Need Advice - RV-Dreams Community Forum

pierreandcolleen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Need Advice

Tim & Robyn · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Colleen,
You probably need to hear from somebody who is actually doing this on the road... Having said that, I would certainly start high and negotiate down. I work fulltime from home (not on the road yet - sigh) and my employer pays for my home office expenses (up to $50/month for internet access and all of the cost for a VoIP office telephone), as well as other miscellaneous non-travel expenses. That's a lot cheaper than what it would cost them to provide an office space for me somewhere. Telecommuting to the workplace is getting to be very common. I can't see anything wrong with factoring in the value of health insurance either when computing an hourly rate... Once you agree on an hourly rate, that would be a fixed number... Employer-paid health coverage on the other hand goes up and up every year (ever noticed how your contributions from your paycheck go up every year, copays go up, and the coverage isn't quite as good as it was last year?). It's all negotiable, and you'll never know what you could get unless you ask.

-- Edited by Tim & Robyn at 05:07, 2008-05-29

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Colleen,

Try www.salary.com

There's lots of good information regarding salary rates by area and different job classifications. And tips for negotiating salary. Don't know if they have anything aimed at road warriors/ work kampers but some of the contract employee tips may help.

I currently work as an "at will" contract employee and negotiated a higher salary because I didn't require health benefits. Those are covered by my retirement package from my first career.

Another source for wage info is here:
http://www.gpo.gov/davisbacon/
It's a little difficult to use but has wage rates that include markup for overhead such as benefit packages. These are the wage rates used by companies wanting to do business with the federal government. It makes for a good guideline in negotiations.

Like Tim & Robyn said start high and negotiate down. They must like your work otherwise they wouldn't be discussing a flexible work situation. In today's job market it's easy to find someone to do a job. I just saw an article where a company posted an ad for a job and recieved over 5000 applicants....within the first week. They were overwhelmed by the response and resubmitted the ad with much tougher requirements and still recieved over a 1000 resonses.

Good luck....

Froggi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Colleen, it's been a while (long while) since I was in the same position. In those days the rule of thumb was to double your hourly rate in order to cover your self-employment tax (you'll be paying both halves of your social security), cover the federal witholding, general overhead, etc.

I did this at three separate times with three separate employers and they still felt they were saving money at twice the hourly rate. Just be sure to keep receipts for everything and get a good accountant for your taxes.

Oh, I was a computer specialist....various positions.

Tylersamma · RV-Dreams Family Member

My employer tripled my salary on an hourly basis, but without benefits (insurance, vacation,etc.) I was able to continue to contribute to my 401K during this time. This was a fairly short termed arrangement while continuing to train my replacement, about 6 months.

-- Edited by Tylersamma at 20:28, 2008-05-29

pierreandcolleen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you all for your input. It is very much appreciated.

-C