the 0,80p per hour is my take home per housr after my tax and nı.

it is not pocket mony as we have to pay our bills back home in the uk and pay for stuff like a/c (i just got mine fitted today) and our phone bills all come out of our wages with them taken out i dont know what my hour rate is cause that can change depending circumstances

Hmmmmmm.......

Not a tax expert here, but you might want to look at the following:

http://www.listentotaxman.com/index.php?calc=1&year=2006&age=0&add=0&taxcode=508L&period=1&ingr=5160&Submit=Calculate

With such a low wage, you should only be paying £ 20.76 tax per month

Mark

with tax due to the fact im not living in the uk means im not subject to the rules. i have to pay tax because i work for a british comapny but live out of ıt for around 6 months a year so a tax 80 form would not be applicabe.
thank you guys all for trying to help with the money i appriciate it. xx

You should keep a record of all your expenses and receipts. It is possible that some of your expenditure is tax deductable.

Do you pay extra for food or is that included with your accomodation?

As someone has said your tax liability may be low, NI must be paid to protect your benefit entitlement in the UK. Are these being deducted the UK or will you have a bill to pay when you return?

fwh

they are being deducted every month. in the tax thing there is really not a lot i cn do untill i return home...`:(

Based on what we know so far, it still seems a bit confusing to me, as I still cannot see how the .80p per hour is arrived at. All payslips I have ever received all show me what my hourly rate is.....before stoppages etc. I would be most concerned if I worked for this Tour Operator as I would have no idea if I was being paid what I should be paid.

Based on the £430 monthly salary £0.80 equates to ( based on the 40 hour week ) around 130 hours worked per week.

As there are only 168 hours in a week then I also am confused.

I also question the ability of anyone to be able to work constantly having only around 5 hours break per day. With respect the figures do not add up.

If they are based on the NETT PAY then again we would need to know the figures to arrive at a sensible conclusion.

I accept that this is a personal matter but if we are to be able to help then we do need more information.

I also think that this subject has dragged on, whilst we may have sympathy for people who work long hours for little pay they are not alone.

Many people do work long hours and if they try to equate the remuneration on an hourly basis then they are not always as well paid as some might think.

My youngest son is on £75K based on 40 hours - around £36.00 per hour. He reckons on around £25 to £ 28 per hour based on the time he puts in

The TOs provide reps - an accepted fact

Should we be complaining at what they are paid or hours they work - In my opinion NO!

There are others out there who have similar problems.

I doubt our complaining to the TOs will have any effect anyway. You take on a job such as this knowing before you start what you are going to be paid.

It is a matter of choice. The young lady is doing what she is paid to do. If she is not happy the solution lies with her.

Many people have the same problem - Care workers have been highlighted.

Perhaps it is time to bring this topic to a close.

fwh

Exccelent post, and I totally agree. With all due respect to the original poster, I think this thread is now starting to go around in circles.

We have established what a Holiday Rep does now, in fact that was mentioned in the very first post. Whether or not we have established what a Holiday Rep is actually paid, I don't think we are ever going to know the true facts apart from it clearly being a very poorly paid role. I agree we do need more information but I somehow doubt we will ever find out that information. The figures quoted just simply do not add up, that said, I think its time to leave it where it is now, as I personally am only getting more and more confused with each little bit of info we read.

So I agree, I think it is time to bring this topic to a close. (IMHO)

one last question before the topic is closed.....

do you have to be fluent in extra languages eg: french, german or spanish as well as english? Have you been learning turkish?

I would have thought a rep would have needed to know the local lingo...

Val
According to the job description, speaking a foreign language is an advantage but not a necessity

I think that in itself speaks volumes, when the TO is prepared to employ someone to act on your behalf, who cannot converse in the language. ...say no more.
HERE

SanJi x

Around £400 per month is actually typical of the industry full stop, whichever tour operator you work for. In this line of work it's basically a case of you work whatever hours you are needed to work. As I've said before - if people don't want to do it then there are others who do, which is why they can get away with it.

Also, end of season they will get some breathing space and not be so busy.

So far as tax is concerned, well if you are going to working the other 6 months in the UK at some point you'll be in for a rebate as whatever tax you pay for those months you are working here will be based on the assumption that you will be working on that salary for a full 12 months.

Sanji.. that was really interesting.. my first ever real full time job when left college all those years ago paid me more than £400 per month ( late 80's!!!) so i find it astonishing how time seems to have stood still in terms of pay for the reps. Also, they should be insistant on them knowing at least one other foreign language.. how would they be able to sort any crisis out in another country if they can't speak the lingo..and of course it is totally rude and presumptuous to expect everything to be dealt with in English just because we are...

SandC..i am not sure that all reps would get an end of season.. if you think of the canaries it is year round sunshine and they never seem to have a "low season" ( we have been many times at various times of the year). I am aware of a lady rep i got talking to a couple of years ago who when she had finished the season in Greece, she was getting moved to Lanzarote (in fact i bumped into her at Areciffe airport 5 months later!!!)

Sanji.. that was really interesting

Val, did you notice the similarity in the requirements "skills and personal qualities "?

Ring a bell ?

SanJi x

given the choice between working in the uk on the minimum wage and working in the sun for £100 per week with food and accomodation provided it is easy to see why youngsters would want to do a reps job. the tv documentaries/programmes also make it look like a fun job, so enhancing the appeal.
like any job, you will only get out of it what you put in, and this is why some reps are able to make a success of the job and enjoy the lifestyle, and some fail miserably.
as i said before, when i go on holiday i want a rep who can help me in the event of a major problem(and so i expect them to have a better understanding of the language than i have), and who can tell me about the local issues ie transport/places of interest/places to avoid etc.
i don't want or need them at my hotel every day, as long as i can contact them if i need them and they can provide the assistance i need.
unfortunately(and this is a generalisation) most reps on resort do not speak the language, and are too immature to deal with anything except the most basic problems.

Yes, the canaries did occur to me when I mentioned end of season, but there's only so many reps can be employed in the canaries over the winter and that's only if the ones who've been there in the summer go home or elsewhere. There's also ski resorts where people might work for the same company.

My friend was lucky before she worked year round she used to get 6 months unpaid leave from her hospital job and then when she came back in the winter she used to get her job back. It worked because her ward was always busiest in the winter and she never minded doing Xmas and New Year shifts. Best of both worlds really!

I know the pay has remained stagnant for being a rep, but it's always been the case that it has been typically low paid. If you balance that against having zero bills to pay whilst you are there so the monthly pay is all your own money. If you've got bills at home, well that's something you have to consider before you take up this sort of position as the rate of pay takes into consideration that you will have no bills to pay that a householder would. I wouldn't either think of it in terms of an hourly rate, as you are paid on a monthly basis at a set monthly amount. Like myself I may have once or twice worked out what my hourly rate would be, but I am basically salaried so don't quote it as anything but a yearly amount.

This has been a very interesting topic and I've enjoyed reading all the posts here. I'd just like to add a few comments based on what I've read so far...

A number of people have said that if the job is so bad, then the girl refered to in the original post should quit, and that she should not worry about being seen as a 'quitter'. Although in principal, this is the logical option, in practice it is not so practical. Why? Because there is a widespread misconception about the role of a rep (fueled in part by negative media coverage). Future employers may unfortunately fall into this category and thus, not look kindly upon someone who quits such as seemingly 'glamourous' job. I speak from experience when I say that it is hard enough trying to convince employers of the full weight of the responsibilities that a rep has endured throughout a full season, so I don't hold much hope for someone trying to convince them of the reasons they quit half way through.

As you may gather I too used to be a holiday rep (many years ago) and although I agree there are good and bad reps (as in any walk of life) I have great empathy for the Mum and girl concerned. If I can I'd like to shed some light on some of the issues raised...

Reps get paid a set amount per month into their UK bank account. This is regardless of the destination and, or, the type of properties they are supposed to cover. Some reps are lucky if they cover hotels (any star rating) as this often means that they can eat in the hotel restaurant. But this is by no means guarenteed as is up to the hotel manager. This however, is not always a blessing as some hotel managers are very 'sensitive' and if you don't eat there for some reason, they often take offence. So add to the role of rep 'international diplomatic relations'. Reps that cover apartments have no choice other than to eat out. This is fine in places like Turkey where it's still fairly cheap, but in Rhodes town for example, it was a different story, and I know of reps that have gone home at the end of the season in debt. Please also bear in mind that your money is in the UK, so add on charges to access ATM machines etc. to the cost of living.

The same wage is paid regardless of the number of hours worked. The number of hours worked depends on what happens in the resort from day to day. As a rep you have a responsibility to look after your clients. So whatever needs to be done you just do it. Any suggestion that there is an alternative choice is largely arbitory, because if you don't do it, you are the only one that takes the flak and often then get labelled as being a 'useless rep'.

The amount of paperwork that needs to be completed amazing. And as most reps don't get time to complete it during their property visits, most people wave goodbye to their day off.

Also, please don't blame the rep for their lack of resort knowledge, it is the tour operators at fault for not giving them the time to learn. At the start of the season, reports have to be done on properties, noticeboards and folders need to be updated etc etc, and a rep is lucky if they have a couple of days to do this before their first arrivals. Most don't and they have to start their duties from day one. Also, many resorts have different procedures for doing things so often its not until something goes wrong that a rep learns how to deal with it, and no two problems are ever the same.

Reps also appear to have gained a bad reputation for going out and getting drunk and I'm not about so say that they don't. Whilst naturally this is sometimes purely for social reasons, on many occasions its not. How do any of you deal with having a bad and very stressful day at work? Some will go home and relax, watch TV, go to a movie, walk the dog, just to take your mind off it. Others will go home and seek solice from their friends and family. But what do you do if you don't have any of those options. Your on your own in a foreign country where all of your home comforts have been removed. You may be lucky to have made a few friends with your fellow reps, but bear in mind they are probably as equally stressed and therefore sympathetic ears are hard to come by. Many reps quite naturally therefore turn to the only other way they know how to blot out a really bad day...they get drunk!

If its so bad then why do people still do it? Being a rep was probably the hardest job I have ever done in my life, but in many ways it was also the most beneficial. I grew up over night. I learnt to deal with situations that many people will never come across in their lifetimes. I developed skills that can not be taught and often take a lifetime to learn. It was hard work, but worth it. And personally I would rather have to moan about a job because it was hardwork, rather than because it was boring...and that's something that repping certainly is not!

what a thoroughly interesting post.. thanks for sharing that info with us.

almara

You worded that perfectly i could'nt have wrote it any better thank you so much for the time you have taken to answer a lot of questions members have posted on this topic

I know a lot of members cant get there heads around the 80p an hour, my daughter was paid today into her uk account £202 she has worked on average 70 hours a week since becoming a rep in march of this year, it does not take a phyladelphia lawyer to work out that comes to roughly 80p an hour,if you base it on an hourly rate her, 1st two months salary paid into her account was for the grand total of £182 which was £91 paid for each month (she was paying emergency tax )before anyone pulls me up on that one yes we did try to sort this out but unfortunatly the TO said they wouldnt discuss anything with us as they had to speak to my daughter or her line manager even though we sent off the p45 and p60 (hopefully this clears it up a bit)

almara wrote

If its so bad then why do people still do it? Being a rep was probably the hardest job I have ever done in my life, but in many ways it was also the most beneficial. I grew up over night. I learnt to deal with situations that many people will never come across in their lifetimes. I developed skills that can not be taught and often take a lifetime to learn. It was hard work, but worth it. And personally I would rather have to moan about a job because it was hardwork, rather than because it was boring...and that's something that repping certainly is not

Totally agree with you and very very true, how do you deal with a toddler being electrocuted, 2 girls raped, a person who has had a heart attack found face down in a pool, 70 guests extremely drunk fighting with each other and hotel staff (your called out to deal with that at 3am and your on your own), how would we cope with any of those situations, these are things none of us want to see but to the rep at the resort these are things THEY have to deal with

My quick calculation works out at even less than 80p an hour...more like 66p an hour...perhaps I'd better not go there. Thanks Brit5aplha and almara for a useful insight.