Dear all,
Thank you for all your replies to my recnt question regarding chartership
and pay. Here’s a summary:
As you might have guessed, organisations that offer a financial benefit to
LIS employees on chartering were in the minority – just under a quarter (16
out of 63) of people who replied said they had or would receive an
automatic pay rise. Financial recognition is not sector-specific: these
people work in all sectors: public, school, FE, HE, government.
Some organisations, particularly academic, seem to support the chartership
process, but do not recognise it financially once an employee has gained
chartership. However, many employers both within and outside academia do
not acknowledge the chartership process at all, making it difficult for
candidates to take time off to attend courses, prepare portfolios etc.
Some respondents said that although they did not automatically receive a
pay rise on chartering, it did make promotion through the pay scale easier.
Many link their chartership process to career development paths that
employers do recognise e.g. as part of their performance goals for their
annual review. And it always helps when applying for new jobs.
Many commented how their pay scales have “pay bars” which you can only move
beyond if you charter, though there is apparently some doubt as to whether
this is actually legal practice.
The general comment I received again and again regarding management’s view
of chartership was “lack of awareness”, “lack of interest”. Sadly this lack
seems to be causing some people to give up on the chartership process as
they feel it won’t make any difference to their working conditions.
The next question is whether anything could/should be done to change the
situation, or whether we should be content with chartership as purely
enriching our professional development. One respondent suggested CILIP
could circulate guidelines as they have done regarding pay for school
librarians. It would perhaps be interesting to look at CILIP in relation to
other professional bodies and how they promote themselves and the LIS
profession to employers - one respondent commented that colleagues in
another department automatically received a pay increase once they became a
chartered member of their professional body.
So my colleagues and myself obviously won’t be able to use the “everyone
else does” argument when asking for a change in pay conditions on
chartering. But it was interesting to hear many link the process to
language that management do understand e.g. ‘performance goals’. Thanks
again for all your replies – I’m sure this issue won’t go away!
Sally
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Sally Maitland
Senior Library Assistant
(Acquisitions & Collection Development)
The Book Library
Courtauld Institute of Art
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