Spin off on being poor/frugal

[ssawka]

To the OP - I think your employees would appreciate anything for their per diem. However, you may want to consider when was the last time you increased their amount?

What you give them does not have to fully cover everything they want to eat in a day.

If you are wanting to fully cover meals, price it out. If you think fastfood is the level you want to cover - then so be it. I really don't think as an employer should have (or be made to feel like) to cover prime rib dinners nightly and breakfast buffets every morning. Also consider the location your employees are going.

I really can't imagine a $60 or $80 per day per diem.

You shouldn't expect someone to eat fast food. There may be allergies or other health reasons where a person cannot eat fast food.

 

[IUTBAM]

Gosh, I've been out of the workforce too long, because I had no idea employers actually put a cap on what they will reimburse an employee for in terms of dining expenses when traveling. I've been a SAHM for 18+ years, but my DH is mgmt. level with a mid-sized oil company, and travels about 25% of the time. They don't limit him on what he can expense out...he has a company credit card, and all his expenses go on there. I suppose if he charged a $100 meal just for himself they might say something, but cost has never ever been an issue for any of his meals.

 

[seashoreCM]

I think the MOST important thing about the per diem and travel expenses for work is to reimburse the employee quickly. A few years ago my DH took a required business trip to London, the client insisted on a full fare (so that it would be refundable) airfare, a particular ($400 a night!) hotel, etc. The 4 day trip cost almost $4000, which we had to pay out of pocket and then be reimbursed for. And it took them almost NINE MONTHS to reimburse my DH. That wasn't cool at all. Please don't do that to your employees!

\
Could he have gotten a travel advance?

 

[scrapquitler]

The $25 a day is theirs to spend on food, alcohol, cigarettes, or hookers for all I care. Which seems to be their choice today.

I hesitate to say this, but based on this comment and some of your previous comments, it seems to me that you don't have much respect for your employees.

 

[scrapquitler]

\
Could he have gotten a travel advance?

Nope As it turns out, DH (who was a contractor) got caught up in a dispute between the client and the agency that held his contract, and that had somethign to do with the delay. For a while, we thought we were going to have to file a lawsuit. Thankfully it worked out, and DH as soon as that contract expired, DH got out of there!

 

[crashbb]

I think the MOST important thing about the per diem and travel expenses for work is to reimburse the employee quickly. A few years ago my DH took a required business trip to London, the client insisted on a full fare (so that it would be refundable) airfare, a particular ($400 a night!) hotel, etc. The 4 day trip cost almost $4000, which we had to pay out of pocket and then be reimbursed for. And it took them almost NINE MONTHS to reimburse my DH. That wasn't cool at all. Please don't do that to your employees!

My old job was like that (had to pay first and be reimbursed), but they were quick about paying it back. Except that you couldn't get anything until after the trip (obviously), so thinks like conference fees and airfare (which are often paid a few months before the trip) can sit on your credit card for quite a while.

My new job has corporate credit cards, which makes life much easier.

 

[okeydokey]

Once again someone asks a question and when the majority of answers come back that the OP may want to rethink her position, she gets bent out of shape.

To put it plainly, most people pay more than you.

 

[mpls_mm]

Once again someone asks a question and when the majority of answers come back that the OP may want to rethink her position, she gets bent out of shape.

To put it plainly, most people pay more than you.

I think most people get paid more than the OP pays, I didn't see too many business owners posting what they personally do pay in a situation where employees are on the road for months at a time. There is a difference between what you want to get paid and what you are willing to have come out of your pocket. So, I don't think OP has to rethink her position.

 

[starry_solo]

I'm going to guess you're not a government agency, but the local one here provides:

1. Breakfast - $10
2. Lunch - $15-20
3. Dinner - $20-30

And that's supposed to include tax & tip. Not a per diem, but that's all they get reimbursed for.

 

[scbelleatheart]

Once again someone asks a question and when the majority of answers come back that the OP may want to rethink her position, she gets bent out of shape.

To put it plainly, most people pay more than you.

Well that is what I asked! I'm not bent out of shape. I do not rethink. I do think I posted that I might need to adjust my per diem so your problem is???????

 

[scbelleatheart]

I did not mean to start a firestorm. I just wanted some opinions on current policy for pay. But now that you are all over me, would you work fom $17 an hour plus full medical if you never attended High School and cannot read.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I did not mean to start a firestorm. I just wanted some opinions on current policy for pay. But now that you are all over me, would you work fom $17 an hour plus full medical if you never attended High School and cannot read.

I would work for $17/hr...but not under the living conditions you seem to describe (travel).

 

[duffy]

I work in a job that requires practically NO travel. 4 years ago, I had to travel hundreds of miles for a 3-week period, training people.

We got $40/day. Stayed at a hotel with free breakfast, and we had fridges and microwaves in our rooms. So, we kept our fridges stocked with sandwich stuff, soup, etc.

We ate out each evening, at nice restaurants.

After a 10-hour day, it was nice to sit down to a nice meal with a few adult beverages and chat together about the job. We didn't want to go back to a lonely hotel room until we had to!

How much money your employees are paid is irrelevant. If they make $20/hr., will that mean you will lower the per diem?

And a buffet for $4.50/person? Where the heck are those? They're all at least $5.99 here.

 

[tlbwriter]

Because I wanted to know if it would make a difference to keep good workers and what others gave for per diem.
I guess you can call me Leona Hemsley. Put me in jail. I'm close to it according to you. I'll change my screen name!

According to me? Me personally? Do you have me confused with another poster?

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Not to be disagreeable but those are my real numbers with tax and tip.
2 breakfast sandwiches and 1 coffee at Speedway $5 (DH loves their mocha)
2 people at Hometown Buffet in MI $4.50 each plus tip $10
Applebees Curbside 2 for $20 $21.70 plus tip
Pretty darn close to $35 and we still have 1/5 of the Applebees left for lunch the next day.

Someone asked the profession of the employees. Blue collar general laborers who would never step foot in a restaurant. They prefer carry out.
And to how they get reimbursed, they are handed $50 every 2 days.

I was curious about the $4.50 Hometown Buffet, so I googled all the Hometown Buffets in Michigan (I assumed you meant Michigan with MI). The cheapest I could find (it was Old Country in MI) was a $4.99 in 2010. That did not include any drinks. It was $1.40- $1.50 more to be able to get a drink other than water. So actually the meal would be $6.50 plus tax and tip. I believe the tax rate is 6.5% (too early to really check it out) If my morning math is correct tax is .43cents. So 6.50 plus .43 is 6.93, and another $2.00 for a tip or even at a $1.00 you are at $7-$8 dollars for lunch.

I used to work for a company where our employees jobs required them to be on the road and away from home. We also had employees without degrees, court ordered child-support, poor reading skills etc. They did do a manual labor job. THAT JOB WAS A HARD PHYSICAL LABOR JOB and to be honest most college educated applicants just did not want to do that much work in one day. It was the nature of the business. But our employees were human beings. We didn't feel like we were doing them a favor by hiring them with the skills they came with, we were grateful for their dedication to our company.

You asked and yes your per diem is low. What bothers me more though is the way you talk about your employees. I found it very disheartening to read it. Not the best way to start my day.

 

[okeydokey]

I did not mean to start a firestorm. I just wanted some opinions on current policy for pay. But now that you are all over me, would you work fom $17 an hour plus full medical if you never attended High School and cannot read.

I am not sure what that has to do with travel reimbursements?

I know you want us to say that you are a fabulous employer and are very fair to your employees who are lucky to have you, but the question you asked was what do people get paid for meals while traveling. The answer for the the majority is that we get paid more than you are paying. The educational level of your employees shouldn't have any bearing on what you pay them to travel.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

The government travel rates apply to everyone. My husband, as a Captain, gets the same amount per diem as a private. He doesn't get more just because he has a higher rank, is a commanding officer, or has a college degree. The fact that the men you pay are manual laborers should not affect the per diem you pay them. Maybe if they had a little more meal money they'd eat better and that would help with your medical insurance expenses. I can see that if they only have $25 to eat for a day that they'd want to eat as cheaply as possible, thus the gas-station hot-dogs, etc. They might want to go get a steak some nights, but don't feel like they can afford it.

 

[mpls_mm]

I am not the OP and some of my comments have been confused with hers, but a lot of people here are confusing what they get paid and what their companies get paid with what they actually pay. If you work for the government or a big company and you are an executive and travel is part of the job, I understand wanting to be paid more. If you are not an executive, and the job IS travel only and you chose it, whatever the OP wants to pay is fair. The OP has 2 choices, she can pay the guys as independent contractors and pay them $17 an hour and not worry about anything and be like many other companies out there. Or she can pay $17an hour plus taxes which probably comes out to $25 an hour after she kicks in taxes and social security plus insurance and OP probably actually pays closer to $30 an hour. Add that per diem that she pays, and it's getting close to $33 an hour. That doesn't include costs like payroll and gas and all the other stuff it takes to get them where they are going. This is why there are fewer and fewer small businesses, why don't we contract everything out? There are plenty of illegals who will work for half what the OP pays. But she is doing things the right way and paying her fair share so we must call her a monster because none of us with executive jobs and degrees could eat on so little and it must be stopped. This is the same board that erupts over tipping and what plumbers and lawyers charge per hour. She must be pulling a gun on these guys and forcing them to work for so little.
I personally am stopping, I have had enough of regulation and whiney customers who want to pay $20 an hour for 2 guys when it costs me $30 each. I won't play games anymore and have another business. Service and installation businesses are not worth it unless you cut corners and go to contract employees and I won't do it. I have already laid off one person and will be letting everyone else go at the end of November. They are good guys, trustworthy and work hard. It sucks but I have a business to run and need to focus on whats profitable. It sounds like plenty of people here work for companies who will hire them and pay them more. They will relocate, they work all over the country anyway, so please forward me a company name and contact or your company name if you are the owner and do the hiring, and I will pass it on to them. I would love to find them jobs and it sound like they will get paid much more elsewhere.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

My company breaks down per meal:

$10 or under (including tip) for breakfast
$20 or under (including tip) for lunch
$40 or under (including tip) for dinner

I think this is very generous... however you would not believe the people that go over when I'm doing their expense reports!!

 

[ssawka]

I did not mean to start a firestorm. I just wanted some opinions on current policy for pay. But now that you are all over me, would you work fom $17 an hour plus full medical if you never attended High School and cannot read.

I understand your point, and I'm not trying to get "all over [you]", but what exactly does their education level have to do with the price of food in a given area? or, are you saying that because they are uneducated they don't deserve a decent meal?

You know, there is a simple solution to this, if you think they would pocket the money. Don't pay per diem. Set a limit, ask them for receipts, and then pay actuals. I have a feeling that if you had the receipts you would not be questioning whether or not $25 is enough.