Hours & Conditions
The unpaid minutes at each end of a shift
Handover, changing, security checks and system logins are work in most people's understanding and not always in the payroll…
Amine Belkacem
Rights writer, Payday Stories
Amine writes about employment rights and the entitlements that go unclaimed.
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16 articles
Hours & Conditions
Rota notice, and the price of not knowing when you work
Unpredictable scheduling has costs that never appear as pay, and some jurisdictions have started regulating it.
Hours & Conditions
Travel time between jobs, sites and clients
Whether time on the road is paid depends on what kind of journey it is, and the distinction is finer than it looks.
Cost of Living
Paid in arrears: the month of work you are always owed
Almost everyone lends their employer several weeks of labour permanently, and nobody describes it that way.
Cost of Living
Why the date a bill lands matters more than its size
A manageable bill on the wrong day is a missed payment; the same bill three days later is routine.
Cost of Living
In-work poverty, and the limits of what budgeting can fix
A substantial share of people in financial difficulty are employed, which changes what the problem actually is.
Cost of Living
The poverty premium: paying more for exactly the same thing
Lower incomes attract higher unit costs across energy, credit, insurance and everyday purchasing.
Cost of Living
Wage growth by sector, and what a national average hides
Aggregate pay figures blend industries that have moved in opposite directions, which makes them useless for one person.
Cost of Living
Comparing pay between regions without fooling yourself
A higher salary in a more expensive place can be a pay cut, and the adjustment is more than rent.
Cost of Living
Minimum wage rises and the ripple up the pay scale
An increase at the floor changes the pay of people well above it, and sometimes fails to.
Hours & Conditions
Training, meetings and the hours that sit outside the rota
Mandatory learning done at home, handovers before the clock starts and team meetings on a day off are all work. Whether they are…
Hours & Conditions
Working from home, and the day that quietly gets longer
Home working removes the commute and removes the edges of the day with it. What you save in travel you can lose in hours nobody…
Hours & Conditions
Public holidays, and the pay that depends on your contract
A day everyone else has off may be a paid day, an unpaid day or an ordinary working day at an ordinary rate. The contract decides…
Cost of Living
Childcare, and the wage it takes before you earn anything
For parents of young children, a large part of a salary can be spoken for before the first bill. That changes which jobs are worth…
Cost of Living
The pay freeze, and the cut it is in everything but name
Holding salaries still is presented as a neutral act. Against rising prices it is a reduction that requires no announcement and no…
Cost of Living
The marginal hour, and why more work sometimes adds so little
The last hour of the week is not paid at the same effective rate as the first. Withdrawal of support and stepped costs do most of…