Negotiating Pay Rates

Mycare wants the best for both those looking for support and those seeking work. Here is our guide to setting a fair and equitable rate for your independent support worker. 

It’s important to remember that we all struggle with discussions about pay. How much should I offer? How much should a support worker ask for? What are other people paying? What is a fair rate? And when it comes to this type of work, the answers are not always straightforward.

Here are our top tips: 

Understanding where and how far your money goes  

Take time to consider the care you need and the workers themselves. Are certain skills or experience needed? What will the hours be? What are the complexities of the role? 

Having an appropriate rate will ensure you find the right worker. You don’t want to have to compromise on quality and loyalty because it is an unfair rate for the role. 

The final decision will always come down to you, what you can afford and the amount you are comfortable with, but can you put a price on loyalty? 

Add 15% to your usual baseline 

The community of people finding work via Mycare are 'contractors,' not employees, so they take care of their own holiday and sick leave, and Kiwisaver. Because of this, we recommend that a usual pay rate has 15% be added to the total to accommodate for the expenses that contracted workers take care of themselves (and are not a cost to you). At Mycare, we want to support both sides of our community to be able to live decent lives and have decent work. 

Consider the living wage 

The living wage is the income necessary to provide workers and their families with the necessities of life. New Zealand’s living wage rate is voluntary and has been calculated at $23.65 per hour. As above, we would recommend adding 15% to this to truly reflect a living wage which is $27.20.