Help on staff salary structure:

[Ryk]

Hi guys. I'm hoping to tap into your collective expertise to address a challenge I'm facing at my family's sign company. I recently joined the business and have identified several areas needing improvement, with the most pressing being our employee salary structure.
Currently, we have five production crews who double as installers, one designer, and my mother handling administrative tasks like invoicing. The crews' salaries are a combination of base pay and an allowance determined by my father based on monthly workload. This system seems quite haphazard to me, leaving the staff in the dark about their actual monthly earnings.
I'm reaching out to learn how your companies structure employee salaries, particularly in the sign industry. I'm considering implementing a fixed attendance allowance in addition to base pay.
Any insights or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm eager to learn and develop a well-defined salary structure that motivates our team and fosters transparency.
Thank you for your time and support!

 

[CanuckSigns]

Owners and office staff are on salary, production staff are hourly, keep it simple.

 

[Signstein]

I never understood paying someone based on someone else's work. Why would the production crew's pay be based on workload? So if the sales team sucks and can't bring in work - then production gets shafted? If they're working full time then they deserve to be paid fairly for hours worked. Don't tie someone's pay to someone else's performance.

 

[SightLine]

Owners and office staff are on salary, production staff are hourly, keep it simple.

This.... but in my opinion only the owners are salary. Everyone else is hourly - if you work, you get paid, if you work extra and overtime you get paid more, if you are slack and work less you get paid less (and potentially fired). If someone is outside sales only then they will typically get a commission.

 

[netsol]

I never understood paying someone based on someone else's work. Why would the production crew's pay be based on workload? So if the sales team sucks and can't bring in work - then production gets shafted? If they're working full time then they deserve to be paid fairly for hours worked. Don't tie someone's pay to someone else's performance.

It's a shame you can only click AGREE once

 

[Solventinkjet]

I never understood paying someone based on someone else's work. Why would the production crew's pay be based on workload? So if the sales team sucks and can't bring in work - then production gets shafted? If they're working full time then they deserve to be paid fairly for hours worked. Don't tie someone's pay to someone else's performance.

One of my responsibilities as a manager at Papa Johns was to send people home early if labor cost percentage got too high. Most of them were happy to leave but sometimes someone would be really mad because they needed the money. One of the worst parts of the job was sending those people home simply because the store owners wanted to make more money at their expense.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

All restaurants do that. They cut when things get slow. If you're working a trade or in a production facility.. it should be expected they get steady hours week after week.

 

[gnubler]

One of my responsibilities as a manager at Papa Johns was to send people home early if labor cost percentage got too high. Most of them were happy to leave but sometimes someone would be really mad because they needed the money. One of the worst parts of the job was sending those people home simply because the store owners wanted to make more money at their expense.

One of my first jobs was at a local pizza place. I interviewed for a full time job and immediately upon being hired found out that meant "maybe, if they were busy". It was run by a dad and his two sons and they were all d!cks. One of them was a clock watcher when it came to labor and literally every 15 minutes looked around to see if he could send anyone home. After two weeks I just stopped going. This was over 20 years ago and that was the most unappreciated and unvalued I've ever felt at a job.

If I ever hired someone I would offer a minimum guarantee of hours per week, paid hourly. There's always something to do when there's nothing to do...cleaning, reorganizing, filing papers, etc.

 

[Precision]

Administrative and ownership are salary and both worth their take. Other employees are paid hourly, designers are paid either hourly or by design when working remotely.

The hourly wage is based on your best asset, whether that be experience, knowing the details, hustle, just plain wanting to be part of the game. Whoever shows up, works and wants more, gets the hours. If we have to look for work for you, you probably should go home.

If we stumble into a large cash job, the boss usually spreads some love $$.

That's how we do it anyway.

 

[Rohit Prasad]

Owners should be the only ones on salary.
Outside sales get paid salary + commission. All staff should get paid a healthy hourly rate. Keep it simple.

 

[Ryk]

I believe there might have been a misunderstanding. The calculation for my staff's salary involves both their hourly rate and overtime pay. However, what I'm specifically referring to is the allowance or commission related to their work.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Salespeople get commission. Everyone else gets bonus at times you see fit. Shouldn't be expected

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Sounds like a labor law violation lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[White Haus]

Sounds like a labor law violation lawsuit waiting to happen.

Do they have labor laws in Malaysia?

 

[Stacey K]

I understand what you are saying. The last place I worked, everyone was paid either hourly or salary, they paid on the lower side compared to other companies. However, we all received a percentage of the profit monthly. So, my typical check for two weeks might be $1800 - I could always count on that. During the summer when we were busy I could receive a monthly "bonus" for $600, once it close to $1,000. But during slow times it might only be $200 - or nothing. It seemed alluring when I was hired because they had been getting large bonuses but after a couple years the bonuses became less and less due to slowing down.

Personally, I would have preferred to just get a raise and then a year-end bonus based on the profits.

I was warned when I was hired NOT to count on the bonuses for things like car and house payments, it had gotten many employees in trouble financially during slow times.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Do they have labor laws in Malaysia?

Yes, I believe the law is show up or get fired.

 

[Billct2]

That's the wierdest pay set up I've heard of. Everywhere I've worked everyone had an hourly wage.

 

[Ryk]

I understand what you are saying. The last place I worked, everyone was paid either hourly or salary, they paid on the lower side compared to other companies. However, we all received a percentage of the profit monthly. So, my typical check for two weeks might be $1800 - I could always count on that. During the summer when we were busy I could receive a monthly "bonus" for $600, once it close to $1,000. But during slow times it might only be $200 - or nothing. It seemed alluring when I was hired because they had been getting large bonuses but after a couple years the bonuses became less and less due to slowing down.

Personally, I would have preferred to just get a raise and then a year-end bonus based on the profits.

I was warned when I was hired NOT to count on the bonuses for things like car and house payments, it had gotten many employees in trouble financially during slow times.

This is exactly what I meant. Thanks for the advices

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

I’m the owner…..I’m salary

ALL of my employees are hourly.


Period

 

[Ryk]

I’m the owner…..I’m salary

ALL of my employees are hourly.


Period

Yeah, I'm in the same boat—I'm on salary, while the production crew gets paid hourly. I've been considering offering them an additional allowance for extra tasks. For example, during busier months, they'd receive this extra allowance. But before making any decisions, I wanted to check in with you folks to see if there might be a better approach.