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I recently interviewed at a office supply delivery business and found the practices for paying employees to be a tad "eccentric". At least in my limited experience.
He pays contractors $5 per item / business stop with no other compensation. If a worker makes 5 stops, he gets $25. No mileage, drives his own vehicle, takes a day off with no pay, keeps his own tax records.
He pays "employees" only $9 an hour no matter how many stops they make and they drive his vehicles and he pays for the gas. There are no benefits. His bookkeeper deducts for taxes out of their paychecks. If they take a vacation day they do not get paid. If they work 2 hours, they get paid $18, no matter how many stops they make.
That's it.
Seems like pretty cheap labor to me, but is it ethical to compensate employees like this?
In closing, he has some "old tried and true long-timers" driving his vans and the rest seem to be casual, as-needed contractors or part-time contractors.
What do you guys think about how this guy runs his business?
I recently interviewed at a office supply delivery business and found the practices for paying employees to be a tad "eccentric". At least in my limited experience.
He pays contractors $5 per item / business stop with no other compensation. If a worker makes 5 stops, he gets $25. No mileage, drives his own vehicle, takes a day off with no pay, keeps his own tax records.
He pays "employees" only $9 an hour no matter how many stops they make and they drive his vehicles and he pays for the gas. There are no benefits. His bookkeeper deducts for taxes out of their paychecks. If they take a vacation day they do not get paid. If they work 2 hours, they get paid $18, no matter how many stops they make.
That's it.
Seems like pretty cheap labor to me, but is it ethical to compensate employees like this?
In closing, he has some "old tried and true long-timers" driving his vans and the rest seem to be casual, as-needed contractors or part-time contractors.
What do you guys think about how this guy runs his business?
I think he's an idiot, as are the people who actually agree to this.
He pays contractors $5 per item / business stop
He pays employees $9 an hour... they drive his vehicles and he pays for the gas.
His bookkeeper deducts for taxes out of their paychecks.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I really don't have a problem with this as long as it's legal and there are people willing to do it. It may be the only way he's able to squeeze out a profit in a business that's very competitive and with a rapidly declining customer base with so many going paperless or close to it.
Around here, and in many rural areas, that isn't all that bad pay for part-time work. There are a lot of trade-offs with part-time workers. I know, I've probably hired hundreds of them over the years. Part-timers are OFTEN unreliable, which means the only way to run a business is to have enough of them on call so that they are a little hungry for work and not shucking it off when they have a few extra bucks. In a case like deliveries, if they are employees he has a huge liability. If one of them runs down a lil-ol lady, his insurance coverage had better be deep. The amount of work or skill required for the job is minimal, to the point that that is a cushy job. Go to store, pick up stuff, drive and listen to whatever, drop it off, collect pay and maybe a tip or two.
Part-time jobs fill a vital need in the economy. When you are hiring for a salaried position, you do due diligence and check previous employment records to make sure the person is reliable. No work record - no job. A person who checks out as reliable in a part-time job has a huge advantage, because many salaried positions involve a major expense in training and lost productivity.
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