The Scam of Long Service Leave

random12 on 29/03/2024 - 16:13
Last edited 29/03/2024 - 16:16

Who else thinks that long service leave has well and truly out served it's purpose (did it ever even have one?)?

Stay at a company for 10 years and you get 2 months of leave.

Sounds good in theory, but if someone has stayed at a company for 10 years, they have very likely had many below inflation raises and low ball job transfer offers. The 2 months "free" leave probably comes nowhere near compensation for that. Not to mention that the employer has been able to retain all the knowledge internally.

I have seen some people that have been at a company for like 9 year and 6 months, and then move to a different role. Wow. What a waste. They would have got 2 months "free pay" if they had just stayed an extra 6 months.

Especially now as people are spending less and less time at each job, and companies continue to prove that loyalty aint worth shit. Maybe you get a piece of paper after 10 years. Maybe a gold watch after 30 years of taking 2% raises.

Education & Work

Comments

    • MrThing on 30/03/2024 - 12:24

      My generation had to work for 20 years to hit director level. Now it's handed out after 3 or 4 years after they start.

      Look at the quality of those people but, knowledge and experience an inch deep and a mile wide.

    • larndis on 01/04/2024 - 10:47

      don't stay in the same job for more than a year

      or

      Now it's handed out after 3 or 4 years after they start

      which one is it?

  • mskeggs on 30/03/2024 - 10:28
    +2

    To engage with the thin substance of the OPs post.
    If you are very young, you might have spent a lot of your working life in the unusual circumstances of the last 10 years or so when there have been substantial labour shortages in IT, trades, health, engineering and other technical fields.
    This meant that the pay to hire a new staffer was often higher than what you were paying existing staff.

    In other times, the reverse happens, and staff who have been awarded years of union negotiated pay rises find themselves being paid substantially more than what new starters are paid. In this circumstance, LSL is especially valuable.

    If you want examples of this right now, look in the media where unions are fighting employers over contracting, for example QANTAS, Auspost, Telstra and others where the employer can try to undercut employee entitlements by hiring externally as contractors.

  • Randolph Duke on 30/03/2024 - 10:34
    +2

    OP is SlavOz lite.

  • So Was Red on 30/03/2024 - 10:49

    And a hot plate

  • Brick Tamland on 30/03/2024 - 11:06

    I'd rather have it than not have it. It's a good benefit in my eyes. I am planning to keep it until I move jobs or retire and take it as extra lump sum and then blow it on a holiday

  • TrumpisKing on 30/03/2024 - 12:10

    Wow you're a little cry baby 😂😂. Feel better now you've had your little tantrum?

  • MrThing on 30/03/2024 - 12:22
    +2

    Damn free leave for being loyal, those bastards

  • Davo1111 on 30/03/2024 - 12:36
    +1

    Seek mental help

  • Hangryuman on 30/03/2024 - 12:53
    +1

    the scam of a troll post - yeah somebody should get outraged at this latest attempt to frisson some outrage at a fabricated story that's so threadbare it hardly holds together

    yeah - nah - zzzz ….

  • Willy Beamish on 30/03/2024 - 18:46

    If the only reason you're staying at a job is for the 2 months after 10 years then just find another job.

  • pulpfiction on 30/03/2024 - 20:58
    +2

    In the private sector I’ve seen a lot of people live in misery for years waiting for that long service leave benefit. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Nothing wrong with having it as a perk, but you’re nuts if you’re relying on it.

    • Windows7forever on 31/03/2024 - 08:28
      +2

      I know. It's crazy. Like they think that 8 weeks of paid LSL will make all of their work problems magically disappear.

  • ThisOldMan on 30/03/2024 - 22:55

    It's okay…. We know…..you're the victim.

  • ddilrat on 30/03/2024 - 23:50

    It's a nice thing to have. Definitely not a scam. He's right that it generally does not make up for the slower wage rise by staying at a single company. Maybe some companies are better but from what I've seen and experienced the only way to take a new role and have a market rate salary is to come in from external.

  • k15866 on 31/03/2024 - 10:02

    And for some, it becomes 5 months for every 10years thereafter.

    I've been wondering whether I can reduce my hours to once a week and apply for 7 months of LSL at half pay and 1 day per week to get over 5 years of pay for no work in the lead up to retirement…

    • Cliche Guevara on 01/04/2024 - 09:25
      +1

      Most LSL needs to be taken with 7 days minimum and taken as a continuous block (weekends and public holidays use up your LSL too).

  • Goldenra1n on 31/03/2024 - 12:27

    I was close to getting my long service leave but quit and got a job with a 50% pay raise.

  • cnrmlj on 31/03/2024 - 14:05

    LOL. How exactly is it a scam?

    It's a benefit of being in the one place for a long period of time.

    I've been with my current employer for just over 18 years. I've had numerous promotions and role changes leading to pay rises and also annual rises through the normal pay review process where i haven't changed roles.

    My choice to stay in the same organisation although there have been some changes as a result of M&A. Long Service Leave is a nice benefit for staying there. I can't see a scam in it at all but would be happy to be educated.

    • kerfuffle on 31/03/2024 - 20:35
      +1

      It's the OP; he thinks everything is a scam, but the only scam are his inane posts.

  • BusMan247 on 31/03/2024 - 15:57
    +1

    I'm pretty sure you're allowed to get actual promotions. I just clicked 10 years last year. Was going to leave. Decided not to. Stayed. Got 3 mths additional pay. Have had 4 promotions, last two quite decent and next one should be good when my next ones up. Work hard be good and you can really get it moving.

    OP is right, jumping ship will get you more pay on the initial go over, but you better be able to back it up, and you'll need to do some time to move again.

  • Homr on 31/03/2024 - 20:32

    I'm 13yrs and got no one to blame but myself for being underpaid.

    I was thinking of bailing out on my 9th year but then covid hit

  • diddy50 on 31/03/2024 - 20:41

    My industry provides LSL after 7 years pro rata and you can take your balance and years with you if you move between employers in the same industry.

    Not a scam, but a way of retaining good employees in the industry

  • Name on 31/03/2024 - 20:50
    +1

    I move around every 3-5 years. My full time pay is about 70k a year more than the average of my peers (similar level of experience and niche speciality) that stayed at the companies I worked for. I changed companies twice during covid netting an extra $20k a year. Long service leave isn't important when you can self fund it by moving around and earn a lot more.

    My work loyalty probably got damaged when I was a grad and I saw a company I worked for make 50 people redundant including one of my mentors that had a baby on the way (his wife was due in 2 weeks time). The HR guy was standing in front of the boardroom where he was doing the firing and sipping on his cup of tea while looking into the wing I was in. You're just a number.

  • kaleidoscope on 31/03/2024 - 21:44

    if someone has stayed at a company for 10 years, they have very likely had many below inflation raises and low ball job transfer offers

    If your entire expectation out of a job is money money money, this is not for you OP. Go find some other job.

    Good luck 💪

  • Lamie on 31/03/2024 - 22:20

    I’m worked for the same company 16.5 years. I got 14 weeks LSL.

  • xazark on 01/04/2024 - 10:53

    LSL gets paid out pro rata from 7 years if you leave now, has been like that for about 10 years I think. Having said that I have left both of my last roles after 6-6.5 years because the pay increase greatly exceeded the "free" leave payout, I could have stuck around and then applied elsewhere after the 7 years but sometimes you just have to take opportunity when it appears

  • Miss B on 01/04/2024 - 12:26

    I'm on >60% more than what I started on 6 or 7 years ago at the company, so about 10% per year. I also like my employer, the culture and my colleagues so will continue to work there. I guess I'm the scammer, because I'll still accept the LSL.

  • try2bhelpful on 01/04/2024 - 14:04
    +2

    If you go to the right company, and can afford it, they will let you do LSL at 1/2 pay. So you get twice the time off.

    Why do people misuse the word scam. Have they been watching too much A Current Affair or Sky After Dark?

  • Ruddaga on 01/04/2024 - 18:09

    I mean.. It's literally a bonus period of time off that you don't really deserve or have earned. So I fail to see the problem.

    Personally I'm looking forward to mine in 3 more years as I love to travel and as a teacher will be strategically aiming mine across the middle of the year to get like 3 months off :D

  • Gros21 on 12/04/2024 - 09:35

    ive got 20 years at mine. EBA states xx% or inflation what ever is greater, don't get a shit job then you are right.

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