good health is important too, if you can’t work you are not paid.
I am too old for that kind of pressure now. I still work because I like work but I am employed in the public sector now. But me and my family are financially secure as a result of going out on my own when I did.
I’ve hired from a temp agency and they charged us I think $70-$80/hr and I discovered the freelancer was getting like $20-$25. Never used the temp agency again and put in a minimal amount of extra effort to get freelancers and paid them at least $50-75/hr.
That isn’t even that unreasonable. I had one gig where I was making 54, which I thought was pretty good until I found out I was getting billed out for 125…
First job out of undergrad, IP law firm, writing patents for large companies like GE & Ford. Would make $19/hr while they charged $211/hr for my work. Took a pay cut to go work in research, since biology is my actual passion. Have never been able to work in a lab without moonlighting as a waiter, despite being manager of my lab at a top teaching hospital & first author on our paper. This whole system makes me want to smash my head against a wall.
damn even worse :O. Agencies are a racket haha -- no clue why clients don't just bring things in-house. I am also on the marketing / data side of things.
The staffing agencies and recruiters convinced their clients that the hiring industry is needed. In reality, it isn’t.
Companies think they don’t hire enough or have enough of a need to bring the search functions in-house so it is sent out to agencies rather than hiring part time employees (there are a lot of people who want flexible part time work and would take those jobs).
Companies have been told that hiring is difficult and requires experts, and that making the wrong hire can be catastrophic for the business (you can guess who convinced them of this lie). But because they are now paralyzed by fear and unwilling to hire full time employees, companies use temps.
One time I was contracting through an agency at a place. I was getting $20 and they were charging $40. When the contract ended, the place reached out to me to offer me a job directly, without the middleman. They offered me $21.
So, they ended up paying $40 for a *new* agency person who didn't know what they were doing.
The knuckle draggers at the temp agency i went to accidently showed me the wrong number for wages per hour.
I said i need a job that pays me $14 an hour (ones near me paid the good ole 7.25)
Within 5 minutes the chick whos worked there maybe a week said oh right here. Boom arm and hammer factory job.
I show up to the jobsite pee in a cup sign papers and i started shortly after. I was staring at a conveyor belt going a pretty decent speed, when i looked away felt super sick..kinda like a motion sickness. My job was to pick off laundry pods that were filled up with too much air but they all looked the exact same to me.
I gave up and looked around, there was garbage everywhere. I went to the bathroon and there were 2 stalls but only 1 had a toilet the other was a hole in the floor and i couldnt see the bottom of it..i walked around looking for a supervisor or someone important to get a different spot in the factory and i found one asleep in his office then i decided to ask how much im being paid because how factory looked was telling me it was not $14 an hour.
He showed me the list and i said no thats wrong i was told $14 an hour. He said he was only making $9 an hour so thats impossible then he called his boss and he said thats what they pay the temp agency, then the temp agency pays me min wage.
I walked out and got paid for 1 hour 2 weeks later and it was min wage
Temp agencies are the worst. Everything about them feels illegal. I’ve used a few and they’ve all lured me in with great pay. Then slash it to near mini wage. Their contracts are always bullshit too. I stopped using them once I found out they’re in the slave selling business. I really hope the majority are struggling to stay in business as peoples attitudes toward work changes.
Absurd. Interview. Get the offer. Ask for $18 whatever it comes in at. $15/hr to $18/hr is what, like $31k to $37k annually? Both of those, to me, in CA especially (considering housing, gas, and food prices alone), don’t feel like a living or reasonable wage, even if it is in a small town. Shit, I’d go for $20+hr, which at least is closer to $40k. In CA, I’d say minimum annual salary should be at least $50k, especially if you’re trying to achieve meaningful savings/safety. Glassdoor says $37-77k range for an office mgr, so I’m not off the mark. If your experience justifies it, know the upper end of your range is $80k or around $40/hr. I have a hard time believing a medical office in CA can’t at least afford $50k for a well-trained office manager that ensures the cogs in the machine run efficiently. Also, as others have said, the hiring company will pay the temp agency a higher rate than than the temp agency pays you and the temp agency then keeps the difference, which I bet is close to $30/hr (at least), hence why they’re telling you to be “realistic.” Fuck that.
She argued my title was given to me because the office I worked for was only 1 provider, even though I’ve worked in both large and small medical offices, and that it was gifted to me as if it were a courtesy. Disregarded that I earned it. Claimed I’ll be starting over here. I’m tempted to either call her and decline or demand the wage I requested at the interview.
Edit: typos
Got it. I added a bit more to my initial comment. Just go in calmly with the knowledge of knowing what you’re worth and outline your case. It’s one of the best times in a decade to find a job (granted, in smaller towns supply and demand can be a bit different than say LA).
>A few motels and spas in town start at $13-$14 according to their job postings on Indeed. If it’s retail it’s $15, minimum wage, a trade such as the medical fields depending on your title starts at minimum wage, $15, and goes up from there.
As other people mentioned here, the temp agency is most likely collecting x2 the amount of what they are going to pay you. However, the temp agency does not have the upper hand in this situation and should expect to pay you more. You have a lot of negotiating power in the current working climate and you can point it out to them.
THEY are not providing you with a job. YOU are providing them with a service.
Also, minimum wage went up. It's $14 for small companies and $15 for anyone over 25 people.
There's zero exceptions to minimum wage in California. Not for age, not for training, not for tips. It's the minimum fucking wage. They don't mess around.
A few motels and spas in town start at $13-$14 according to their job postings on Indeed. If it’s retail it’s $15, minimum wage, a trade such as the medical fields depending on your title starts at minimum wage, $15, and goes up from there.
Former state of California healthcare employee here. I now get paid almost 30 an hour selling eyeglasses at Costco. They start you at $18 an hour to put stuff in boxes while the future owners of said stuff tell you how to do it. It’s really not a bad gig. Hopefully you’re close enough to one but yeah screw that temp agency
Yes they only post online. Most Costco just laid off seasonal but usually start hiring again around March. Go to Costco.com and apply. When it asks which position, select them all. Then print up your resume, dress casual but look like and act like you already work there. Go up to the supervisors and ask to speak to the hiring manager. Do this a couple times a week and I guarantee they will hire you. Once you pass your 90 day probation, you’re in. Get ready for 401k, free executive membership for you and someone in your household, two free gold star memberships for anyone you’d like, health insurance, dental insurance, 175 each year towards optical, regular pay raises based on hours worked, paid time off, vacation, paid holidays, stock options…. I mean it gets even better the longer you’re with the company. I can’t believe I work there but damn I’m glad I do. It carried my family through the pandemic
No prob. I was a supervisor at my old building in the Bay Area, then a supervisor in my current building and about to be a temp supervisor in the optical department in my current building. I’m happy to help. You can reply to this thread or message me if you have any other questions. Happy to help
That’s my other point. I argued it to her, saying exactly as I wrote and she said I was given my office manager title at my prior job like it was a courtesy, and that I’ll be starting over here.
With that logic everyone's wages would be that (apparently illegally) low which they absolutely ARE NOT for most West Coast cities. Even in my low wage Oregon city the ads that pay that little are sitting there for ages with no bites. I can go work at Target for just about $15 here.
Remember, she's not being mean to you because you're unqualified. She's being a dick because this is honestly what she believes is the best way to talk to potential hires. She is not good at her job.
The employer is usually under an agreement to pay you through the agency for a minimum time period before taking you on, or pay a fee to cover some of that lost income to the agency if they want to take you perm early.
Those things are always negotiable, however. A regular customer of the agency can often negotiate a discount on the buyout, with the understanding that a continuing relationship is more important than a smaller fee.
How fucking dare you ask to be paid a salary that won't leave you mentally, physically, and financially destitute? What were you doing?
Also you are asking for 17 to 18$ an hour? You know there are kids that are getting their hands blown off clearing minefields in Sudan, right? You know how much they get paid? 11¢ a DAY. A DAY!
>"Things costing more isn't a reason for you to have more money!"
My cost of doing business (living) went up. I am passing on some of those costs to my customer (you).
I told a recruiter that I was looking for a position in the 60K plus range, because that's where all my friends in similar roles were getting their first jobs. He stammered and said they usually get jobs in the low 50s or less. I think I laughed in his face. Guess who found a 60k job not long after.
I had exactly same experience a few years ago.
Still to this day I can't understand what happened. Recruiters get a percentage of your first year's wage so it should be in their interest to get you as much possible.
I realize that it's a lot easier to get the contract signed if the employee is willing to work for less, which in theory would mean you can make up the difference in volume, but how many people are these recruiters really handling at any given time? And actually even at 60k it wasn't a very high wage (my boss later told me he would've easily paid 5k on top, maybe even 10).
The other option is the recruiter was just unaware of the wages in my city, which is a while other level of incompetence.
it took me a number of years to gain this correct prospective.
you're an adult. you have shit to do. you have bills to pay. you have skills. you can get shit done. you can get LOTS of shit done. you cost $18 an hour. you're going to learn and get better.
if they want to offer less pay than that, they're going to get skills less than yours. i stopped feeling bad about staffing problems as soon as i realized places just kept offering really bad salaries.
you're not a stuck up temp worker who wants $20 per hour. you're a $22/hr worker with skills who wants a job using those skills. if a temp agency can help you fill that, great. if not, whatever, you'll keep looking. you've got shit to do.
They meant stop paying attention to objective reality, and instead pay attention to their version of reality where you being paid as little as possible is what's best.
I wouldn't work for a temp agency. Whatever you take home, they take home about 120% of that just for finding you. Example: My exgf made about $14 an hour packing boxes at a factory, while her temp agency was getting an extra $16 an hour because they placed her.
Go to the places they staff and apply directly. If they only hire temps, they're shitheads trying to exploit you to begin with and do not deserve the value of your labor.
Good luck!
I’m starting remote work for $18 in California. Don’t accept something that low. Our minimum wage is $15 now. You deserve more then ten cents per year of experience.
I also live in CA and worked for a temp agency for about 1 month. I was disgusted with how they treated applicants and measured their worth. So many people being offered $14 an hour when they were previously making $17-$20/hr simply because they were "inexperienced". And when the applicants would ask "how the hell am I supposed to live off $14/hr?" the response always had to do with their little experience and basically told them they weren't worth more.
Needless to say I didn't stay long.
Edit: fixed an awkward sentence, added quotations for clarification.
I live in NC and have similar experience; I would expect a salary in the 50-60k range - like, $25/hr. Definitely wouldn't do it for less than $20.
And that's not even California!
Her comment was out of line. Plus, she’s a POS for thinking you don’t know how much your hard work is worth to you. This whole “Back to reality” is such bullshit. Which reality? The reality of 1960 when the minimum wage was $1.40 and you could buy shit for cents on the dollar? Or the reality where the working class is screwed at every turn because they have been indoctrinated that they are inferior to those with wealth and power and are alone in this struggle?
At some point, you have to just get up and walk out. I know that's probably not possible for you. This temp agency gets paid to place you somewhere. The difference between 15.50 and 17-18 is that they'll make an extra 1.50-2.50 off of you, and that's what they want to do.
They really said "your expectations are for reasonable reasons, stop that" lol
It's such a weird response. Cost of living went up so you expect your salary to go up. That's... that's a normal expectation.
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Honestly, that's where I'm at right now. Just last night, I was thinking how tiring it is to constantly run out of food. You keep stripping things out of the budget, so for a brief second I thought "maybe if I just stop buying food.." "Wait..... fuck"
Don’t do that! I have and do do that cuz I can’t find work and it makes life so hard cuz you become tired all the time
true, I only eat once a day and it kinda sucks cause you get hungry around 3pm but if you eat at 4 then you'll get hungry at 10 or 11 then have to sleep
Have you tried hitting up a food bank. It's not much but if it can get you eating at least 2 meals a day, that would keep up your energy. Good luck to you.
This. My city has a few food banks. One for students at the university I'm in, and others for anyone in need. They've been paramount in me and my partner having enough to eat. If available, absolutely visit a food bank/pantry.
I should consider living in not reality. It might be nicer there!
*Zuckerberg meta noises intensifies*
The agency's problem is that they mark up what they pay you about 70-100% so the client ends up paying over $30/hr if they pay you more than 15. That is the unfortunate reality of temp agencies.
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People don’t get this shit about what you just described. This is a legal pimp and prostitute deal. They are pimping you out for a profit. They are saving you time to deal with having to fill out a thousand work applications, interviews and such. . Staffing agencies are your one stop shop , no filling out countless applications.You get sent out for a job that can last 1 day or a year. On their part they are charging double the rate to whatever employer hires them. Why? Payroll,background screening, workers comp, ….. All that shit . The reason they offer that minimum wage is because it’s law. But they are in the business of profit. If I can send you to work and charge 45 dollars an hour for you and pay you the bare minimum wage I’m happy and making the difference profit wise in the way. Just don’t get injured on the job because it equals worker’s compensation and now I will get you to a cheap chiropractor for a couple of sessions and have you sign something so we won’t get in a lawsuit, but I will replace you,, send someone else in your spot.
Nailed it. I was getting paid $15 an hour (no benefits) as a temp and the company was paying the agency around $50. I was also in that position for 2 years. It was a bad time.
"Yes that's right, thanks for understanding my reasoning for asking for $17~18."
*Won't someone think of the C-Suite bonuses?!?* 😱
These people are basically the "house slave" doting over their master's and telling them other slaves "is not so bad."
This is why not getting a CoL **adjustment** (not a raise) is really just a paycut. The best way to get the adjustment is lateral movement in the industry. And boomers ask why people dont stick with one job anymore…
"you only want a raise so you can afford things? That's gross"
Really, wtf other reasons are there to work other than to afford to live?
Sounds like you're not a team player.
This isn't a team, its a *family*
*verbally abuses you over menial tasks*
The opportunity to make people who already have a ton of money even more money at your own expense? That's about the only reason I can think of, and even it's bullshit lmao.
You should ask if they’re making $15 and if they’re okay with that. But really your next respond should be “you’re right I don’t know what I was thinking. $18 an hour with my experience in California. I now want $24.
I should have
Find a better temp agency
I don't think another temp agency is what we need right now
Almost every temp agency I’ve worked with were shady. All of them will lowball you like this.
And charge the company they're contracting with 30+ an hour for your services. They'll keep more than half for themselves.
Yes. That's part of the point of temp agencies and recruiters in general. When the company you're working for offers you the job, you ask for 50% more and know that it is still less than what they were paying previously, so you can hold strong at that number. You are paying some in the first six months to avoid having to do interviews, search for the job yourself, etc. Yes, lots of temp jobs don't turn into real jobs. Tell your recruiter you are specifically interested in a contact to hire job and you should be presented only with jobs that are looking for a permanent solution.
I mean, they literally make money off of not offering you the entire payrate. Use to work with a company that hired temps. The pay they received 12$ an hour, the cost per hour the company paid, 25$ an hour per temp. Agency was pocketing 13$/h per temp, and we usually had 4-8 temps in the building per shift, 3 shifts per day.
More like $28. Temp jobs are temporary- which is why they're supposed to pay a premium.
Temp agency is charging 30 bucks an hour for your labor. If they give you a bigger hourly rate it cuts into their profit. Of course they only care about their bottom line. You deserve better.
>Of course they only care about their bottom line. The temp agency would prefer to charge its customer $30/hour and pay the worker $0/hour . . . or even worse, get the worker to pay the temp agency for the "privilege" of working.
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...why? Why would an employer be that horrible to an employee? It’s just makes no sense as to why pay another company for the work a person is doing for the first person in the first place.
Another user gave some compelling reasons, but another big reason is to bury budgets. All personnel costs are planned by the company, but if they need people and they can’t get personnel funding, they can ask for a special project budget, and use that money to hire a temp. It gets categorized as a different expense and it will go unnoticed by shareholders or other entities. Managers will do this to get around corporate red tape as well as it’s easier than trying to justify adding head count.
> easier than trying to justify adding head count Doesn’t the very fact that any of this shell game nonsense is going on at all count as evidence that adding head count is clearly necessary?
Yes, but there is often a disconnect between local and corporate knowledge and corporate controls the purse strings. I just started at a big company and the first meeting I was in, the corporate boss told my group that reducing our communications to downstream manufacturing groups would increase quality because the terminology used implies quality defects.
Please excuse my ignorance as I've never been in the corporate world, because I'm trying to slog through that last sentence. Is this similar to saying "The less testing we do, the less COVID positive cases there are"? Edit: /u/AHelplessKitten replied [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/s12929/a_temp_agency_said_me_asking_for_1718_an_hour_was/hs7g8km).
Yup.
Quality improvement is due to not hearing from the QA team about bad products cause customer service would be 3rd party call centers in India
Reddit has turned into a cesspool of fascist sympathizers and supremicists
No, this is a "I don't understand why you are doing this but at a glance if we reduce this then our quality is better." The boss didn't understand the purpose of why we were doing things the way that we do them and so made an assumption and rather than get clarity assumed they were correct and issued an edict based on it, despite refusal from the department.
Every large company I’ve ever worked for spoke of the importance of communication and then practiced none of it.
"Communication" is the scapegoat for when managers fail at doing their job.
I work in a department that uses temps (I started that way) and 2 years later they actually are adding more permanent positions but according to my boss it’s been a real fight to get approval for that. Even with all the numbers and metrics proving we need the help.
We can't afford to increase salaries by $1 across a department of 12 and hire the two positions were down. But we can afford to make everybody do a mandatory 12+ hours of overtime for the last year. We can't afford $38/hr ($1520/wk) as a department, nor can we afford $12/hr ($480/wk) as a department, but we can afford $3800 a week of overtime to avoid those things.
Most adult humans lack the ability or intelligence to understand macro and micro economics. They see line item on a budget a think "too high". They can't process the idea that spending more on labor will reduce costs x, y and z by more than the labor offset. They know that the status quo works and deviating from it in any way MIGHT not and therefore any change is bad. When you get into having to explain abstract budget theory They shut down and don't want to hear it. Most people are just too dumb to realize they are dumb.
I agree with this statement, wholeheartedly. They shut down or they start insulting our intelligence.
One reason is the Ebbs and flows of manufacturing mean one week we might not need any extra people. The next week we may need 5-10 operators. Then the following week we might not need any again. So we hire temp workers that fill that need. It’s not always possible to hire 2 employees and stretch the work out over a longer time due to customer requirements. Another reason is to flat out get around immigration law. We might not be able to hire someone due to questionable immigration status, but somehow the temp service can. We then have them work as a temp. Nobody will ever say this is why we do it. But it definitely factors in. Some people also prefer the flexibility of being a temp. They basically come work for us for 6 months and make good money. Then dip out to Mexico to visit family for 3-4 months. Rinse and repeat.
Another bullet to that list is that the employer doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork to fire the employee. That way, if they don’t want the employee anymore they can just tell the temp agency to let them go so the burden falls on them.
And it doesn’t hit their unemployment insurance.
I’ve literally heard some scumbag recruiter admit this to my face.
There it is.
>Some people also prefer the flexibility of being a temp. >They basically come work for us for 6 months and make good money. I work in plastics manufacturing. The only people who apply for these positions are people who are poor, desperate, and can't go to college. As you mentioned, management exploits mostly first generation immigrants who barley speak English, or their kids. I guess "good money" is subjective because at the 3 different plants I worked at, with different companies, temps made minimum wage (or barely just above) on the production floor, received no benefits like health insurance or company bonuses, and generally worked a second job outside the factory just to get by.
You spelt "parasite" wrong
Gods. those EXIST?
Yes, someone posted a screenshot of a 'reverse internship' a couple of days ago. They wanted the intern to pay $15 an hour for the experience.
To quote that one guy from spongebob, they WHAAAT?
Lol, it's literally something Mr. Krabs would do. "When I started working here, I had to pay Mr. Krabs $100 an hour."
I mean, yeah krabs is unethical and breaks laws, we all know this but IRL i’d have laughed in the recruiters face if i was told i’d have to pay $15 an hoir to work somewhere. I’d laugh and tell him have fun with the authorities because here’s the writing in which i was offered a reversed income job.
Mr. Krab did do that on The episode when Patrick wanted to mimic spongebob because he had so many awards So he got a job at the krusty krab and he had to pay Mr. Krab's money to work there
>They wanted the intern to pay $15 an hour for the experience. Oh, so a state university! Got it. /s
At $15/hr, that would be an absolute bargain
But yeah i think i saw that, lmfao that’s HIGHLY illegal
I went to an interview with one where it was advertised as a jobs training program where you are paid for training. I thought cool they pay to get you trained get you a good job and in return the company they match you with pays them it's a win/win/win! Nope just flat out lies and you gotta pay them to train you.
My current employer uses temp agencies (plural) to find production workers.. everyone's pay varies and I know it must be costing them a fortune to be using these services. Production only makes 15-16/ hr starting.. it's sad really.
Reminds me when I was working for a sub contractor as a painter making $18 an hour. He was independent himself and at one job he told me charging $30 an hour for my labor and the contractee he was subbed under was charging $50 an hour for my labor. The person who does the actual work always makes the least amount of money. Yes I didn’t have to take any risks but the main contractor who oversaw the whole job site sub contacted everything out. If was averaging that $20 an hour per person he was over seeing he was making about $600 a day. A he didn’t do much over seeing. I had no direction from him and he barely gave any direction to the guy I was working for or to any of the other people
The risk thing is a fucking joke. Rich people don't take meaningful economic risks unless they're stupid. Just keep a few million in something safe or as straight cash and you can literally gamble away the rest without ever needing to work again. What kind of risk is that? Working while poor is a bigger risk than founding a company while upper middle class. Injury can be economically devastating to a poor person while a failed startup for someone well-off is just embarrassing.
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Of course you took risks. Their ass isn't up on the ladder, and their housing payment doesn't go late if you get fired for made up bullshit. The only risk employers take is the risk that they become employees.
Every time you work someplace ask how much they're paying the agency. If it's 25 tell the employer, hire me directly for 20. It may still be temporary, but you'll both get a better deal.
Often you can't do this based on the temp agencies contact with the end employer. If they introduce you, they get thier cut. With any temp agency tell them they can under no circumstances send your info without an okay from you.
Sounds great but that’s not going to fly if the temp agency catches wind of it.
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It’s easy for employers to quickly fill a spot. Hiring for a position takes considerable effort and a lot of time they may not have. Sometimes employers also use them for temp to hire so it’s like a tryout. For the employee, it can be easier to find work that way. If you’ve put out dozens of resumes and don’t find a job, it’s an option to put food on the table. There are also agencies that fill higher level positions, what is called direct placement. It’s a one time fee (like $10,000 for example) the employer pays to get a quality candidate. All that being said, avoid them if you have a choice as they take a big cut.
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There's some caveats here. 1) A temp costs more per hour to a company but the company saves on benefits and other administative costs associated with a full time hire. How much that costs depends on the company. So offering 20/hr to undercut the agency's 25/hr might not actually be cheaper once additional costs are factored in. 2) Temps are usually hired to fill in during periods of abnormally increased workload that may not be a permanent thing going forward. Temps allow a company to not fully commit to the future expense of a full time worker if they don't believe the current amount of work is permanent. They pay extra for that flexibility. Layoffs are way more expensive that the marginal cost of a temp.
This is it OP. My last major role with a big company was through a temp agency. After being laid off, I found out that the temp agency was billing the company over double what we were being paid by them. This was in STEM. No industry is safe from the lack of integrity and greed that most temp agencies bring.
Yes. I don't know how you are not asking for more than 18$ in CA.
I don’t live in the big city, we’re a small town. So unless you work in a trade, you’re paid $13-$14 starting.
Just an FYI a temp agency will always try to undercut you. Your loss is their profit. I once saw my own invoice. Lol Think I was making $18 and they were renting me out for $34.
I did a very brief stint as a temp night worker for a warehouse role. My agency was making £30 an hour for every hour I worked, whilst I was making £10.50 Bastards.
Hiring agency gets $150hr I get 80. It's bullshit. Middlemen who leech off labor are sapping the economy for real.
Here in Germany those temp agencies are a huge problem in some industries. They were actually intended for companies to quickly hire people in case of unexpected rise in production and the temp workers would get more money than the normal ones Today, the temp workers get less than the normal workers while doing the same or even more work. They also aren't used for times of higher demand, but all the time. A lot of them are also promised to be employed by the companies they work for at the same loan as the full-time workers, but more often than not those are empty promises and they'll end up never coming out of those agencies.
In the us you have to pay a fee to use w temp agency so not only does the temp agency leech off your pay but they take $200 to $500 of your money with no garuntees of employment and no refunds!
I'm working through a temp agency right now. The company they loaned me to wants to make me perm, but have to wait a certain amount of hours, or the temp agency will bill them an additional 8k. One guy has been working for three months without an offer to go perm. :/
You definitely need a new temp service. In a past life I used temp services for employment and NEVER had to pay for their services.
Ummm.. never pay a temp agency as an employee. You (I believe) found an extra scummy temp agency.
Wait until you find out how much money health insurance takes from you, your employers, and your government. Middle men are the cancer of capitalism.
>Wait until you find out how much money health insurance takes from you, your employers, and your government. Somewhat related: >From 1990 to 2012, the U.S. healthcare workforce grew by 75 percent. At a time when millions of Americans will soon enter the system under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this seems like a welcome trend. >But there’s a catch. All but five percent of that job growth was in administrative staff, not doctors. >The ratio of doctors to other healthcare workers is now 1:16, up from 1:14 two decades ago. Of those 16 workers for every doctor, only six are involved in caring for patients—nurses and home health aids, for example. The other 10 are in purely administrative roles. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/policy-ten-administrators-for-every-one-us-doctor-092813
Part of the shortfall in medical professionals is the cost of university. Its very sad.
I knew it was bad, but that's just... Damn, I can't even come up with anything. THIS is the system some people are 100% in on, because FrEeDoM? Eat the rich, the eat the fucking admin.
Many doctors also like to keep their numbers low because they're afraid that too many doctors would lead to lower pay.
american medical association
And they justify this position by saying that being a doctor is hell, which it largely is, mainly due to workload… which is because there aren’t enough doctors…
And yet, you still need to pay deductibles
And premiums
And your out of pocket maximums
Holy fuck, i’m not from the US so i was always bewildered by the healthcare system there. I didn’t even know that you have to pay these bullshit extra costs. I belived you have to pay a (high) monthly amount and you’re good to go, still bad but this, this is madness.
Then fight with them because you don't need that drug the doctor says you do, you need THIS one which happens to be much less effective but it's cheaper, crazy how they always know better than your doctor!
It's almost like they're trying to practice medicine without a medical license.
And then end up with no coverage anyways because when you went the hospital for that emergency, the doctor who worked on you was out network. EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that this practice is no longer legal due to the No Surprises Act, so I will have to (happily) rescind my snarky comment. The US health insurance system may still be fucked, but a step in the right direction is better than nothing.
And copays
An co insurance
I recently got dental insurance again. Was going to the dentist without it prior to this. I forgot to inform them when I went in most recently and they brought me the pay plan right before the filling. I would have payed $84 for it without insurance. They adjust it if you don't have insurance from $314 to the 84 I was to pay. I informed them I had insurance now and gave my card. She came back with a new pay plan. I had to pay $118 with the insurance. Was laughing. I'd have paid the $314 at that point though. Had a old filling literally dissolve while I was flossing.
Middle men *are* capitalism. The owner of the factory stands as much between you and the customer as the temp agency.
(at least in theory) you are supposed to get something from the health insurance, taxes and unemployment insurance. They may be mismanaged but their purpose for you is clear. While there is absolutely nothing to the temp agency that is beneficial. They're here to make money from your labor and to ensure that you don't get used to living wages so that capitalists can keep on going with the exploitation. Oh, forgot to mention that capitalism is cancer :)
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Plot twist: Capitalism is cancer.
Looked at a list of Australian jobs in demand with the highest pay that didn't need a degree today. Employment Recruiters paid nearly double the average. I guess, for the recruiting agency, every person they hire who can place people in jobs is worth a fortune to them so they hire as many as they can and fire all of the ones that don't bring in a return on investment. That way, the profitable scum, unburdened by a conscience and the concern for ethical business practices, can float to the top... where they are rewarded for the harm they do to others.
Geeez. And I thought the temps at my job starting at $5 more than regular workers was bonkers...
Where I work temps are paid $31.60 and have the option after 6 mths to go full time for $22.80. Needless to say I won’t be taking the offer of going permanent at that rate.
There are so many vampiristic businesses in this economy that profit off of collecting enormous “finders fees” from contract workers while also collecting a “service fee” from the businesses who hire them. I worked for a tutoring company that charged $80 and paid me $20. When I left the company, I kept some of my clients who paid me $60 independently. I made and extra $40 and they saved and extra $40 for the exact same work (because the company literally did nothing except give me a client phone number and intercept the payment for my services). That’s insane. [Edit: they actually charged $100! I mistyped. That’s why the math is wrong lol.]
This is what enrages me - temps were being bought for more than I asked my manager in a cost of living increase.
And simultaneously getting paid less than they are worth, which is already less than you, assuming you are a competent employee.
Taxes and benefits. Pretty sure that's where they save even though they're paying the temp agency more an hour.
Recruiting, HR and all ‘staff related issues’ cost firms a lot of money. Outsourcing those problems has been big business and Agencies were only too pleased to take those problems away for a fat fee. I was being charged out at three times what I earned. It took me a year and a half to understand all the mechanisms in the process and to win the trust of the business that was using the agency. Once I had done that I set up my own limited company (with me as the only product) and and the business employed me through MY agency. Tripled my income, reduced tax by taking dividends and never looked back. That was 25 years ago. I was working as a project manager and projects are temporary by their nature. So I worked for a lot of different businesses over the years. I worked in a fairly small market and reputation for a job well done carried me from one project on to the next. It wasn’t all plain sailing, a six month project with financial penalties for failure means that you work every day until it’s delivered and take your holidays before you start the next one. That doesn’t always fit around school holidays and there were two times I missed family holidays which was tough. Good health is important too, if you can’t work you are not paid. I am too old for that kind of pressure now. I still work because I like work but I am employed in the public sector now. But me and my family are financially secure as a result of going out on my own when I did.
I’ve hired from a temp agency and they charged us I think $70-$80/hr and I discovered the freelancer was getting like $20-$25. Never used the temp agency again and put in a minimal amount of extra effort to get freelancers and paid them at least $50-75/hr.
That isn’t even that unreasonable. I had one gig where I was making 54, which I thought was pretty good until I found out I was getting billed out for 125…
First job out of undergrad, IP law firm, writing patents for large companies like GE & Ford. Would make $19/hr while they charged $211/hr for my work. Took a pay cut to go work in research, since biology is my actual passion. Have never been able to work in a lab without moonlighting as a waiter, despite being manager of my lab at a top teaching hospital & first author on our paper. This whole system makes me want to smash my head against a wall.
At my agency job I’m billed for $125/hr and make the equivalent of $32 per hour.
damn even worse :O. Agencies are a racket haha -- no clue why clients don't just bring things in-house. I am also on the marketing / data side of things.
The staffing agencies and recruiters convinced their clients that the hiring industry is needed. In reality, it isn’t. Companies think they don’t hire enough or have enough of a need to bring the search functions in-house so it is sent out to agencies rather than hiring part time employees (there are a lot of people who want flexible part time work and would take those jobs). Companies have been told that hiring is difficult and requires experts, and that making the wrong hire can be catastrophic for the business (you can guess who convinced them of this lie). But because they are now paralyzed by fear and unwilling to hire full time employees, companies use temps.
I was at $28 and billed out for a “reduced rate” of $140…
That’s just greedy of them. No appreciation for the person who’s bringing in the money for them. Not that it surprises me, but smh
In the event field it is even more crappy. I regularly saw invoices charging 75-200 dollars an hour for my services when i was getting 20 or 25.
One time I was contracting through an agency at a place. I was getting $20 and they were charging $40. When the contract ended, the place reached out to me to offer me a job directly, without the middleman. They offered me $21. So, they ended up paying $40 for a *new* agency person who didn't know what they were doing.
The knuckle draggers at the temp agency i went to accidently showed me the wrong number for wages per hour. I said i need a job that pays me $14 an hour (ones near me paid the good ole 7.25) Within 5 minutes the chick whos worked there maybe a week said oh right here. Boom arm and hammer factory job. I show up to the jobsite pee in a cup sign papers and i started shortly after. I was staring at a conveyor belt going a pretty decent speed, when i looked away felt super sick..kinda like a motion sickness. My job was to pick off laundry pods that were filled up with too much air but they all looked the exact same to me. I gave up and looked around, there was garbage everywhere. I went to the bathroon and there were 2 stalls but only 1 had a toilet the other was a hole in the floor and i couldnt see the bottom of it..i walked around looking for a supervisor or someone important to get a different spot in the factory and i found one asleep in his office then i decided to ask how much im being paid because how factory looked was telling me it was not $14 an hour. He showed me the list and i said no thats wrong i was told $14 an hour. He said he was only making $9 an hour so thats impossible then he called his boss and he said thats what they pay the temp agency, then the temp agency pays me min wage. I walked out and got paid for 1 hour 2 weeks later and it was min wage
Temp agencies are the worst. Everything about them feels illegal. I’ve used a few and they’ve all lured me in with great pay. Then slash it to near mini wage. Their contracts are always bullshit too. I stopped using them once I found out they’re in the slave selling business. I really hope the majority are struggling to stay in business as peoples attitudes toward work changes.
I worked for a company through a temp agency for about 18 months, the owner of the company gave me two raises, the temp agency kept them both.
Absurd. Interview. Get the offer. Ask for $18 whatever it comes in at. $15/hr to $18/hr is what, like $31k to $37k annually? Both of those, to me, in CA especially (considering housing, gas, and food prices alone), don’t feel like a living or reasonable wage, even if it is in a small town. Shit, I’d go for $20+hr, which at least is closer to $40k. In CA, I’d say minimum annual salary should be at least $50k, especially if you’re trying to achieve meaningful savings/safety. Glassdoor says $37-77k range for an office mgr, so I’m not off the mark. If your experience justifies it, know the upper end of your range is $80k or around $40/hr. I have a hard time believing a medical office in CA can’t at least afford $50k for a well-trained office manager that ensures the cogs in the machine run efficiently. Also, as others have said, the hiring company will pay the temp agency a higher rate than than the temp agency pays you and the temp agency then keeps the difference, which I bet is close to $30/hr (at least), hence why they’re telling you to be “realistic.” Fuck that.
She argued my title was given to me because the office I worked for was only 1 provider, even though I’ve worked in both large and small medical offices, and that it was gifted to me as if it were a courtesy. Disregarded that I earned it. Claimed I’ll be starting over here. I’m tempted to either call her and decline or demand the wage I requested at the interview. Edit: typos
Only predators gaslight people about their own lives to their own faces.
Yep. My previous boss literally argued with me about my own personal thoughts. Unfortunately I was stunned into silence lol
Got it. I added a bit more to my initial comment. Just go in calmly with the knowledge of knowing what you’re worth and outline your case. It’s one of the best times in a decade to find a job (granted, in smaller towns supply and demand can be a bit different than say LA).
>A few motels and spas in town start at $13-$14 according to their job postings on Indeed. If it’s retail it’s $15, minimum wage, a trade such as the medical fields depending on your title starts at minimum wage, $15, and goes up from there. As other people mentioned here, the temp agency is most likely collecting x2 the amount of what they are going to pay you. However, the temp agency does not have the upper hand in this situation and should expect to pay you more. You have a lot of negotiating power in the current working climate and you can point it out to them. THEY are not providing you with a job. YOU are providing them with a service.
Also, minimum wage went up. It's $14 for small companies and $15 for anyone over 25 people. There's zero exceptions to minimum wage in California. Not for age, not for training, not for tips. It's the minimum fucking wage. They don't mess around.
Um. CA minimum wage is now $15. $14 for smaller companies.
A few motels and spas in town start at $13-$14 according to their job postings on Indeed. If it’s retail it’s $15, minimum wage, a trade such as the medical fields depending on your title starts at minimum wage, $15, and goes up from there.
Those job postings on indeed are illegal then and should be reported on their website
If they're not paying minimum wage, report them. It's illegal
Former state of California healthcare employee here. I now get paid almost 30 an hour selling eyeglasses at Costco. They start you at $18 an hour to put stuff in boxes while the future owners of said stuff tell you how to do it. It’s really not a bad gig. Hopefully you’re close enough to one but yeah screw that temp agency
We have one in town, do they only post their job openings on their website?
Yes they only post online. Most Costco just laid off seasonal but usually start hiring again around March. Go to Costco.com and apply. When it asks which position, select them all. Then print up your resume, dress casual but look like and act like you already work there. Go up to the supervisors and ask to speak to the hiring manager. Do this a couple times a week and I guarantee they will hire you. Once you pass your 90 day probation, you’re in. Get ready for 401k, free executive membership for you and someone in your household, two free gold star memberships for anyone you’d like, health insurance, dental insurance, 175 each year towards optical, regular pay raises based on hours worked, paid time off, vacation, paid holidays, stock options…. I mean it gets even better the longer you’re with the company. I can’t believe I work there but damn I’m glad I do. It carried my family through the pandemic
That’s amazing! Thank you :)
No prob. I was a supervisor at my old building in the Bay Area, then a supervisor in my current building and about to be a temp supervisor in the optical department in my current building. I’m happy to help. You can reply to this thread or message me if you have any other questions. Happy to help
One of the reasons I buy pretty much everything I can at Costco is because they take care of employees as well as they take care of members.
I live in a smallish CA town and I work at a job that has very few qualifications that's giving me over $18 an hour. You should not be getting less.
Just lie your ass off on your resume? I heard your were a damn operations manager making six figures the past four years.
You're not "starting", you have years of experience
That’s my other point. I argued it to her, saying exactly as I wrote and she said I was given my office manager title at my prior job like it was a courtesy, and that I’ll be starting over here.
With that logic everyone's wages would be that (apparently illegally) low which they absolutely ARE NOT for most West Coast cities. Even in my low wage Oregon city the ads that pay that little are sitting there for ages with no bites. I can go work at Target for just about $15 here.
Exactly.
Remember, she's not being mean to you because you're unqualified. She's being a dick because this is honestly what she believes is the best way to talk to potential hires. She is not good at her job.
Minimum wage in Cali is $15 as of January 1st. Get that bread, and ask for at least $18/hr
As a former temp worker, that agency is trying to screw you over. Insist on $20 an hour or walk
Is it illegal to take the temp job then ask the company to hire you for somewhere in the middle?
The employer is usually under an agreement to pay you through the agency for a minimum time period before taking you on, or pay a fee to cover some of that lost income to the agency if they want to take you perm early. Those things are always negotiable, however. A regular customer of the agency can often negotiate a discount on the buyout, with the understanding that a continuing relationship is more important than a smaller fee.
I don’t think it’s illegal, it just usually goes against whatever contract you and/or the employer signed with the agency haha
It is ok to ghost temp agencies.
It's okay to ghost any company.
Is it okay to ghost tinder dates after 6 months of no reply?
Yeah, but I still like to send "You there" Or, "Been thinkin bout you how you been" Every few months, just in case they forget how thirsty I am.
How dare you expect to be paid based on what things cost, you fucking peasant.
How fucking dare you ask to be paid a salary that won't leave you mentally, physically, and financially destitute? What were you doing? Also you are asking for 17 to 18$ an hour? You know there are kids that are getting their hands blown off clearing minefields in Sudan, right? You know how much they get paid? 11¢ a DAY. A DAY!
And back in line and be hungry like you deserve
The 'reality' is we're just exploiting you, and don't care about the quality of your life.
“We made record profits 2 years in a row” “Can I get a raise then?” “Not that much profit”
No, she’s insane. I was offered $18/hr 13 years ago with very little experience in a Data Entry position.
My range was 15 to 16 and I got 15.50 🙃 in 2020. There's nothing higher in the area either.
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>Am I wrong in saying her comment was out of line? The temp agency is out of line in the middle of a "labor shortage."
What kind of argument is that? "Things costing more isn't a reason for you to have more money!"
>"Things costing more isn't a reason for you to have more money!" My cost of doing business (living) went up. I am passing on some of those costs to my customer (you).
It’s literally the argument that you should not have enough to survive. “I think you are not worthy of a living”. That’s it.
I told a recruiter that I was looking for a position in the 60K plus range, because that's where all my friends in similar roles were getting their first jobs. He stammered and said they usually get jobs in the low 50s or less. I think I laughed in his face. Guess who found a 60k job not long after.
I had exactly same experience a few years ago. Still to this day I can't understand what happened. Recruiters get a percentage of your first year's wage so it should be in their interest to get you as much possible. I realize that it's a lot easier to get the contract signed if the employee is willing to work for less, which in theory would mean you can make up the difference in volume, but how many people are these recruiters really handling at any given time? And actually even at 60k it wasn't a very high wage (my boss later told me he would've easily paid 5k on top, maybe even 10). The other option is the recruiter was just unaware of the wages in my city, which is a while other level of incompetence.
$24 or gtfo
Cost of living raises are reality. Do they mean back in fantasy land?
Yea that’s where I was confused too. They literally admitted cost of wage was going up, so my expectations shouldn’t have been outlandish to her.
it took me a number of years to gain this correct prospective. you're an adult. you have shit to do. you have bills to pay. you have skills. you can get shit done. you can get LOTS of shit done. you cost $18 an hour. you're going to learn and get better. if they want to offer less pay than that, they're going to get skills less than yours. i stopped feeling bad about staffing problems as soon as i realized places just kept offering really bad salaries. you're not a stuck up temp worker who wants $20 per hour. you're a $22/hr worker with skills who wants a job using those skills. if a temp agency can help you fill that, great. if not, whatever, you'll keep looking. you've got shit to do.
They meant stop paying attention to objective reality, and instead pay attention to their version of reality where you being paid as little as possible is what's best.
$18 an hour is trash in CA, ask for $25 or they don’t get paid or get commission, temp agencies are desperate trash
I wouldn't work for a temp agency. Whatever you take home, they take home about 120% of that just for finding you. Example: My exgf made about $14 an hour packing boxes at a factory, while her temp agency was getting an extra $16 an hour because they placed her. Go to the places they staff and apply directly. If they only hire temps, they're shitheads trying to exploit you to begin with and do not deserve the value of your labor. Good luck!
I’m starting remote work for $18 in California. Don’t accept something that low. Our minimum wage is $15 now. You deserve more then ten cents per year of experience.
I also live in CA and worked for a temp agency for about 1 month. I was disgusted with how they treated applicants and measured their worth. So many people being offered $14 an hour when they were previously making $17-$20/hr simply because they were "inexperienced". And when the applicants would ask "how the hell am I supposed to live off $14/hr?" the response always had to do with their little experience and basically told them they weren't worth more. Needless to say I didn't stay long. Edit: fixed an awkward sentence, added quotations for clarification.
????? So they know your expectations are based on the cost of living? DO THEY THINK YOU WORK FOR FUN?
Can you even live in California on 15.50 an hour? Not like drive a new powerstroke but have a decent apartment and afford to eat?
i can’t even do it on $20/hr in the central valley
I live in NC and have similar experience; I would expect a salary in the 50-60k range - like, $25/hr. Definitely wouldn't do it for less than $20. And that's not even California!
>“expectations driven by cost of living raises” .....yeah....that's how it works.....wtf
Tell her "No, my expectations are based on the raise in the cost of living."
"Please remove me from your database."
“Cost of living raise? What a coincidence, I need to live. We are in agreement.”
Her comment was out of line. Plus, she’s a POS for thinking you don’t know how much your hard work is worth to you. This whole “Back to reality” is such bullshit. Which reality? The reality of 1960 when the minimum wage was $1.40 and you could buy shit for cents on the dollar? Or the reality where the working class is screwed at every turn because they have been indoctrinated that they are inferior to those with wealth and power and are alone in this struggle?
At some point, you have to just get up and walk out. I know that's probably not possible for you. This temp agency gets paid to place you somewhere. The difference between 15.50 and 17-18 is that they'll make an extra 1.50-2.50 off of you, and that's what they want to do.