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Reader Poll: Hourly Pay versus Flat Rate Pay

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Hi guys!

I’ve had a crazy past couple of days! Someone front-ended me yesterday (as in, I was stopped behind them in a parking lot waiting to exit and they decided to reverse right into my front-end). This is the first “accident” I’ve been in with another person since I’ve owned this car! No fun (no worries – they admitted complete fault and no one was hurt…just inconvenient as now I have to go get estimates and will probably be without my car for a few days while repairs are being done).

Aaaaaanyway, that’s a whole other story. Really I just popped in to ask a quick question…..

Remember how I mentioned awhile back that University B (for whom I do research projects) switched their pay from hourly to a flat rate per project completion?

Well, they have called a mandatory conference call meeting today with all of the contract employees to discuss our current project. In the past, I’ve always been able to bill for my time when we do a conference call at my normal hourly rate. BUT, since they’ve now switched us to receiving a flat rate of pay per project, does this basically mean I can’t bill for my time that’s involved in the conference call (in the past, our calls have generally been about an hour). To further complicate things, there are still some things that I get to bill hourly on, but our current projects have been switched to the flat rate. I know this is confusing. But, basically, I’m saying that I’m not paid 100% from flat-rate (there are still some hourly things).

I mentioned to my husband that I need to alter my September invoice to include the hourly rate for this conference call and he looked at me like I was crazy. Since the call is specifically about our current project (which is billed at the flat-rate pay), he says I don’t get paid extra for the call.

What do you guys think? Would you bill extra for your time on the conference call or just count it as working hours toward the project completion (billed at the flat rate)?

Hope you all have a great weekend!


11 Comments

  • Reply onefamily |

    I’d say if that is part of the project you get flat rate only on, then you shouldn’t bill hourly for the call. It would be considered part of the flat rate fee. My suggestion would be to still track your hours worked on these flat rate projects and see if you are still at least making what you were if you were billing hourly. If not, I’d be having a discussion with the powers that be. No sense in taking a pay cut to continue to do their work.

  • Reply Jenny |

    I’d say go ahead and bill for it. If you don’t bill you won’t get paid. If you bill, they may pay you. If they don’t because it’s part of the project, you can just retract the bill and say you didn’t realize. If they do pay, then yay, more money for you.

    Doesn’t seem like there’s any harm in billing unless it’s likely to overly upset someone.

  • Reply Den |

    Is there someone you can ask? Just a general “hey now that we’re billing differently I need some clarification on how to bill for conference calls.” I’m sure others have wondered too.

    • Reply Ashley |

      This is definitely the most logical, but I hadn’t even thought of just asking! Is it terrible that when I read your suggestion I instinctively cringed??? I am TERRIBLE with money discussions and it feels so awkward to ask about money! Huge flaw I need to work on!

      • Reply Juhli |

        Practice talking about money! Really, as a former consultant and manager of consultants I would never bill first without discussing the contract/billing question – and I would have been annoyed if one of my contract consultants did without talking to me. Call or email your contact and pose the question simply. Then you will know and stop guessing what is the right thing to do.

        • Reply Ashley |

          I’ve thought about this (practicing talking about money). Since I’ve been on the job market I haven’t been in a position to negotiate salary (boo!!! someone hire me!!!!), but if it feels like that conversation is on the horizon, I would definitely need to practice in advance!

  • Reply SAK |

    With a flat rate contract – this is included if it is a normal part of the contract. If this was something new or different you could raise the issue that in the past that type of work wasn’t part of the deal and to “add” new work costs them more. But I wouldn’t otherwise bill it.

  • Reply Kristen |

    I would bill first. This is probably one of the first issues that is coming up with the new payment system and they are probably waiting to see what their contractors do. Absolutely won’t get paid if you don’t bill for it.
    Also second the keeping track of your hours and be ready to make the hard phone call if things end up stacked against you.

  • Reply RachH |

    I handle the accounts for my department, and that includes multi-million dollar projects. If there is a contract with specific terms, please bill according to what is laid out in them (and typically, conference calls about the project are considered part of the project itself). I rarely get correct invoices from the companies working for us, and it makes both me and my boss nuts to have to go back and explain to the companies what we will and will not pay for when it’s already listed in documents we all have copies of. In contrast, if I did get even one project where someone didn’t try (and fail) to get more money out of us with attempts like this, I’d sent their accounts receivable folks Starbucks gift cards. That is how much a correct bill would make my day!

So, what do you think ?