[ragin-sagin]

Here is an interesting question: Does your company pimp out your services? Are you a contractor? I ask because I have been looking at how much I charge for our engineers, vs how much they are paid. I realize we have to absorb some overhead, etc, but in this situation it is very minimal as all our equipment and services are provided to us. So our cheapest engineer makes around 27 bucks an hour, and our boss around 43...our charge rates are 130 and 140 for them respectively. For me:

Edit: I am payed about 25% of what I charge for.

I want more pie!!!

 

[BurlyShirley]

Here is an interesting question: Does your company pimp out your services? Are you a contractor? I ask because I have been looking at how much I charge for our engineers, vs how much they are paid. I realize we have to absorb some overhead, etc, but in this situation it is very minimal as all our equipment and services are provided to us. So our cheapest engineer makes around 27 bucks an hour, and our boss around 43...our charge rates are 130 and 140 for them respectively.

I want more pie!!!

Unemployment insurance, Clerical support, Taxes, etc...

 

[fluff]

I'm charged out at $1000/day. But I'm worth way more.

 

[ragin-sagin]

Unemployment insurance, Clerical support, Taxes, etc...

Keenly aware of those...but that comes to less than 15 bucks an hour.
I guess what I wanna know is: What percentage do you guys make compared to what you are charged at?

 

[ragin-sagin]

I'm charged out at $1000/day. But I'm worth way more.

Cheap whore.

 

[rideit]

according to my wife, I am pretty much worthless.

 

[kidwoo]

bout a dollah two ninety eight

 

[Biscuit]

There are a few ways of looking at this.

The most logical one is from the point of view of your employer. Every business decision is made on a risk vs. reward basis. Mr. Employer wants as big a return as possible with little risk. If your well established, hard to replace, and can manage yourself your employer should be "happy" with far less than a 70% return on investment (ROI).

Every industry has different standards, but I feel that a 15 to 30% ROI is acceptable to most companies when they know that you are a low risk employee (i.e. you will be making them money).

There are several websites and books available that will help you determine a fair 'market' value for your skills. You will then need to add/subtract for individual factors (company size, benefits, experience, reliability, responsability, workload, etc.).

 

[narlus]

bout a dollah two ninety eight

dude, you ripped me off.

 

[Biscuit]

If/when you approach your current or future employer, the way you structure your argument will have a huuuuge affect on the outcome. It's all about getting your boss to realize your value and compensate you for it. I recommend you buy a few good books, they will more than pay for themselves.

I actually took my current job for less than market value because my lack of experience in this type of position. I made up my mind to wait a year before complaining. I've since established myself within the company and play a critical role in many of the projects we have going.

My year mark just passed, my boss is on vacation and threw three more projects at me before he left. When he gets back I'm going to leave a letter in his box outlining challenges I've faced over the past year and ask for a "performance review." We'll talk about it and I plan on negotiating a significant raise. My boss will still be making a very respecable ROI too.

 

[partsbara]

eleventy billion

 

[A.P]

Im paid 9 dollars an hour, an hour of my work is worth over 100$ an hour, often more.

so, less then 10 percent.

working on bikes sucks.

 

[Tenchiro]

Tree fiddy

 

[urbaindk]

Freedom is just a buck o five.

 

[ragin-sagin]

whoaooooo buck o'five...

 

[Atomic Dog]

whoaooooo buck o'five...

Don't you have a Shire to save?

 

[ragin-sagin]

Damn shire can wait till the weather turns good. For now I will sit close to the fire and enjoy my second brekkie and a pipe.

 

[antimony]

I'm a chemist. For doing a validation for testing a new pharmaceutical, I earn the company just under $10,000... I make $500-ish of that.

 

[Serial Midget]

When I was self employed and had employees I was constantly amazed at the costs involved, taxes, insurance, Social Security etc... these cost were nearly equal to the hourly rate I paid to my workers. Add to that the cost of doing business - rent, communication, supplies and chargebacks - and my take home was less than 10% of gross billing.

My base wage I paid was 10%, if you worked for me and could bill out at $500.00 an hour you made $50.00 an hour. If you billed out at less than $250.00 then you were costing me money and would be terminated at the end of the current project.

That was all in the high presure 1990s... shoe salesmen work in a slightly different cost structure. Salary plus 1% of gross.

 

[Qman]

Keenly aware of those...but that comes to less than 15 bucks an hour.
I guess what I wanna know is: What percentage do you guys make compared to what you are charged at?

Depending on your Employer's clients and the type of engineering work you do, your employer may have to carry "Errors and Omissions" Insurance to protect against lawsuits brought by people claiming a poor design hurt them somehow. It is very expensive insurance. Also, if you use software to do your work that requires annual maintenance fees, that is pretty spendy too.
Depending on the engineering work you're doing, it sounds like the going rate or maybe a bit cheaper than the going rate around here.
Best ways to get a raise is to have documentation of how you've directly contributed to an increase in the bottom line or venture out on your own.

 

[Biscuit]

Qman has a good point. Depending on the business your in, equipment and maint costs can be very high.
Like the chemist above (antimony) I'm sure requires $$$ of equipment to make that $10k.

My situation is a little different I guess as I'm essentially a consultant. We have very low overhead, no equipment costs, and most other costs are reimbursed by the client.

 

[jimmydean]

Oregon has laws against being underpaid based on percentage. Not sure what it is exactly, but I know that there is a minimum. I think my old company billed $45 an hour of which I got $25 + medical.