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Two jobs, exactly the same, except one requires travel.

R

RedShirt

Golden Member
How much more money should the traveling job pay (percentage wise)? Travel would be 4 hours or so a day, 2 weeks a month.
 
4 hours per day? Meaning the rest of the time you are in the office?

I wouldn't expect there to be any difference in pay for equivalent skill sets. Requirement to travel does not automatically translate into higher salary. People that travel a lot get reimbursed for expenses which is additional cost to the company. If you're getting paid per diem, or getting reimbursed, you are making money by not having to buy your own food, gas, etc.

Now, if you are in a job that requires being "on-call", where you have to leave when you get the call, that's a different scenario which usually dictates higher pay in exchange for the inconvenience that can have on your life.
 
skimple said:
4 hours per day? Meaning the rest of the time you are in the office?

I wouldn't expect there to be any difference in pay for equivalent skill sets. Requirement to travel does not automatically translate into higher salary. People that travel a lot get reimbursed for expenses which is additional cost to the company. If you're getting paid per diem, or getting reimbursed, you are making money by not having to buy your own food, gas, etc.

Now, if you are in a job that requires being "on-call", where you have to leave when you get the call, that's a different scenario which usually dictates higher pay in exchange for the inconvenience that can have on your life.
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People that travel a lot are also away from home more. 4 hour travel days most likely will mean that there will be less time at home. A person should be compensated something for that, no? Also, having to be on the road in bad conditions (winter, etc) is more dangerous than being in an office all the time.
 
RedShirt said:
People that travel a lot are also away from home more. 4 hour travel days most likely will mean that there will be less time at home. A person should be compensated something for that, no? Also, having to be on the road in bad conditions (winter, etc) is more dangerous than being in an office all the time.
Click to expand...

What does 4 hours/day of travel 2 weeks/month mean?

My initial interpretation is during those 2 weeks, you're driving around to meet clients half the day, back to your home office by the time work is done. If this is the case, a company car or reimbursement for miles driven on your personal car. Or maybe a gas card.

If you're working 12 hour days during those 2 weeks with 4 extra hours of travel on top of a 8 hour day, overtime.

How I view it: If I'm back in my own bed at the end of the night, it's a long day, not travel.
 
The idea would be that one would be able to go home each night.

While the ideal situation for the travel job would be a normal work day (8 hours + lunch), a job that requires travel tends to take more hours to accomplish. If both jobs have the same workload, except one has travel and the other does not, I'd think it'd be reasonable to expect more hours required for the traveling job. I wouldn't think that the traveling job would always require 4 more hours on travel days. A reasonable expectation might be an average of 2 hours extra on travel days.

Think of these jobs as salaried jobs. It doesn't matter how many hours it takes, as long as the work gets done, and gets done well.
 
RedShirt said:
People that travel a lot are also away from home more. 4 hour travel days most likely will mean that there will be less time at home. A person should be compensated something for that, no? Also, having to be on the road in bad conditions (winter, etc) is more dangerous than being in an office all the time.
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you want hazard pay?
 
No idea! Just pointing out differences. It's not just a simple matter of "your costs are re-emmbersed". There are some hidden costs that are hard to put a value on, hence the question 🙂
 
Yeah, but different strokes for different folks.

Some people like being on the road and don't consider it a hardship. If you're single or your kids have grown up, its a different story than someone who has a young family at home.

Plus, depending on your type of travel, you can rack up a lot of nice perks like hotel point, frequent flyer miles, free rental cars....

There are intangible benefits to travel, just like there are intangible costs.

I don't think there is any inherent justification for higher salary just because you have to travel. And even if there was, I don't think the type of travelling that you mention would warrant it.

I spent a half a year travelling back and forth overseas back in 2004. The only extra compensation that I received for it was the airline miles. Sometimes it just part of the job.
 
skimple said:
4 hours per day? Meaning the rest of the time you are in the office?

I wouldn't expect there to be any difference in pay for equivalent skill sets. Requirement to travel does not automatically translate into higher salary. People that travel a lot get reimbursed for expenses which is additional cost to the company. If you're getting paid per diem, or getting reimbursed, you are making money by not having to buy your own food, gas, etc.

Now, if you are in a job that requires being "on-call", where you have to leave when you get the call, that's a different scenario which usually dictates higher pay in exchange for the inconvenience that can have on your life.
Click to expand...

this. Some like travel jobs, some don't. The pay is usually the same.

Now a job that was like 50% plus travel and all of it non-local would probably have to pay higher to get candidates willing to not have a home base anywhere.
 
If you are not staying overnight, I find it a stretch to claim it is a "travel" job. Travel usually means you stay away from home and 50% travel wears on you and your social life. Having to visit a customer in the area is not travel and other than expenses being paid, I doubt that you would make extra.

Most jobs with high travel do not pay anything more. Considered to be part of the job.

Michael
 
Having done something similar, travel takes a toll on you. 4 days out of 5 in a week is a lot. Short: don't do it at all unless you're young and single. The extra time with your family and friends is worth more than all the money in the world.
 
4 hrs a day, 2 weeks a month is not a "travel" job. its just a job you get to get out of the office sometimes. a travel job involves being gone for days at a time at very least.
 
I worked in a job that involved a lot of driving. Even though it's not really travel, it's more stressful than people realize. Especially if you're driving around in heavy traffic or with aggressive drivers. Though some folks don't seem to mind it.

Since they want you to use your own car, the mileage they're paying you should be enough to cover gas, insurance, and maintenance costs.
 
If it is just travelling nearby, and you are home at the end of the day, I wouldn't expect any extra pay. If anything, it's a perk.
 
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