I have a small growing business and I am looking to sub-contract a
portion of my work out. At this point I am working mostly with
beads, wire wrapping, stringing. I have always done all
my work in the past, but need to free up some time to get out and
sell my work.
How do I figure out what to pay this person? Per piece, per hour? This
individual will most likely be younger and eager to work for a small
wage. Anyone out there know the best way to handle this?
thanks for your time
~laurice
I once worked for a company that determined the ‘per piece’ rate by
making and carefully timing the production of 6 units. The $ per
hour times the number of hours equaled $XX.00, this was then divided
by 6 (units) and gave the price per unit. The $ per hr. can be
minimum wage of what ever you feel is a ‘fair’ wage per hour.
Lorri
Hi Laurice, I first started to make jewelry by doing piece work for a
wire sculptor. I was paid by the perfect piece, which means, I
learned a lot and I also learned to work fairly fast. (I also was
definitely in the "younger and eager to work for ANY money"
category) My employer/teacher/still friend (!) used to show me how to
make a couple of pieces like the ones he wanted, send me off to work,
come back if theres any difficulties and come back even without apparent difficulties after making five pieces at which point he would make neccesary corrections to procedure (repeat as neccesary). We would decide on a price per piece after the first ten. He always made sure, that even at my slowest I wasnt making less than min.
wage, and usually after enough practice I made way more than that,
while his profit still remained pretty good.
…OTOH…there are reasons, why wire twistet spiral rings are NEVER
made in my shop… :-))))) I think I`ve made enough of those to live
forevermore without them!
Sparrow
Hello Laurice, When you find this person who is “eager to work for a
small wage” please remember to treat him/her kindly. Not only for
his/her self esteem, but also for your own. Even if a small wage is
suitable for the training time, as that person becomes more valuable
to your operation, plan appropriate wage increases based on specific
abilities. Just like buying a tool, you will get what you pay for
and good help does not mean cheap help. You never know under what
circumstances you will meet a former employee. Select well,
supervise closely and kindly, and reward good work. Good luck,
Judy in Kansas