Hypothetical Pay Structure - Base or Base+
 

Would you rather get paid a Salary of $70k, or $30k Salary + $300/day?

We average 12-15 days a month.

Please give opinions or experiences.

Well, if your math is correct, minimum 120days/year means $36k, so yes that's the winner for you. But, can you guarantee it, etc??? How's this going to be played out in your operations budget? The money has to come from somewhere.

I'd rather have a guaranteed salary than a non-guaranteed potential for higher income...potential that is 100% beyond my control as a pilot.

I would prefer the straight salary...

I am currently on the salary+flight pay and it really digs into you when your sitting at home realizing that you're not making money. Where as with salary, when you are home you really don't need to worry about anything.

Also, make sure the 300/day is per duty day, not per day you fly. Ours is only days we fly... so if you fly somewhere and sit two days, fly back, you only get the 2 days of flight pay, not 4.

Based solely on your input, its a no-brainer.

12-15 days/month = 13.5 days/months
13.5 days/month x's 12 months = 162 days
162 days x's 300/day = 48,600
48,600 + 30,000 = 78,600

Result...

78,600 per year is 8,600 more per year than 70,000

Is there anything you would like to add to your equation? Or should we assume things?

I wish it was a no-brainer. Work ethic is in no way predictable.
In this hypothetical scenario, when you are on the road you are working. We pay pilots (Part timer or Per diem) for every day we have them sitting on the road, not just when they fly. Very rarely do we do road trips, and we rarely leave a plane on the road waiting to fill the dead leg home. I was speaking to a Lear pilot recently who said they get paid per flight hour, I found that tough to understand. I could see getting paid for duty hours, not flight hours. We always say that we get paid to wait in this business, not fly. We do 12 hour days, TEB-ALB sometimes, how would that work?

I am trying to figure out how to make the office and the pilots be on the same team. I know I hate answering phone calls all day, and it doesn't help when the salaried pilots bob and weave (not real names) as much as possible to not come to work. I would like the pilots to be happy when the office calls. I am trying to find that happy medium of pay, and pay for performance.

If I was one of your pilots, if your office called me, I would be very happy.;)

I see your dilemma. I think your idea is an excellent one. Pay them the 30K and then pay them to for flying days (including non-flying days on the road).... 300/day. I think pay should be based on production whenever possible. This won't be a popular opinion here... I realize that. But otherwise, you are stuck with Bob and Weave. Do what you got to do. In the end, its a business. And this is still not a pilot's market.

If that was the salary range that the position needed to pay, I'd rather see the difference split somewhat - with a higher base pay, ie. 55k + $100/day (76k average). I personally like to feel like I'm making money when I go to work - I prefer for "going flying" to pay more than sitting at home. Takes the sting out of being gone from home. But that 30k base salary would scare me - too many thoughts of "what if the flying dropped off substantially?". I'd need a much higher min guarantee.

Yes, you would. But many pilots as qualified as you, or more so, would not. Therefore, you're out of a job (and someone else just got hired).