Do landscaping employers expect too much for so little ?

While browsing industry job adverts I came across an open "landscape maintenance" position with the following details from a large national business;

They expect the candidate to have the following as a minimum;

Knowledge and experience of all industry H&S issues and their implications, first class communication and organisation skills, team worker and ability to be a lone worker, along with pesticide qualifications (not mentioned, but assumed basic industry skills/experience).

Additionally they desire the following;

Arboriculture qualifications (CS30, CS31, CS38 & CS39) with first aid, manual handling, woodchipper & grounds maint certifications, topped off by a trailer B+E driving license.

On offer from employer;

Min Holidays, PPE gear & Salary band of £7.50 p/hr (ie just above min living wage) up to £9.00 p/hr.

This equates to a yearly salary of £15,600 to £18,720 (on a 40hr week?).

I assume the lower figure is for the minimum requirements, with the upper figure for a candidate with all of the additional qualifications. I am not interested, nor want to identify the business because that is not the point, but really .... do we value ourselves so low !

From recent monitoring , this is not a unique situation.

No wonder we have a resource/skills shortage in our industry, must be easier to stay in bed.

Replies

Andrew Midgley November 29, 2015 at 12:12am

I worked alongside a tree surgeon recently at one of my regular customers. I was chatting to his assistant who told me he got £80 a day. He then went on to say he was moving on to another job outside the industry due to better pay and conditions. Unless we charge more for our skills the industry will always be seen as a labouring market.
- PRO
  
  Green Girl Garden Care > Andrew Midgley November 29, 2015 at 9:05am
  
  So that's £21 grand a year for an assistant. Sounds ok to me. If we want to pay more we have to charge more but then everyone has to do the same so everything just gets more expensive doesn't it?
  - Colin Hunt > Green Girl Garden Care November 29, 2015 at 9:29am
    
    I would think it is £80 per day 'as and when required' Helen, which would make his actual annual earnings are no more than 1/2 to 2/3 (if he was lucky)of a projection for a full year's work.
  - Andrew Midgley > Green Girl Garden Care November 29, 2015 at 10:11am
    
    The guy works with the tree surgeon once a week. The guy is a qualified arborist. I understand there are huge overheads running a tree surgeon business (public liability, buying equipments, maintenance costs' paying staff and so forth) but I would think £100 a day would be fairer. If I do a job and I need someone else , the assistant would get at least a £100/day for helping me. I have been in the business for a long time and I am passionate about fair pay for a day work. Just my opinion.
    - Mitchel ingham > Andrew Midgley December 3, 2015 at 11:09pm
      
      The whole arborist industry in F**ked put it this way i got offered a job to work on the railways for £80 a day before tax and nis on a self employed basis with as many days as i want work wise but must be minium of 5 days a week. not to mention they screwed you over by putting you on cis scheme so not only did you not get holidays also had to pay for PPE. I worked out to actually take the job you would need to spend £1500 on minium ppe pts drug and alcohol then your chainsaw courses. I looked the the MD in the face and said you have to be joking right and said i wouldn't work for that in the rain and snow. Then have to be in yard for 6:30 in morning no overtime so simple you finish when you get home so if you have to travel far and keep hitting traffic on way back .
      - PRO
        
        Richard Gadsby > Mitchel ingham December 4, 2015 at 12:29am
        
        Did you do your tickets or just not bother ?
        
        Mitchel ingham > Richard Gadsby December 4, 2015 at 12:30am
        
        Not bother thought they were asking a lot for very little return and nothing in concrete. No set working hours
      - PRO
        
        Seth Burgess > Mitchel ingham December 4, 2015 at 12:50am
        
        I wouldn't confuse the entire arb industry with Utility work. It's like all the worst pits of the Forestry Sector with all the worse bits of the Arb sector run by people who either have never worked on the tools or it was so long ago they no longer fit into a harness.
Neil Copeland November 29, 2015 at 10:03am

Roughly I feel this advert is about right, maybe a touch on the low side. i.e if they want someone who has experience, can work alone and represent the company's standards then i think £8 is more reasonable. Equally I think around the 20k/year (£9.50) mark is what we should pay someone with licences/quals, great attitude/standards etc.

I agree with Helen that 21k is not be sniffed at.
- PRO
  
  Gary RK > Neil Copeland November 29, 2015 at 11:14am
  
  I can't and don't agree with the fact we value ourselves so cheaply.
  
  So, we are saying that just above the min living wage is all someone can/should expect ?
  
  £18.7k is no where near enough for someone who has those qualifications.
  
  A real slap in the face. Where's the incentive, where's the loyalty, where's the career progression ?
  
  It's a mockery.