Yes, a Pret barista does earn more than a junior doctor – if you spin the numbers

At the height of the pandemic, Pret A Manger heeded the call. After pleas from exhausted medics, the sandwich and coffee shop chain became one of the first high street cafés to reopen its doors in some locations near hospitals, along with a 50 per cent discount for NHS staff.

Almost three years later, some of those same medical professionals are on the picket lines. Today (Wednesday) is the final day of a 72-hour junior doctors’ strike; the main grievance being over wages, in particular that the hourly pay of a newly qualified doctor is less than someone serving coffee at Pret A Manger.

In a full-page advert in The Guardian, the British Medical Association (BMA) claimed that “thanks to this Government, you can make more serving coffee than saving patients.” They go on to claim that a barista makes £14.10 an hour to a junior doctor’s £14.09.

And there is some truth to this claim, if you spin the numbers in a very particular (and disingenuous) way.

After seven years of medical school, a first-year junior doctor will earn £29,384 a year. Spread across the year on the basis of 40 contracted hours per week, this comes out at about £14.09 an hour.

A Pret barista, on the other hand, is subjected to a 12-week course in coffee making and can now, thanks to a recent pay rise, earn up to £14.10 per hour.

However, there are a few problems with the comparison. Firstly, the Pret wage of £14.10 per hour has London weighting, the junior doctor wage of £14.09 does not. In fact, a London-based junior doctor is paid close to £16 per hour. Secondly, that barista figure includes a £1.25 “secret shopper” bonus, only granted to the barista if they provide excellent customer service.

And then there’s the long-term aspect. A junior doctor will likely see their salary increase to £51,000 within about five years – or £24.41 an hour. If they qualify to become a consultant, they’ll see their pay jump to £88,931, with incremental increases after that. If the barista gets promoted to a store manager, the most Pret advertises these jobs for is £48,000, although it could be as low as £37,000.

However, one junior doctor said the comparison did have some merits, in particular for doctors straight out of medical school. “Arguably new junior doctors may earn even less if you take into account their own time spent maintaining their work portfolio and the hundreds of pounds spent on exams and General Medical Council memberships,” they said, pointing out that last year they’d spent £2,000 on exams alone. “The majority of junior doctors I work with have regrets about their career decision at some point due to the high pressure and the workload. Three trainees that I started with have already left.” This in turn leads to a situation where rota gaps grow and pressures intensify.

The BMA advertisement was clearly meant to demonstrate some key problems with the profession which, after a near decade of austerity, has become increasingly devalued. Real-terms cuts have meant first-year doctors now earn 12 per cent less than they did a decade ago, around double the pay cuts seen by nurses, according to the Nuffield Trust.

With years of training and accumulated student debt, anti-social hours and long days often filled with trauma, many junior doctors will wonder if the sacrifices were worth it.

But the message has been interpreted differently by others; a case of capitalist wage envy which pits worker against worker.

“Actively paying money to run an ad talking about Pret workers earning more than you is one of the most anti-solidarity acts I’ve ever seen”, said one Tweeter. “It shows that you don’t actually care about the exploitation of workers; you’re just annoyed that YOU weren’t exempt from it.”

Accusations of snobbery from a profession that traditionally attracts middle-class individuals were also made.

The BMA has challenged this view, saying: “Pret has done the right thing in raising pay for its workers and we give it full credit for that – we are simply saying the Government should do the same for junior doctors. That Pret has now increased its salaries so that baristas can earn £14.10 per hour while junior doctors at the start of their career can earn as little as £14.09 per hour for delivering essential care to patients shows how far the Government has let pay erode.”

But outside of pay, there are plenty of other elements of a Pret A Manger job which NHS staff will envy, such as more reasonable and flexible working hours against the prospect of shifts any day and at any time for junior doctors.

Where Pret A Manger has previously arranged parties at the Ministry of Sound nightclub for staff; NHS staff pay for their Christmas dos from their own pockets. And while junior doctors will be up against a seven-million strong appointment backlog for their healthcare, Pret staff get private medical care.

And the 50 per cent discount at Pret for NHS staff? This disappeared shortly after the pandemic.