AS a rule, people don’t like to discuss wages. It’s not seen as the ‘done thing’. Embarrassing, gauche, etc.
But that’s a good way, as an employee, to find yourself exploited, being paid well below the market rate. As an employer, if you’re not prepared to find out what competitors are offering, you risk being left behind.
This subject was playing on the mind of at least one contractor on the Forest Machine Operators Blog this month, who was shocked to learn the payment terms he offered might not be as competitive as he thought.
Asked what the going rate for decent machine drivers is these days, he said he was paying £20 an hour, but was struggling to find staff, adding: “Everyone is reluctant to share information. Is £20 less than the average?”
Someone replied: “Salary has always been a sticky subject which many people avoid. I know the salary ranges from £20 to £30 per hour, but I suspect that there’s a few other things that are considered by the employee, including team. I think that there’s such a shortage that people are willing to pay over the ‘normal’ wage.”
The contractor responded: “Does anyone actually, honestly, pay £30 an hour? That’s £30/hr x 50 hrs x 50 weeks = £75k if I’ve got my numbers right. Surely not. Tell me who’s paying that. I need to sell up and go work for them.”
The conversation got plenty of others talking, with a lot of different views about what the going rate should be and how it should be calculated. Some thought £20–22 was pretty fair, but with a shortage of skilled operators and the oft-repeated complaint that “nobody wants to work”, it seems many self-employed drivers have come to expect more.
“You need to look at other self-employed people, e.g. tradesmen,” said one member. “All of them are on £30 plus. You say you can’t get men. That is why.”
Another said: “It’s all relevant to the individual at the controls. A good operator on piece work can earn far more, but the rate is set so it doesn’t matter if the operator hits £500-£700 a day, they have produced the amount of timber to achieve this.
“Was told recently of a contractor looking for forwarder operator, £20/hr, 8am-4pm, £160/day and wanted 50 tonne roadside. that equates to £3+/tonne. I would rather have a piece-work rate and pull out over 100 tonnes in eight hours, but then most employers would think they’re paying too much if someone could earn £300+ a day. But that’s penalising a good operator for being good at his job.”
For smaller and rougher blocks he suggested rates should be different and a higher piece work rate factored in to do that work, but some argued changing rates all the time was a good way to make people feel cheated.
Illustrating how different some people’s experiences are, one member commented: “£20 an hour? Haha! That would be amazing!”
Seeking to get to the bottom of this, the contractor posted a survey to the group, asking: “What is considered to be an average hourly rate for a decent machine operator?”
Options ranged from £17/18 an hour to £29/30 an hour.
While the votes were counted, in the comments debate continued.
“Depends on experience,” said one member. “I’m 30 years in. Started off on the saw, tractor, then old diggers with stroke head and Osa harvesters, so I’ve a fair bit of mechanical knowledge too (let’s be honest, the old machines were needy and always wanted touching), plus a few years on forwarders. I know there’s loads of operators out there with similar age, same experience, so how do you put a rate on that?”
Another operator countered: “New gear doesn’t need a mechanic. I’ve seen many lads with 30-plus years experience driving machines and who are as useful as a chocolate teapot.”
Arguing experience and capabilities should be factored in, another said: “Some wouldn’t be worth £10 an hour but others would be worth £25–30 an hour. I always preferred piecework rate. When I started out on the saw, a guy was paying £250 a week. Me and another guy felt the rate wasn’t enough as we seemed to be doing more than the other guys, so we got a piece-work rate of 20p per tree to fell, sned and lay out line thinnings for a skidder.
“We did a week where we actually produced over five times the work the day rate guys were on and earned £750 each for the week – three times the day rate – but the contractor also gained. Yet come pay day he didn’t want to pay us £750 and gave us half. Ended up losing us two because of it and we moved on.
“It shouldn’t matter how much someone earns as long as it works for the employer gaining the extra volume over a shorter period. The issue with hourly is much the same. If a new start and a seasoned operator are on similar rates and the seasoned op moves three or four times the timber, then he feels under-appreciated and jumps ship.”
With 124 votes counted, the poll found a majority of 54 per cent in favour of paying £19/20 an hour. In second place, with 20 per cent, was £29/30, though it was reported to the original poster that “some of these were grassed up for earning significantly less and not even being worth that”.
One contributor suspected there were more than a few “porkies” being told.
He said: “Each to their own with the hourly rate thing, but never done it and don’t plan to. Piecework is a great incentive to get on and it’s done right by me. Some folk that worked here like to sit and idle for three hours of the day on the iPad watching films while being paid by the hour. That’s 12–15 hours of idle time a week that someone else is paying for. Things will never be perfect.”
Last we heard, the contractor that kicked all this off is still looking for staff.
If you want to get involved with the latest chat, visit the Forest Machine Operators Blog on Facebook.
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