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It's been a while since I changed job but I've received a job offer and wanted to check what's normal for "experienced" hires - i.e experienced enough to have grey / no hair.
My new contract offer provides for:
- the employer only making a minimum pension contribution for the first 6 months after which time it goes up to 10%. This is tied to a probation period of 6 months but would result in quite a big difference in what I was expecting to receive in pension contributions in the first year based on what the recruiter said at the outset.
- a 2 week notice period for the employer for the first 6 months but 3 months notice period for me during the period. This seems more appropriate for casual / low skill staff rather than for an experienced hire.
What's normal for pension and notice periods on a new contract?
Caveat: I have only white hair in my moustache from bike crashes, no normal grey hair. But I have had many jobs in different domains and sectors, and I manage and recruit on a regular basis - plus I work in pensions.
Pension contributions are widely difference between domains - what domain is it?. The Auto Enrolment government legislation has a set of minimums that anyone employing more than one person must offer as standard, but you can opt out - anything above this is a bonus.
10% employer contribution is pretty decent, do they do employee contribution matching?
2018 tax year = 2% employer, 3% you
2019 tax year = 3% employer, 5% you
The notice period isn't abnormal, and aligned to legislation (1 week is the minimum for employer), 3 months is a long notice period - but again, not abnormal for a important role.
a 2 week notice period for the employer for the first 6 months but 3 months notice period for me during the period.
Any notice period in the first 2 years is pretty pointless in reality, you basically have none.
Also the 3 mth period for you doesn't mean that much, notice periods are almost impossible to enforce, I wouldn't worry much. Besides, if you want to leave in the first few months of starting, then things have gone pretty badly and I doubt the employer would want to keep you around.
The asymmetric notice period seem unreasonable to me. I know your workers rights are minimal for the first two years but if you want to play that game you can't have asymmetry
Any notice period in the first 2 years is pretty pointless in reality, you basically have none.
Depends - I went from 17 years employed in a large company to a start up division of an existing company and specifically negotiated a one year fixed term contract which them became a symmetrical 3/3 after that year unless terminated by either side. I was told by an experienced HR person that that usurps the risk of a no fault dismissal which is what the quoted text is basically referring to; it reflects that I'm taking on a lot of risk as well in joining the start up and if after a few months they decided not to pursue it, I'm not left swinging.
5.5 years later, and I wish they'd scrapped it after 6 months 😉
Feels reasonable. The difference in notice period between employer/employee is more common these days. Their Pension contribution does sound generous- its worth double checking to see if its a combination of theirs and yours or just their bit. Between 6 April 2018 and 5 April 2019 the minimum contribution is 5% with at least 2% from the employer and from 6 April 2019 the minimum contribution is 8% with at least 3% from the employer.
Is the start date for an Auto Enrolment pension still a fixed date for new staff who joined in the year before that (which was my experience), or does it have to be offered immediately when you join?
You probably got caught up on the staging dates, where companies were setting up.
You, as en employer or employee, can delay autoenrolment for up to 3 months. You need to give notice that you're doing so. You can also choose to opt out, as an employee, but not an employer.
This all applies if you're earning more than £10k a year, and are over 22. There's a lot more complicated rules if you're outside of those two conditions - but unless you're over 55 *and* under 75, under 22, and/or earning less than £10k a year, it doesn't matter.