Hourly vs Salary?

[ultrarunner]

Almost all of the last 26 years I've been a salaried employee and the last 7 I have had a lot of latitude keeping the hospital going due to the revolving door at the top and have become the go to person in just about every aspect outside patient care... negotiating contracts, setting priorities, capital equipment, licensing, permits, compliance issues, accreditation, new employee orientation, etc... my background is engineering and I was recruited all those years ago.

Today it was made official my little regional Hospital is being acquired and I was given a contingent offer letter with employment packet.

My salaried Position is to be eliminated and the offer is hourly along with slightly better benefits effective in 60 days.

The contingent part is a physical, drug testing, background, etc.

For the life of me I cannot figure out the reality of how this will work... if I continue my present duties it could get expensive as my responsibilities vary greatly over any 7 day period with a mixture of long and short days... many engineering jobs are done outside the surgery schedule... read after hours.

Becoming hourly means mandatory punching in and out for work start/stop, lunch and breaks with any exception requiring documentations and approvals... it also means overtime which is something I have never ever had... but I imagine it could be very lucrative if I were to paid for all my time... typical busy time is from about 6 am to 6 pm 7 days a week.

Part of me says to give it a try as I could always leave and another part is hung up on the logistics of it all.

 

[mddorange]

I have worked both in my day and each have their benefits. Normally what happens when hourly is that they will greatly limit the overtime since that is very costly, so in the long run, you will not make that much more.

 

[California]

Good point. I expect to limit costs, a low cost intern will be assigned to tag along and pick up what would be expensive overtime hours. Expect a big PIA to train the intern and to remedy errors - at least in my experience.

 

[ultrarunner]

It did come as a surprise as last week I asked the Administrator what changes if any might I expect and she mentioned they had it just about worked out so that the transition would be just about seamless.

Going from a small regional to one of 100 means standardization and uniformity is the business model.

I've seen it several times in my career where a great person left and it took several to pick up the slack with some things never quite being the same and efficiency drops.

Early on I worked in a Union Tool and Machine company under contract with NASA... it was a great experience and time cards were the rule... at 4:30 the buzzer sounded and by 4:35 the parking lot gate was being locked... you could set your clock by the time I got home... it was that exact...

Now it is typically anywhere from 5 pm to 7 pm and mornings starting anywhere from 6 am to 9 am.

 

[CurlyDave]

One thing to ask about is seniority and vacation.

In a lot of takeovers, continuing employees keep all their old seniority, which can mean a lot of vacation time.

 

[thepumpguysc]

You have to weigh the pro's & cons.. do you like coming in at 9 & leaving at 2 and getting paid for the entire day? Is that the norm?
OR are you there when they open the doors and end up turning off the lites after everyone else leaves and only get paid for 8.
My former employer BEGGED ME to go salary and I declined. Come to find out, the day AFTER I was hired, I was REQUIRED to work 10-12 hrs aday along w/ everyone else, regardless of salary or not.. It worked out for me, not so much for them.
I would take the hrly + the bennies.. you'll be surprised at how much you actually worked w/o getting paid. Just something to think about.

 

[RickB]

I don't see how it could be a bad deal. The status quo will be gone, your choice is take the hourly deal or move on. The only salaried position I ever had was a disaster.

 

[Egon]

Best look at the overall situation.

Is hourly payment common for your position?

What are staffing levels like?

Change in job duties & reporting supervisor?

Do you fit the new management mind set? Competency has no bearing on this issue.

Have you had a chance to work with the new management.

Will reducing status ( usually in salary to hourly and job description ) have any bearing on severance package?

My comments are pure conjecture so take that into account if considering them!!

 

[coldsteelva]

Start off by converting your contingent hourly rate of pay by 2080 (man hours in a work year) and see how that stacks up against your salary. Then find out what kind of overtime you will be allowed to earn/claim at 1.5x your hourly and decide if that, plus the benefits are worth it to you.

 

[MF283]

I've been down both roads, making good money either way. Hourly, clock out & leave whether you're done or not, salary, leave when you want to as long as nothing is left hanging.
I'm salary now, required to work 1/2 day Saturday, it's slow this time of year so we swap out & take every other Saturday off, hourly(techs) are off on Saturday, good or bad depending on how you look at it.

Ronnie