What is the reason for an employer to have some employees on hourly and some on salary?
For the employer, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the two?
What is it about a particular position that dictates which one the employer chooses?
In: 2
In the US, there are rules established by the Government. What’s in it for the company is that not following the rules is against the law and penalties are common.
The actual rules are complex, this is the ELI5 version (≠ the legal version):
* If a worker just performs a process that their supervisor tells them to perform, they are hourly. They don’t have a role is defining the work process, so if the process is bad and takes more hours it’s not the worker’s fault and so the company has to pay overtime.
* If a worker performs a process of their own choice, based on their expertise, then they are salaried. If they do something wrong, they can simply do some more work to make up for it, they don’t need to report themselves to their boss. They don’t get paid overtime.
The advantage, to the employee, of being salaried is that you control your own schedule, you can schedule work around that soccer game your kid is playing in and work more another day.
The advantage, to the employee, of being hourly is that you get paid for the time you are working, not the results of that time. If the machine breaks down and you just stand there for an hour while the electrician fixes it, you get paid for that hour. If the boss wants you to work another hour to make up for the down time, you get paid for that extra time.
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