What's The Deal with 000 Worker Salaries?

[Deactivated] on 08/01/2025 - 21:24

I was recently on a bit of a Jake Gyllenhaal binge and watched The Guilty. It was okay but it didn't stack up to Brokeback Mountain. Anyway, it got me thinking about call centre operators and that job. One thing lead to another and I'm looking at the job listing for Triple Zero Call-Takers.

I was absolutely astounded to see that after completing their training a Triple Zero call taker makes an astounding $54,088. Over the next two years, their salary caps out at a paltry $64,595. Now you might think they are shift workers, so they get various loadings and such. This is addressed in the information pack "Factoring shift penalties and overtime a full-time ear 1 call-taker averages annual earnings of $75,900, a year 2 Call-taker earns on average $81,200 (based on analysis of earnings undertaken)".

I don't mean to come across as condescending towards those of less means, but it seems to me that this is an astonishingly low salary for a job with some major downsides (shift work, high stress, traumatising). It puts them significantly below the median full-time salary of $88,400. Now obviously we can't pay everybody a million bucks but I would have expected they deserve another $20,000 or so, given the nature of the work. So I wonder why do people take this job on if the salary is so low? Is it out of compassion and a desire to help others? Or is that just the reality of having no formal qualifications in Australia?

Obligatory cheers to the Triple 0 Call Takers, you're doing God's work.

Education & Work

Comments

  • May4th on 09/01/2025 - 22:27
    +2

    as posters above mentioned, the relatively low salary is due to low barrier to entry - when anyone can do the job with training, however important, the salary will be capped due to supply and demand. not saying it's right, but that's the reality
    the lower end of the salary would be for basic call taker "police fire or ambulance, what state and town" and forward, that's it. as you become subspecialised the pay rises accordingly, even then it's very protocol driven, there is no clinical decision to make

  • BargainHunter9876543 on 09/01/2025 - 22:32

    Why would they be getting paid good money?

    It's a cushy call centre job that any 15yr old who speaks clear English could do with a couple of days on the job training.

  • TrumpisKing on 09/01/2025 - 23:20
    -2

    Answering phones and responding to emergencies definitely doesn't warrant 100k a year. Each person šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚
    Not even close. You're nqr if you actually think that.
    If they are getting traumatized and stressed out from THAT job, they sound weak to me.
    Try having a really hard stressful working job like labouring, or chef, then they can complain. Not sitting in an office

    • [Deactivated] on 10/01/2025 - 00:42

      Iā€™ve done labouring. Itā€™s hard yakka especially on a hot summerā€™s day but the furthest thing from stressful.

      • BargainHunter9876543 on 10/01/2025 - 09:34
        -1

        Thanks for confirming for us that you've never worked a manual labour job.

        • [Deactivated] on 12/01/2025 - 20:53
          -1

          Lol what stressed you out? Got the boss on your back? šŸ¤£

          • Eeples on 14/01/2025 - 12:52
            +1

            @[Deactivated]: I thought building sites were dangerous?

            I have seen them wear hard hats.

            Isn't it stressful working in physically dangerous environments?

            • [Deactivated] on 14/01/2025 - 19:21
              -1

              @Eeples: No not really. Itā€™s human nature to become desensitised to risk. Maybe oil field workers are stressed out by the risk, IDK.

            • BargainHunter9876543 on 14/01/2025 - 22:42

              @Eeples: They wouldn't know, they've never worked a manual labour job.

  • star-ggg on 09/01/2025 - 23:53
    +4

    Anyone who's worked at a corporate job knows there's plenty of people being paid >$100k doing work that a high school student can do.

    • Pratty on 10/01/2025 - 06:49
      +2

      Not sure what your point is here, in this context.

      • star-ggg on 10/01/2025 - 07:39
        -1

        All the comments justifying the low income of 000 call center workers cause it's "unskilled" work.

        • BargainHunter9876543 on 10/01/2025 - 09:35
          +2

          But it is unskilled work.

          Literally any high school kid who isn't special needs could easily do the job.

          • star-ggg on 10/01/2025 - 10:11
            -1

            @BargainHunter9876543: They can easily do the job but how easily can they front up to a coroner inquest?

            https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-05/wieambilla-police-shoā€¦

            Copying and pasting values between excel spreadsheets and forwarding JIRA tickets aren't "skills" either. They also do not have life or death repercussions if you screw up. Yet our society still thinks paying a corporate drone more than a trip 0 call operator is justified.

            • BargainHunter9876543 on 10/01/2025 - 21:30
              +1

              @star-ggg:

              They can easily do the job but how easily can they front up to a coroner inquest?

              The only thing you need to do at an inquest is verbally state something you did. No skills are required for that other than speaking English clearly and having a functioning memory.

              our society still thinks paying a corporate drone more than a trip 0 call operator is justified.

              Apples & Oranges. We need toilet cleaners, but we need engineers and surgeons more.

    • justworld on 10/01/2025 - 18:19
      +2

      Amazing then that so many high school students (and indeed, high school graduates) seem to willingly accept much lower salaries than $100k for their own jobs. Guess they must all love leaving money on the table, since those cushy corporate jobs are so easy to do.

      • star-ggg on 10/01/2025 - 19:21
        -1

        Not that amazing. Are these jobs being offered to high school students/graduates to try out?

        And you think copying and pasting in excel is a skill?

        • justworld on 10/01/2025 - 22:41

          Are these jobs being offered to high school students/graduates to try out?

          If they're not being offered to high school graduates, that indicates there's something more that you need before getting these cushy corporate jobs; what is it that all these people aren't doing, and why are they so happy to leave money on the table?

          And you think copying and pasting in excel is a skill?

          Not really - I think it's so simple any idiot can do it. So my question is why are some high school graduates only getting paid $60k when they can just copy and paste their way into a $100k job apparently.

          • star-ggg on 11/01/2025 - 00:33
            -1

            @justworld: They aren't being offered the positions because the the people in the existing positions and their managers (ie the ones doing the hiring) won't admit their jobs are unskilled. Managers don't want to put they're managing a bunch of high school students on their resume. They want to say they're managing analysts and associates.

            • justworld on 11/01/2025 - 12:44
              +1

              @star-ggg: I would have thought it's something to do with the positions usually requiring a uni degree, which is a simple accomplishment that, nonetheless, not everyone can get, for some strange reason.

              As someone who works in corporate, I agree that a basic squirrel on $100k doesn't have much of a skillset, but said squirrel will still have a Bachelor's. It's incredibly easy to get a bachelor's degree (with Honours) in say commerce or arts or whatever, and if you can't do that, you're missing out. It's not even expensive - you can get a HECS place at some online university if you can't get into one of the reputable ones.

              Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder about the whole thing.

        • BargainHunter9876543 on 11/01/2025 - 14:27
          +1

          000 call centre operator positions, like any call centre positions, are target marketed at long term welfare recipients, job seekers and school leavers. It's targeted at them because the role requires no skill, formal education or technical knowledge.

  • supersabroso on 10/01/2025 - 10:15
    +2

    Jobs, like almost everything else in life is simple demand and supply. This is the correct salary for this role, otherwise they would be at constant shortages and would need to up the salary to fill the gap. The lower the qualifications/experience you require, the lower the salary due to the sheer number of people that can do the job. The higher the qualifications/experience required, the less people there are to do the job so the salary goes higher, simple.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/01/2025 - 11:31
      +1

      Jobs, like almost everything else in life is simple demand and supply. This is the correct salary for this role, otherwise they would be at constant shortages and would need to up the salary to fill the gap.

      I loved reading Hayek in university but disagree strongly with this kind of neoliberal thought where people assert any price offered is tautologically the efficient market price. If salaries were always correct they would never change. The ā€œlaw of supply and demandā€ is for the most part a tendency but most markets arenā€™t efficient, especially the employment market which has many distortions. The market is always in flux and salaries are never correct.

      Incidentally they do have chronic staff shortages

      • justworld on 10/01/2025 - 18:20

        Besides the minimum wage and other workplace laws, what distortions does the employment market have, in this particular context?

    • Eeples on 14/01/2025 - 12:53

      Oh please.

      Big business only believes in market supply and demand for everything EXCEPT wages.

  • jaimex2 on 10/01/2025 - 10:57

    You haven't seen the tax benefits they get.

    Compare the take home and come back to us.

    • MS Paint on 10/01/2025 - 11:10

      Please explain. According to the recruitment page for 000 call takers….

      Our people gain access to a range of benefits and services in recognition of the great work they do. They include yearly service awards, recognition programs, parental leave and access to great discounts through the Memberlink program.

      If there was tax incentives I'm sure they would mention them like they do in the health sector.

  • Benoffie on 10/01/2025 - 16:15
    +1

    Well, wouldn't you know it - I had to call 000 this morning.

    Sitting in a cafe and a fan fell, hitting Mum in the head.

    Obviously a lot of blood, hard to make out what's what and no FA kit on site.

    Called 000 - Telstra operator - service, suburb, state - then SAAS.

    SAAS on call completing FA management, ambulance management etc.

    Only hung up when bleeding under control and ambos around the corner.

    Call lasted 7 mins 19 secs.

    Im pretty calm under pressure especially emergencies but I still wouldn't do that job. Mum's fine. Glued her head back together šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļøšŸ¤£

    Edit - as an aside, if you dont have your medical details on your phone that can be accessed by EMS, please do it. It made their life so much easier today.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/01/2025 - 16:24

      Sitting in a cafe and a fan fell, hitting Mum in the head.

      WOW unlucky! Glad your Mumā€™s fine

  • Atomik17 on 10/01/2025 - 17:42
    -1

    My man. Wait until you see nurses wages. You have to work 8 years to reach the highest grade.

    • BargainHunter9876543 on 10/01/2025 - 21:40
      -1

      https://www.anmfvic.asn.au/~/media/files/anmf/eba2024/resourā€¦

      First day out of Uni in year #1, nurse pay starts at $45.13 an hour not including any incentives, allowances, benefits or tax breaks.

      It then heads upwards to over $100 an hour as they progress up through with experience.

      The average pay for most nurses in year 1-3 is actually between $80 an hour to $90 an hour though, as they do agency work which pays much better early in their careers.

      All things considered, that's great pay compared to a heap of other professions.

      • Atomik17 on 10/01/2025 - 23:09
        +1

        Look at the table RN1
        Was $35 now currently at $40. Its decent now. For a fresh beginner. In public you will never see $80-90. It only on private agency with limited shifts.

        • BargainHunter9876543 on 11/01/2025 - 14:13

          Was about to also respond to the grossly uninformed comment above you, but it looks like they wisely deleted their comment now.

    • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 10:45
      +1

      I'm guessing you never read the AMA from a few years ago by the nurse making $300k per annum.

  • HangryCakeStore on 10/01/2025 - 19:13

    They should of used the pointless wage rise for ā€œrevenue raisersā€ for these

    But some people were clapping for the hard working revenue bullies that just do things without reason like during covid.

  • haemolysis on 15/01/2025 - 11:05

    Minor emotional distress (and phone calls couldn't possibly be less traumatic) does not ipso facto get you big dollars. What it gets you is a handful of free annual phone calls to a counsellor at an Employee Assistance Program.

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