The wage, and why it is the smallest part
The figure everybody can name, and the one that explains least about what an hour costs.
The Wage Is the Smallest Layer
The figure everybody can name explains the least. Why the wage is roughly two-thirds of the real cost, and what that does to every estimate built on it.
Hourly, Salaried, Piece
Three ways of paying for work produce three different costing problems. What each makes easy, what each hides, and how to get an hourly figure from all three.
Overtime and What It Really Costs
Overtime is usually cheaper than it looks and is compared against the wrong number. The arithmetic, the on-costs that do not scale, and where the real limit sits.
Shift Premiums, Allowances and Call-Out
The payments that sit between the wage and the on-costs: what they are, which ones belong in the rate, and which ones belong on the job that caused them.
Bonus, Commission and the Timing Problem
Variable pay is earned in one period and paid in another. Where it belongs in a rate, why accruing it matters, and what happens when it is not.
Pay Rises Arrive Mid-Year
A rate set in January is wrong from April. How to handle a pay award inside a rate, and why the answer is a dated version rather than a blend.
Agency, Contract and the Rate You See
An agency invoice rate is already loaded with somebody else's costs. What is inside it, what it buys, and how to compare it with an employed hour honestly.