Hourly to Salary?

[Bando]

My job is being upgraded after 3 years. I make a generous wage and work fairly steady M-F hours.

The upgrade means a little more ka-ching, but more travel and more responsibility for training those in the field. Essentially, at key times I'll be away for days ( I can bring one of my kids sometimes though.)

When it was being discussed with me today, the term "you may have to put certain things aside" was used. Meaning obviously my hour at lunchtime in the gym. I'm perfectly happy working around that to have a flexible schedule. I'll work maybe 4 weekends a year and have 1/2 dozen overnights.

Just out of a sense of duty I answer a lot of emails on the weekend as it is.

If you've gone through this type of job transition - I would appreciate comments about your experience.

[desslok]

Happened to me. I suppose it depends on how cool and flexible your boss is around comp time. For example I have to work some weekends and at night for what may be just a couple hours and I am on call 24/7. And I just tell my boss, hey I worked 2 hours Sunday, so is it cool if I leave 2 hours early on Friday? Etc. Luckily my boss is pretty cool about it and trusts that I will be honest about the comp time I take, so I never take advantage of it. Hope it works out well for you.

[crupiea]

congrats on the advancementm i hope things go well for you.

didnt go well for me.

I went from enjoying my job to getting pestered every day and night and never being able to get away from them. they constantly wanted more and more and never gave it a rest until i finally got sick of it and told them to go to hell. didnt have anything else lined up either it was that bad.

man did that ever feel good.

Of course thats a worse case scenario but keep them in check right out of the gate so they dont run all over you like they did me.

[hochspeyer]

Congratulations on the promotion. I sometimes put in some crazy hours as a salaried employee, but there are some offsets for me-

No travel (I wasn't crazy about it even before TSA)
Max of 4 days at work in a week (except for changeovers, where you're either working or off for seven days)
10 minute commute on a bad day.

[Bando]

It's pretty much the honor system where I work.

I approve a bunch of timecards and I make sure a lunch break was recorded. Oddly enough my biggest beef is people working and not recording hours.

If you're an employee you can't be a volunteer, our insurance always recognizes you as an employee. The state makes no differentiation either.

As bad as that sounds, all those rules fascinate me and I could spend my whole work life tweaking them.

Not meant to be a policymaker, so I'll settle for BB'er

[Nu8A2d]

Congrats on the promotion Bando. I went from hourly to salary and supervising people many years ago. I love it, and I miss it lately. I love, love, love what I do, and I like working with people and watching them excel. That makes a big difference in whether you will enjoy it and not mind being more available, or feeling taken advantage of. In my case, 80% of the time I have worked in good organization for great bosses. They knew they always got more than 40 out of me, and almost always, it was on my terms and my schedule. Win-Win. I wish you all the best - you could really enjoy this, and you might get those lunch time workouts in more than you think!

[Bando]

congrats on the advancementm i hope things go well for you.

didnt go well for me.

I went from enjoying my job to getting pestered every day and night and never being able to get away from them. they constantly wanted more and more and never gave it a rest until i finally got sick of it and told them to go to hell. didnt have anything else lined up either it was that bad.

man did that ever feel good.

Of course thats a worse case scenario but keep them in check right out of the gate so they dont run all over you like they did me.

The things I'm asked to do, I'm very good with. When I pull off a major webinar with like 15 locations and 100 participants, the hosts are sweating bullets. Bando is cool as a cumber fixing issues and that's not even my job.

whether I'm away or not, those types of problems would be all mine.

Every job interview I've ever had I've said "my favorite thing is solving problems."

I luvz bein' teh man in teh clutch

[-=FLEX=-]

Congrats is all I'm gonna say.

[Getsum]

My job is being upgraded after 3 years. I make a generous wage and work fairly steady M-F hours.

The upgrade means a little more ka-ching, but more travel and more responsibility for training those in the field. Essentially, at key times I'll be away for days ( I can bring one of my kids sometimes though.)

When it was being discussed with me today, the term "you may have to put certain things aside" was used. Meaning obviously my hour at lunchtime in the gym. I'm perfectly happy working around that to have a flexible schedule. I'll work maybe 4 weekends a year and have 1/2 dozen overnights.

Just out of a sense of duty I answer a lot of emails on the weekend as it is.

If you've gone through this type of job transition - I would appreciate comments about your experience.

Gratz on the promotion man!

I'm not sure of your exact situation but when I went from hourly to straight salary I felt uneasy because of the uncompensated extra hours and weekends. If you feel that there's a good comp time system in place, and they won't abuse the amount of extra hours you're working it's probably a good deal. Things are a lot better for me now that they've manned up the department, but even when some goes on vacation, gets sick or leaves for another job...it puts a strain on the rest of us. But like I said, I don't even know what you do for a living.

I'd take most likely take the deal, work my ass off and try to make the best of it.

[Bando]

Congrats on the promotion Bando. I went from hourly to salary and supervising people many years ago. I love it, and I miss it lately. I love, love, love what I do, and I like working with people and watching them excel. That makes a big difference in whether you will enjoy it and not mind being more available, or feeling taken advantage of. In my case, 80% of the time I have worked in good organization for great bosses. They knew they always got more than 40 out of me, and almost always, it was on my terms and my schedule. Win-Win. I wish you all the best - you could really enjoy this, and you might get those lunch time workouts in more than you think!

hiring, evaluating, supervisng is part of my job now, my favorite part. I will lose this

Congrats is all I'm gonna say.

Thanks FLEX, your climb from warehouse to controller is one of my favorite success stories.

[paolo59]

Just lost 3 grand a year on a stipend for bilingual teacher here in Dallas. What can you say? The state is tight, budgets are being cut. We going to up folks property taxes at the moment? They're already maxxed out! I'm absolutely fine with it. I've got a freakin' job. They may 'furlough' or cut our salaries during the year. There's a 112 million dollar shortfall forecast for the 2011/2012 school year in my district.

Who knows? I'll get by. Always have, always will. Do your job, do it well, and wait and see! Aint' that life! You want sunshine in your day, every day? Sometimes it rains. I never melted because I got a little wet!

[paolo59]

That sounded just a bit negative! LOL Congratulations to you Bando! More money always means more responsibility. (but there's always a way to get around that when it comes to family!) Enjoy!!!!

[beachguy498]

congrats on the advancementm i hope things go well for you.

didnt go well for me.

I went from enjoying my job to getting pestered every day and night and never being able to get away from them. they constantly wanted more and more and never gave it a rest until i finally got sick of it and told them to go to hell. didnt have anything else lined up either it was that bad.

man did that ever feel good.

Of course thats a worse case scenario but keep them in check right out of the gate so they dont run all over you like they did me.

Gotta set the ground rules up front, or they have to get used to you and vice versa. I'm at the point now that you were at. I'm going to see what the early retirement offers on Monday.

Rob

[snorkelman]

Happened to me. I suppose it depends on how cool and flexible your boss is around comp time.

Comp time is only relevant if you are an employee for a public employer (city/state/county etc.)

...The state makes no differentiation either.

^^ That suggests that maybe you work for a public employer.

In general, one of the biggest misconceptions about unpaid wages is employers wrongly assume that if you pay an employee on a salary basis (rather than strictly hourly) then you no longer need to be concerned about paying the employee overtime. The reality is that salary is only PART of the way to legally avoid paying an employee overtime. The other aspect is that the employee must be performing certain duties in order to qualify for one of the exemptions (to being entitled to overtime pay).

Assuming that your new position really is one for which you are exempt from being entitled to overtime pay, then they key language that I would advise an employer to use in any contract or job description with you is that your salary compensates you for "all hours worked." That means that whatever your salary is, that is all the employer is obligated to pay you regardless of whether you can get your work done in 30 hours that week or whether it takes you 80 hours.

Once you are exempt from overtime compensation, then you don't get a penny extra for such things as working during lunch or on weekends. One of the biggest things that I constantly advise employers is about lunch time and other time when the employee is NOT exempt. As an example, if you are not exempt, and you are hourly, then you get overtime for all hours that you work over 40 in a week. This means that if you normally work 8-5 with an hour off for lunch, that is 40 hours per week. However, if you are forced (or your employer allows you) to work through lunch (example is answering the phone and handling that call for 20 minutes at your desk while you eat your sandwich) then you should be getting paid for some overtime. Same with checking emails on the weekend or evening. That is all work time, so if you are hourly (nonexempt) then you should be getting time and a half if that time puts you over 40 hours for the week, but if you are salaried exempt, then that is just part of the job and you don't get any extra pay for that.

[JOHN GARGANI]

Bando, my friend, it doesn't sound as if you had a choice in the matter, and so, you will adapt and make the most of it....

finding time for training is a unique talent that most of us have, and I'm sure, YOU will find that also!

lots of luck!

[Bushmaster]

The upgrade means a little more ka-ching, but more travel and more responsibility for training those in the field. Essentially, at key times I'll be away for days ( I can bring one of my kids sometimes though.)

When it was being discussed with me today, the term "you may have to put certain things aside" was used. Meaning obviously my hour at lunchtime in the gym. I'm perfectly happy working around that to have a flexible schedule. I'll work maybe 4 weekends a year and have 1/2 dozen overnights.

Just out of a sense of duty I answer a lot of emails on the weekend as it is.

If you've gone through this type of job transition - I would appreciate comments about your experience.

Whoever said you can't squeeze blood from a turnip has never worked salary IMO. I did it once, and to begin with it didn't sound like a bad deal at all.. "Whatever hours you work over you can take off the following week." they said...

So then I'd work late nights, and sometimes all weekend. Next week I'd hit them up for a TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY off and there would always be some excuse for why I couldn't... Either that, or the "guilt card" would get pulled. "Wow.. you know, we just have SO much going on right now, are you really sure you need off tomorrow? Things should slow down a little next week.."

But it never did, and week after week getting my comp time was a BS drama. And of course everybody wants to show that they're a dedicated employee, right? I was no different, so I sucked it up week after week until finally I got to the point where I'd have to put my foot down and say "I'm taking two days off next week!"

Now I make a comfortable hourly wage, and anything over ten hours of overtime worked is double time. Work on a holiday and it's double time and a half. If I need a personal day I take one whenever I want it and nobody gives me any sht about it either - which is how it should be.

OTOH, we have do have one department where there are a handful of guys on salary. And I used to think it'd be a cool promotion to move over there, but after getting to know them and seeing how they work I'll pass. The raise isn't anything to write home about, 70 hour weeks are the norm for them, and they each and every one of stay stressed out all the time. Supposedly they get a bigger annual bonus, but I dunno... Not too sure it'd be worth it.

[Marius_Ursus]

congrats on the advancementm i hope things go well for you.

didnt go well for me.

I went from enjoying my job to getting pestered every day and night and never being able to get away from them. they constantly wanted more and more and never gave it a rest until i finally got sick of it and told them to go to hell. didnt have anything else lined up either it was that bad.

man did that ever feel good.

Of course thats a worse case scenario but keep them in check right out of the gate so they dont run all over you like they did me.

I was offered a promotion and turned it down because I'd seen what the previous manager had to put with.

Bando, just look at the tier above you and the tier above that. How much shenanigan activity, lack of communication, and blame shifting do you see going on? That should help you make up your mind.

[snorkelman]

I was offered a promotion and turned it down because I'd seen what the previous manager had to put with.

Bando, just look at the tier above you and the tier above that. How much shenanigan activity, lack of communication, and blame shifting do you see going on? That should help you make up your mind.

My mom has been a nurse in the open heart unit for about 25 or 30 years and she has repeatedly turned down the head nurse (or charge nurse) position for those vary reasons. So will occasionally act as charge nurse when the official one is not there, but she hates the internal politics. She prefers to just work her hours and be able to say no when they call her to come in and work extra. When she wants some extra pay, they are always needing extra nurses so she never has a problem picking up an extra shift for extra cash, but she is older now and prefers to not work so much. I can certainly see the benefits of that. Obviously, the more hours you end up working, the less you are making per hour. If you know that you will be working 6o or 70 hour weeks, then you should calculate your current hourly rate of pay and calculate how much cash you'd be making if you just worked some OT in your current position. If it is more than the promotion, then you may want to say no to the promotion and still have the flexibility of working fewer hours when you want and still having the duties that you enjoy. Of course, if your current job does not allow you to obtain that amount of OT, then it may not be a fruitful calculation.

[Bando]

^^ That suggests that maybe you work for a public employer.

indeed

Bando, just look at the tier above you and the tier above that. How much shenanigan activity, lack of communication, and blame shifting do you see going on? That should help you make up your mind.

These are the greatest people I've ever worked with, it's a real pleasure to work alongside them. Just hope I can do that level job with the same passion and dedication.

[whatevergirl]

Not much in the way of advice, as I've always been salaried, since out of college.

But, a big congrats to you for the promo! Especially in this economy...your company is doin' something right.

[KeepItMoving]

The more I have moved, through extremely hard work and consistency, from lowest level, hourly employee, to management, to executive, to partner, the more I have seen how easy, in many ways, the lowest hourly employee has it...from a work amount and responsibility standpoint.

Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide.

[pharmamarketer]

I have not had that transition but I think any time one's career moves forward, esp these day, it is a great thing. Congrats and good luck

[DaddyR]

Keep in mind that these kinds of things ALWAYS work to the employers' advantage.

That said, if it's a promotion into another position that definitely qualifies for a salary and no overtime then it may not be so bad. But I have seen times when a push was made to re-classify peoples' positions as salaried and exempt from overtime pay, and of course most of the talk about flexible working hours and freedom to dictate your own schedule turned out to be b.s. for many folks, and a lot of disgruntled folks left.

[Getsum]

Comp time is only relevant if you are an employee for a public employer (city/state/county etc.)

I'm not a public employee and we have have a comp time system.

[Corbi]

Was offered salary awhile back, said thanks but no thanks I will remain hourly. No benefit to myself going that route and would have lost out on a ton of overtime.

I'd say congrats Bando but it sounds like you are conflicted with the decision.

[Porkchop74]

congrats

I have not worked an hourly job in 10 years . But be prepared to work OT with out extra pay. And remember when it comes down to an hourly guy staying late or you. (you will be home late that night :-)

Still I feel it all works out over time anyways

[djflex]

Bando first congrats. In a tough economy you are moving up!

My caution is on the travel. It wears on you and is fun at first but wore me down quick.
Howevet does not appear you really will travel that much, but still it could increase.

Good luck!

[Bando]

That said, if it's a promotion into another position that definitely qualifies for a salary and no overtime then it may not be so bad.

not really overtime, but at certain times of the year I'll be putting in long hours (summer unfortunately) can take the following week off.

My caution is on the travel. It wears on you and is fun at first but wore me down quick.
Howevet does not appear you really will travel that much, but still it could increase.

Good luck!

thanks, mostly in state 1 or 2 day trips.

[danno25nh]

Congrats on the promotion.
I went from hourly to salary 4 years ago. I rarely leave early or come in late. In fact I typically work 50 hours a week at the office and am on call 24 x 7. It's a rare week when I don't get called in. I suspect I could work a lot less but as a leader I believe in leading by example. I need to work harder and do more than my staff.
Based on what I've read in your posts you'll probably do the same. It's a cut in pay sometimes but at least there's no clock watching to try and keep the OT to a minimum.

[Leddyman]

Last salary job I had was supervising a crew. I started with 5 days a week, we got busy it went to six days a week, At the end I was pushing the crew six days a week and then coming in for a few hours on Sunday to do my own maintenance on the equipment.

One day I saw one of my employees paycheck and it was bigger than mine with the overtime and he didn't come in on Sunday.

I just walked out. I couldn't tolerate it. To top it all off I was the only one responsible for anything. The rest of them just did whatever and made more than me. F that.