True. I guess she’s good with the horses but not with the business.
Is $10 a head pretty average? That’s not a bad way of looking at it. So I guess my pay will change as client horses come and go? Or would it stay the same regardless because of everything else?
And to your other post, why do you work for free??
Also, sorry, yes there is a stall cleaner, I meant general cleanliness as in dusting, cob webs, cleaning feeders, auto-waterers, wash racks and groom stations. Granted not everything is cleaned everyday, but it’s on my to do list with everything else.
Either this post isn’t real or there are other circumstances you aren’t telling us. $450 for 60+ hours a week is less than minimum wage. Quit and go work at a fast food joint or grocery store. I guarantee you will be making more money for less stressful work and a good chance there may be benefits involved. Keep in mind that working as an independent contractor she also has no responsibility if you get hurt on the job and can’t work.
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You clearly have never been a “working student”.
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Clanter’s $10 a head allows for compensation of all your other duties. I would shoot for that. Clanter works for free because all those horses he bought for his kids and he owns them :lol:
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Lol, This is real. I’ve actually been 100% honest because I’m taking this seriously and I want honest advice on how I should negotiate. I’m a salary employee, not a working student or contractor, and I’m scheduled for 60 hours a week, but often end up working more. The reason I haven’t quit already is because I actually like what I do, just the circumstances aren’t ideal. I don’t want to go work a dead end job, I’ve been there and done that. I’m trying to keep this job by opening up negotiations about pay, time and benefits, but there’s not a lot to go by when I researched groom salaries, so I found this place to start an open discussion.
Haha, ok, that makes sense.
And gotcha $10 a head seems fair I guess. I know they will probably counter, but in your opinion what’s the absolute lowest I should accept and then maybe we can find some middle ground if need be.
Absolute lowest would be the same hours and duties as you’re doing now for 60k and full health benefits. 5 days a week 55k and health benefits, or they can continue to pay the same rate with the job as described originally. No extras “just to help out.”
Is this under the table?
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Nope, it’s not under the table. Thank you so much. You guys have really helped me grasp where I should start. Now, it’s finding the time and ways to phrase things. I’m not great with confrontation or starting these kinds of conversations. Lol. I’m very passive, which is probably why they’ve been able to keep adding to my to-do list.
Feel free to PM for more about phrasing and such.
Write out what you want to say. Practice saying it. Anticipate what your employer might say and plan how to respond.
It may also help to role play with a trusted friend- you practice asking for raise and have your friend respond how you think you’re employer would. Best of luck to you.
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I get that you like the job, but you are in the deadest of dead end jobs. I wasted my entire life working like that a nd have nothing to show for it, aside from a worn out body and bad attitude.
Denali is right. The job “should” pay $60k per year with benefits, but that is n.e.v.e.r. going to happen. Get yourself $10/hr for actual hours worked, and love the job until you burn out.
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also might want to practice before a mirror so that you can see how you appear … but truthfully if OP is doing the workload they posted even getting an additional penny from the owner is going to be miracle as the owner firmly believes in not paying …they may even be joking with their friends at what little they are paying
At least OP is in Texas as there is a tremendous labor shortage here
I agree that those owners are not the right kind of people to work for, that seem to take advantage of their employees without at least making it worth it to the employee.
I doubt that asking for a significant raise will get other than being let go, I think.
One reason, those kinds of employees are by that shown to be unfair.
They may bristle when caught at it and that may make them mad enough to let the employee go rather than making it right.
OP, give it your best try, but have some other job in mind, as this may end with you needing to move.
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Haven’t read all of the replies. Around my neck of the horses woods and this is a big horse area. I paid $500 to $650 for a 5 1/2 day week, around 44 hours. That included 1 hour for lunch. 8 to 4. My farm was mainly a TB breeding, 30 to 40+ mares at times. We also broke/started 5-10 per year, and had some other horses in training. The majority of the horses lived out 24-7 and were feed on the fence. During foaling season 2 to 5 stalls per day. Some of the horses in training were stalled at night Some on re-hab were stalled the majority of the day. In short there wasn’t a lot of stalls to do by any one person, there weren’t a lot of horses to be groomed by any one person. Took about an hour to feed mornings and afternoons. Longer in the winter because we have to throw a lot of hay.
The odd real nasty weather days when everything had to come in days could be long. But there were plenty of slow days, no riding/training days due to bad weather and I would let people go home early and feed myself. So in the end the average employee worked less than 44 hours over the course of the year. Some realized this and appreciated it. Others didn’t. Even though these were salaried workers I got a time clock. So I could show the complainers they didn’t work the “extra” hours they would bitch about. I also gave good employees plenty of paid days off. I had a seasonal part time “grounds keeper” also. My horse people only worked with the horses.
Good horse people are usually highly skilled. It is a high skill job. But unfortunately the market forces of the horse business doesn’t allow for us to be paid property for those skills any more.
At the racetrack these days grooms are paid $100 per horse. Most track grooms “rub” 4 to 6 horses these days. 6 is too many IMO to do the job properly with racehorses, This is a 7 day a week job with 1 day off every other week.
When I was a racetrack groom in the early/mid 70s I made when adjusted for inflation $900 to over a $1000 a week in “today’s money”. Grooming 3 to 4 horses max. 5-6am to noon. Most afternoons off. Longer days if one of my horses was racing that day.
Thank you all very much for your input. It has been invaluable. I took your advice and started the conversation. However, it went much differently than expected. Turns out they are moving the entire operation an hour or two north of here and I refuse to drive that far. That being said, they weren’t going to give me a raise, so it was either keep working there and get used up, or quit and go on the job hunt again. I chose the latter. I leave at the end of the month. Looking for jobs is the worst. Yippy.
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Interesting how things work out. Shame on them for using you like they did, but I’m glad you are being released from their talons. Good luck to you in your new life and work adventures.
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
That is all.
