Three year contract but funding now very insecure

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elainem

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Hi! I took a job recently with a large voluntary organisation. It's a great job. My contract was for 3 years, with every belief that it would be extended. However, today I found that this organisation is really struggling with it's finances and a staff member told me that they have trouble paying their stationery supplier at the moment, i.e. they haven't the money to pay them, and don't know where it's going to come from. It seem that my contract is not secure at all, and could be reneged on at any time.

My question: Is this normal for voluntary organisations? I haven't really done much work in voluntary organisations, so haven't been exposed to the precariousness of funding.

I relocated for job, so it's quite nervewracking.

I was on the nursing panel about 3 years ago, and last week I was offered a position in the midlands in nursing through the HSE. I haven't emailed to refuse it yet, and was going to do it on Monday next. I have a medical condition that makes me tired and has worsened, and was advised by specialist not to do shift work/nights as it leads to a detrioration of my condition, and is contraindicated for it.

Now, I'm left wondering if I should consider this permanent, pensionable job, given that the contract I singed is not now secure after only a couple of weeks.

I would have an 120 mile round trip each day, would have to leave the house at 6 and wouldn't be back until 10.pm, though I would have days off during the week as shifts would be 3 days on 4 days off, 4 days on 3 days off.

I would have to get a nanny for my kids which would eat up about 2/3 my salary. Yet the job is permanent and pensionable. Help!!!!
 
Yes, thats common enough in the voluntary sector. Most funding is year to year, and often it comes down to the 11th hour. There really is no security. For the most part they are operated on a shoestring, so waiting for the next installment of the grant can lead to general unease and worry about paying suppliers. All posts will be subject to renewal of funding.

However, most voluntary organisations will have a variety of different funding, so although core funding might be a problem (for stationery), the funding for your post might be relatively OK.

Its a tough decision for you. Personally I got out of the voluntary sector as it was just getting too insecure and moved into public.
 
Stationery and salaries are different pots. No idea how safe your job is, but the nursing post sounds like a recipe for disaster from a health, family and seeing the kids point of view. So some security, but no quality of life and you will probably get sick.
 
Voluntary organisation job insecure because of funding

Hi! Sarahmc and Dizet, thanks for your replies. Sarah, it's good to know that this is a common experience with voluntary organisations.

Dizet, yes the nursing job would be difficult- It would be an hour and 15 travelling each way. Also because I would be working shifts, it would be difficult and I would have to get a childminder into the house. I would be working fourteen long days a month which would be twelve to thirteen hour days and 2 and a half hours travelling on those fourteen days. My childcare would be about 100 euros a day when the children were in school. In holiday time my childcare would be 160 euors a day - 10 euors per hour for childminder in the house as it's the only way it could be managed. Then on weekends because my ex (see previous posts, won't facilitate anything and could leave me down re taking the children at the drop of a hat, or might not switch to take them on the weekends I would be working), I would end up paying 160 euros per day in childcare for Saturday on Sunday. I left nursing a couple of years ago at the top of the staff nurse scale so my salary would be aabout e2900 per month, but the childcare costs, and diesel cost of about 300 per month would gobble up about two thirds of my salary.

The only positives about it would be that it is a permanent and pensionable job, and I would be able to get a loan or mortgage if I needed it. I left nursing previously because of the difficulty of being able to manage childcare and working shifts as a single parent with no support, and because of the impact of shifts, particularly nights, on my medical condition.
 
I'd be inclined to take the permanent pensionable job and move a bit closer if possible. I've been working in a charity under the same conditions you described at your organisation (unpaid bills, late wages etc.). Last week I was laid off.
 
Three year contract but funding insecure

Hi! Calico, I'm thinking the same. Although it's a real backward step for me to return to nursing, a permanent pensionable job would give me some peace of mind. I tested positive for a genetic predisposition to cancer last year, so stability, and being able to keep my income protection in situ, and comply with the it's conditions in relation to regular working hours is very important to me.

Perhaps I could look at it that the childcare won't be forever as one of the kids is nearing the end of primary school.

I can't move back, as I've just moved with my kids, and they love it here and the country life. Next year the school they are in is going to have only 10 pupils so the attention is great and both kids love it. My extended family is also fairly close by to where we live now.

I'm worried about the journey to and from my nursing position in the Midlands, but maybe if I had enough support from a childminder able to mind the kids in my house and also a cleaner to do a weekly couple of hours clean, I would probably survive, and the financial burden of childcare would only be for another two years. I can't stand the worry that I won't get paid at the end of the month, or that my wages could be a week or two late, and at the moment I think that that is not beyond the bound's of possibility. I work for a branch of a national voluntary organisation that is very well regarded - yet these issues are occuring - so I guess these issues are probably more acute in other voluntary organisations - unfortunately I thought that such a large, and reputable voluntary organisation wouldn't have these problems, but I was wrong!

Thanks again.
 
elainem said:
Next year the school they are in is going to have only 10 pupils so the attention is great and both kids love it.
Click to expand...

Just be aware elainem that a 10 pupil school will only have 1 teacher and with changes happening to the pupil/teacher ratio your one teacher school may close sooner rather than later.

As a teacher, I have taught in a two teacher school and would have to say that when a school gets too small the children do lose out on the natural challenge other pupils in a class can give when the numbers are too small.

Re. the permanent job .... the things that hit me are the long commute, the shift work, the long day - and the impact these may have on your health (and lifestyle).

Get a sheet of paper - divide it in two and write down the pros and cons with both jobs. Remember, too, that the goal post for the public service job is also likely to change.
 
Three year contract but funding insecure

Hi! Paddybloggit, thanks for your reply.

The principal of the school says it won't close as it's CofI, and has to be kept open because of ethos - there is no other CofI school for 50 miles around. I don't know if this is entirely true or not.

Re. the nursing job - yes the commute and arranging of childcare around shifts would be a nightmare. It would actually be easier to try and get a 9-5 job with another voluntary organisation doing similar work in Dublin for a while as I can do Dub in 1 hr 20 from here, and at least the hours would be regular in terms of childcare and no weekends.

I suppose it-s the permanent and pensionable job that I am worried about giving up, and my family too and the ability to maintain my income protection plan if I have no regular work.

Tbh, I really hate nursing (love the patient but it's the rest of what goes on I can't stand!) and I know the wards are very short staffed at the moment even with new recruits, so I guess it would be pretty stressful working there.

It's a nerve-wracking predicament to be in, when I thought I would be secure for at least 3 years.
 
Talk to your manager, it could well be that they have a cast iron service level agreement for the next 3 years. I'm inclined to think they must have, otherwise you would have been offered a one year contract.

The stationery lady could be a worry wort and causing you this dilemma for no reason.
 
I won't dispute the school principal elainem as I don't know what the story is for COI. It does look as if the school's position is secure when it's the only provider within a 50 mile radius.

I'd second what Sarah Mc says - talk to your manager before you make any final decisions.

You've made a great move to a less stressful, country location, it would be terrible to bring all the stress back again with a job that will over stretch you on a daily basis.
 
three year contract now insecure

Hi! Paddy Bloggit and others, thanks for your comments and advice. I have talked to my manager over the last few days and things are fine, and my three-year contract is secure. It was excactly as was said - different money comes from different pots - and the funding for my job has been guaranteed and put in the pot for three years, so I am not worried now when I hear that other pots have dried up.

This is great for me, as I asked my consultant's advice and he said it was really not a good idea to return to shift work.

I have also just had the promise of some turoturoing work for the OU which is likely to come on stream in Sept.
 
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