A question about if you get paid by the hour

Penn_Wooding

Let's say you pay somebody £10 an hour as a PA/carer. Let's say they go slightly over that hour, maybe five or 10 minutes. How do you calculate the extra money they should be paid or does the time have to reach 15 minutes before £2.50 is added onto that £10.

I need to know because people could take advantage and start adding on ridiculous amounts for one or two minutes over the hour.

Dox

Make sure it's covered in the contract you use. There is no 'right or wrong' - you just need something which works for you and your employees.

custardy

Penn_Wooding wrote: »

Let's say you pay somebody £10 an hour as a PA/carer. Let's say they go slightly over that hour, maybe five or 10 minutes. How do you calculate the extra money they should be paid or does the time have to reach 15 minutes before £2.50 is added onto that £10.

I need to know because people could take advantage and start adding on ridiculous amounts for one or two minutes over the hour.

Sounds like you are asking this from the side of the employer?
As said its down to the contract. Would you prefer they simply 'down tools' on the hour?

Penn_Wooding

Obviously not, you might need extra things doing and people will be expected to receive payment. However, if you agreed to pay a plumber £30 an hour and he went five minutes over and try to charge you another £30, don't think you be too happy about it.

I believe some agencies do 15 minutes whilst other agencies 30 minutes. I think is unrealistic to expect somebody to be paid an extra half an hour for two or three minutes over the initial hour. That just opens the door for abuse

TELLIT01

As has been said, if you are the employer you need to put into the contract a precise explanation of how overtime is dealt with. You can break it into 15 minute chunks, or total the overtime over a week / month, or any other method of your choosing.

marliepanda

Nobody should be expected to work for free. You seem to imply that up to 14 minutes free work is fine...

theoretica

Some employers calculate it by the day, but with electronic timesheets it isn't hard to add up all the time actually worked by the minute.

RichardD1970

My wife gets paid to the exact minute, from clocking in to clocking out.

custardy

Penn_Wooding wrote: »

Obviously not, you might need extra things doing and people will be expected to receive payment. However, if you agreed to pay a plumber £30 an hour and he went five minutes over and try to charge you another £30, don't think you be too happy about it.

I believe some agencies do 15 minutes whilst other agencies 30 minutes. I think is unrealistic to expect somebody to be paid an extra half an hour for two or three minutes over the initial hour. That just opens the door for abuse

aaand the other side since you use agencies as an example. What if they are going to another job?
Your few minutes could cost them an hours work elsewhere.
You say open door to abuse,however you also have the other side of people under booking their needs and expecting the agency workers to flex on demand.
For clarity I have worked as an agency worker and emplyed,so I know both sides

bugslet

marliepanda wrote: »

Nobody should be expected to work for free. You seem to imply that up to 14 minutes free work is fine...

Just to clarify, I agree that you should specify in your contract and if it matters that much, then pay per minute.

Marlie, playing devils advocate here, if you get paid 15 minutes if you go over the hour, then sure as eggs are eggs, jobs will magically finish at 1 or 2 mins past;)

As a company we are just too horizontal too care too much, I'm not bothered if I pay them for ten minutes here and there that they haven't worked. I'd be saying something if they claimed to finish at 18.00 when they finished at 17.28, but if they put in 17.45, we'd be cool about it. Probably explains the whole thing dead mens shoes thing at our place.

marliepanda

bugslet wrote: »

Just to clarify, I agree that you should specify in your contract and if it matters that much, then pay per minute.

Marlie, playing devils advocate here, if you get paid 15 minutes if you go over the hour, then sure as eggs are eggs, jobs will magically finish at 1 or 2 mins past;)

As a company we are just too horizontal too care too much, I'm not bothered if I pay them for ten minutes here and there that they haven't worked. I'd be saying something if they claimed to finish at 18.00 when they finished at 17.28, but if they put in 17.45, we'd be cool about it. Probably explains the whole thing dead mens shoes thing at our place.

It was more tha attitude displayed in the OP I took issue with, which appeared to be that a few minutes was fine. It’s all gove and take. If you’re happy for your PA to do ten minutes unpaid one day then do not complain when they leave ten minutes early the next time they need to.

If I was a PA and was asked to do set tasks in 2 hours and it took me 2.10 because of perhaps delays at my end I would just accept that.

If it got to 1.45 and I knew I couldn’t finish that task and I couldn’t have done it faster I’d approach my employer and say ‘this can’t be done in 2 hours, would you like me to finish (with maybe a time estimate) or do you want me to get it to a st point and leave it.