Every passing week throws up more unwelcome contradictions in the world of work.
A survey for HR technology group SD Worx has found that over one in five Irish workers have not been paid on time by their employer more than once in the past year.
An even bigger number, 27 per cent, said there had been errors in the way their pay was calculated over the same period.
On the flip side, employers, especially among SMEs have been complaining loud and long about the extra labour cost burdens being imposed upon them by the State — including rises in the national minimum wage, expanded entitlement to sick leave and protective leave (covering areas like maternity and paternity leave), increased PRSI and, from late next year, employer contributions to the new mandatory workplace pension scheme, auto-enrolment.
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And they are correct to a point, although if a 0.1 per cent rise in PRSI is the difference between success and failure, the writing really is on the wall.
However, recent figures from PwC show that although the rate of business insolvency is rising from a pandemic-era low, the current rate of 32 per 10,000 businesses is well below the 20-year average of 50 and 2012 peak of 109.
The bottom line is that getting paid for your work is the most basic element of any employment contract.
Even assuming that it is the same respondents that are affected by both shortcomings, the figures suggest that more than one in four Irish workers cannot rely on that baseline as they struggle with their own bills and cost-of-living pressures. And it could be significantly more.
In a world where we are told competition for talent is stiff, the expectation of getting paid in full and on time should be a given.
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