How to compensate employees for mileage and drive time between jobs?

Question

Howdy y'all, we're looking for new and/or experienced cleaners in Austin, TX and given the expanse of our service area (drives could be up to 50 miles) I'm trying to source cleaners who live in all four quadrants of the Greater Austin area. [Any recommendations of folks who would make great employees in my area, please shoot me a message!] Understanding that there are a multitude of ways to compensate for mileage or drive time, I'm curious who has found a balance between efficiency and cost.
Say a cleaner does 3 cleans in a day and goes directly from home to their first job, and from the last job back to home. Those first and last are 'commute' drives, so we could calculate either a) the distance between jobs 1, 2, and 3, and pay per mile , or b) record the time of arrival at job 1 and the time of completion at job 3, and instead of paying per mile offer an extra $1 or $2 per hour rate so that it is all encompassing.&nbsp;
Love to hear your thoughts - thank you!

stevestidyturf · Answer

To be a 100$ honest, I feel like compensation on mileage just adds way to much extra work and time into math. I'd consider raising any employees pay rate, (depending on performance of course) and save yourself the trouble of doing all the extra. Better yet, allocate gas cards. If they're working for you, trust me when I say, they dont want to pay for gas while working for someone other than their own lifes commuting needs, not yours.

ew · Answer

I think that paying an extra dollar or two sounds smarter because mileage can add up

Giving out gas cards from time to time as tokens for being on time to all jobs for a full month is something that sounds appealing also.

tiptoproofing · Answer

Our business has tried to find the best way to compensate our employees drive time for years. All of our technicians drive to our yard and then ride in a company truck to each jobsite. This ensures all employees are onsite once work commences. It can become expensive very quickly paying regular wages to a jobsite and OT wages on the way back, which usually happens here in So. California. This can sometimes lead to double time depending on the job location. We have tried the following methods

Paid the regular hourly rate to the jobsite, clocking in at the company yard, and had the employee clock out when they left the jobsite. Then we found out we were violating labor laws as employees riding in a company vehicle are considered under the control of the employer, thus they are to be paid.

We tried paying minimum wage to and from jobsites. However, it dinged our works comp insurance due to the employee making less wages in a dual class code. In the end increased our WC premium due .We have had employees drive directly to a jobsite, however, attendance suffered greatly, as employees complained about their struggle to pay for gas.

Its a hard one to determine when considering what is best for the company and for the employee, AND without breaking state labor laws. My suggestion would be to consider how far the employee would have to commute to work. Lets say 20 miles 1 way. The employee would not get compensation for the 1st 20 miles driven in the morning and the last 20 miles driven at the end of the day. Then you compensate for the travel in between. Or maybe just pay a flat fee for anything within a 30 mile radius, 60 mile radius, 90 mile radius etc. Then you will know exactly what that travel pay will be and can incorporate that fee into the pricing for the service offered to customers.

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How to compensate employees for mileage and drive time between jobs?

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