options for compensation for travel 1

[ProEpro]

Trying to guess how much travel there will be and adjust my salary expectations when looking at a new job is difficult. Is there anyone out there that is getting paid extra for traveling? If so how is it done? Is it overtime, perdeim or something else?

I am working in the US but welcome the interesting international perspective this board always gives.

ProEpro

http://www.whitelightdesign.com

 

[jgailla]

I get per diem for every travel day, including weekends, and unofficial comp time. Per diem can really add up when traveling overseas. In the US, the amount is usually about $50 a day. The nice part is that I don't have to save receipts and document every meal. I'm not going to eat $50 worth of food anyway, so I come out a little bit ahead.
I had a project in Japan that the PM wanted everyone to fly out Thursday to start work Monday. He had a habit of getting everyone to travel over the weekend so the travel hours didn't hit his project. His projects are always over budget because he tries to nickel and dime everything without looking at how to effectively run the project.

 

[zdas04]

You can spend $50 on one meal at McDonald's in Tokyo. Hell, my average dinner cost in Houston in May was over $100. $50/day per diem seems like a company stuck in the 1980's.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[weldstan]

Once in a hundred trips (probably more infrequent), I recieved added compensation for travel and that was because of multiple weeks at a project. At one point I told my supervisors that I would be taking a day off for each 2 day weekend travelling and would charge it to the job. They agreed.

zdas04,
You would be surprised at how many companies are stuck in the last century regarding food allowances and hotels.

 

[jgailla]

zdas,
I usually went to the ramen places in Tokyo. Lunch was about $15. $50 is for US only, in Japan I got $150 per day, so even at the high Japan prices I came out way ahead.

 

[IRstuff]

Had a customer whose motto was that his bar bill had to equal his per diem. Oddly, a couple of weeks later he was re-assigned.

TTFN
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[TomDOT]

David,

When I travel, I can expense up to $36 per day. Not per diem - actual expense, receipts. At least the receipts review went back to "supervisor option" and my supervisor doesn't want to see them now. I used to have to hand in the receipts, my supervisor then reviewed, and then someone in Finance reviewed again. Utter waste of time. Blowing much more employee time than a max expense could possibly be worth.

 

[zdas04]

God I hope that doesn't include taxi's, rental cars, and hotel rooms. If it is just food then you get two meals a day if your hotel provides a breakfast as part of the room charge. That kind of petty chicken droppings was a part of the reason I left the big company and started my own. MuleShoe Engineering covers all travel expenses and any receipts collected get dumped (un-categorized) into an annual folder. If I ever get audited, I plan on dumping the folder on the table and saying "knock yourself out".

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[TomDOT]

David - just food.

Hotel (up to Fed max), vehicles and such are separate.

 

[zdas04]

Well, with recent IRS disclosures, the "Fed Max" seems like a pretty big number. Just kidding, my son is in the Army and he keeps complaining about the Fed max putting him in some really crummy places in some nice towns.

I understand why the Federal Government puts such strict limits on spending, but it sure seems like the end result is counter productive. Spending $500 of staff time checking a $300 expense report twice probably made sense when the policy was being written, but when you put real numbers to it the potential recovery just doesn't add up to cost of recovery.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[TomDOT]

David, I hope your son is asking the hotels for their Fed rate instead of just finding motels with cheap normal rate. Many hotels will book at the lower Fed rate if you ask (or find the tiny checkbox/field on their website.)

I've stayed places where the normal cheapest rate was over $200/night, but paid the Fed rate of ~$85/night.

 

[zdas04]

I think he gets an active duty military discount on top of the fed rate, but places like Washington DC or New York City, are just so expensive that the options get limited quickly.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[JedClampett]

This discussion reminds me that where I used to work (notorious as a sweat shop), they did stack inspections. These were 600 foot or so tall stacks at power plants, where you had to ride up in a bosun's chair. Super scary, and you couldn't get me up there. While you were doing this, you got bonus pay (a dollar or so an hour), BUT ONLY WHILE YOU WERE ON THE STACK!!!! They were too cheap to give you the bonus pay for risking your life for the whole day (probably easier for accounting), but only for the three hours you were in that bosun's chair.

 

[squeeky]

TOMDOT. I spend hours preparing reciepts and recording them on a spread sheet. The secretary checks them then the boss signs. They then go to accounts and someone ther still sometimes rejects some for arb reasons. How much does that cost??? Well at least they save US$0.50 with a duplicate coke reciept from two seperate shops hours apart. The accountant probably got promoted.