controling overtime costs

[chrldwlf]

Attention hourly employees, business owners and managers; I am working towards a bachelor’s degree and writing a term paper on the topic of reducing employee overtime while maintaining quality service. My question is this; what are some of the methods you use to control overtime while providing the 24/7 service customers’ demand? I am asking this question to gain ideas for further research into the subject. Thanks for whatever help you can offer!

[Joe Harper]

A rotating schedule and staggering start times. Of course this is the a/c business. There is always overtime. You either run overtime in warmer months, or start laying off people in the winter. If yoj are known for layoffs, you wont get good applicants..

[artman934]

Shift pay and a rotating schedule would reduce it if you're in a plant or building, but not if your business is based on traveling to provide service.

in before this turns into a union/non union argument

[valdelocc]

working union, commercial hvac-r, overtime starts after 8 hours or if the work is schedule outside the normal work hours (6am to 5pm). the customer agrees to pay the higher rate beforehand. some techs crave it others including myself hate it.
Locally the biggest residential outfit (no-union) started to stagger techs work hours to minimize overtime pay to techs while billing the customer for it, pure greed IMO, I know they lost a few guys cause of it.

[pageyjim]

Attention hourly employees, business owners and managers; I am working towards a bachelor’s degree and writing a term paper on the topic of reducing employee overtime while maintaining quality service. My question is this; what are some of the methods you use to control overtime while providing the 24/7 service customers’ demand? I am asking this question to gain ideas for further research into the subject. Thanks for whatever help you can offer!

I have many answers but hesitate to share them. The "solutions" tend to screw the worker. How about firing a few managers and office workers and putting the remainder on salary. Then you will get free overtime.

[klrogers]

Attention hourly employees, business owners and managers; I am working towards a bachelor’s degree and writing a term paper on the topic of reducing employee overtime while maintaining quality service. My question is this; what are some of the methods you use to control overtime while providing the 24/7 service customers’ demand? I am asking this question to gain ideas for further research into the subject. Thanks for whatever help you can offer!

I would ask does it really cost that much more to pay someone overtime? When you add the other costs (vacation time, holidays, training time, health benefits etc.) of an employee into their 40 hours straight time overtime does not cost much more. Indeed if you are charging the customer a higher rate for the overtime work, then the company might be making more profit per hour than a regular time.

Kevin

[hvac69]

I get paid overtime over 40 and vacation, sick or holiday pay does count towards my 40, but if the customer gets billed for it, for scheduled night, weekend work or early starts I will get paid my overtime regardless. So rarely do I lose out. There is no way to eliminate overtime entirely in this business, there is bound to be some job that needs to be finished before anyone can leave and your not about to bring a different crew to finish up. I don't really see the additional cost of overtime to an employer. The operating cost for an employee is figured on a 40 hour, 5 day work week. His truck, medical, unemployment, tax costs is used to calculate hourly costs to the customer, so essentially that employee has been paid for already when he needs to work overtime. Any additional costs would be minimal as long as the overtime is billable.

[timebuilder]

In order for an experienced tech to be willing to work for a company with no or reduced overtime, the straight time rate would have to be so attractive as to cost the company MORE money than the overtime they are eliminating.

You question carries the silent supposition that the rate would remain the same, the overtime would be reduced, and the worker would get the same work accomplised...all for less money.

With few kids going into trades, in just a few years, you will have a number of foreign nationals coming here to work trades jobs, not doing as good a job, for less pay, and you will have succeeded in creating a state of greater dependence on government payments.

Think: Greece.

A better paper would discuss how to create and retain good paying jobs that are attractive to people born here, keeping them off the government dole and encouraging self-reliance and upward mobility. Those are the tenets that built a great nation.

Not cutting overtime.

[n-e-w Jerz!]

currently my company is controlling my service departments hours by insuring we don't go over 40 hours a week. being on call for 3 days last week i came close to 60 hours, so i was asked to leave early on thursday and had off on friday.

i try to look at both sides of the coin on this and i know in a few weeks we'll be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. but i've decided that it isn't worth it for me to go out on a service call to non contract customers so i can get home late, wake up early and drag azz all day knowing that i'll be sent home at some point one day during the week. guess i shouldn't complain about 40 hours (or close to it) guaranteed work week

i like where i work and am taken care of quite well, i understand the slow times of year and the need to control operational costs. i'll have a better judgement of the place come this summer(my first with the company)

[valdelocc]

if things keep going the way they are, more for the owner less for the worker, we the workers will be forced to go back to the times of slashing tires and breaking windshields, the rednecks will rise again.

[sarge]

At ABC Air we work the guys right up to 40 hours, then we send them home.....or they can work for our "sister" company, XYZ Air, for up to another 40 hours!

[rmuntz]

A number of years ago I switched from 1.5xOT to 2xOT, this way a customer will think twice before agreeing to after hours work and the worker (usually me) gets paid more making it more worthwhile.

[seemungaln]

what i know is the outfit i used to work for try useing some service from ua that screen service call on night and weekend and they will tell the coustmer if to pull the case or product till the next day if it not emergercy for the next working day. dont know how it work out having talk to any one but they will till have to go out in and real emergercy so they will be ot