Hourly vs. Salaried Employees

When you’re hiring an employee, it’s your job to determine whether you want that employee to function on an hourly basis, or whether you want to keep them on salary. There are some subtle differences, such as latham time clocks for hourly personnel, that will determine which is best for your situation. Hourly employees, for example, are good for productivity throughout the day. Salaried employees may take work home with them and accept greater responsibility. It’s up to you how to hire, but here are the differences you need to be aware of.

Differences

The main difference between an hourly and salary employee is the time that person will work. An hourly employee is typically delegated tasks, and the positions are often entry level. They will need to use pyramid time clocks to record the hours that they work, including meal periods to eat. That makes hourly employees extremely task oriented. When unemployment is high, there are fewer positions to go around, so hourly employees are often the first to be cut.

Salaried workers are typically top-level management people. They are responsible for the management of the company, delegating tasks and making schedules accordingly. Though they have higher influence, and tend to have greater responsibilities, success can be difficult for these workers to achieve. Salaried workers also have less structure, and often don’t stop when the task is done.

Motivations

What keeps a worker engaged? There are a multitude of responses to this question, including the pay incentive. Naturally, a well-paid employee will be more tempted to work harder for you and your company. Some workers, especially salaried ones, take the most motivation from company culture. They may enjoy the pressures of working longer hours, or take pride in the finished product.

Hourly workers tend to be motivated by job security. Most of these positions are lower level, so there are often no guarantees the worker will be able to stay if work dries up. Hourly employees strive to do work efficiently, and to pad their days with productivity.

Final Thoughts

Even salaried workers can get fatigued if they feel under appreciated. The pay might be nice, but the lack of time to oneself can be difficult to remedy. Companies like Google try to compensate by offering perks to encourage employees to stay at work. At Google, for instance, you can enjoy food from the company cafeteria or get your laundry done. The most important motivation for employees is a love of the work they do. Strive to make your workplace an enjoyable place to work, and to keep that work engaging, and you will have a happy work force.