Ok, I think there are too many bashing about this post. I guess the thread poster just tries to gives us another view to calculating salary... which is well... very subjective. And to make this even more complex, there is the definition of "work", "obligated working time" etc etc...

Some engineer are constantly "working", figuring out or dreaming about solutions for work related matters, but should we divide their pay by 24hrs/day?
Sales people have to pick up that company sponsored mobile line even if they are flying off to nirvana at 3am in the morning.

My take is that, maybe "total pay" should be pledged to job satisfaction rather than "total time" involved. If you are not happy, you may think that 1000/day pay as a mercenary in a critical war/terrorized zone is super duper ultra low, and playing diablo3 for 5bucks/hour is a super steal!

Or just divide your total pay by your obligated working hour if you are doing unskilled jobs

Giving generic sentence like family time, can always teach tuition etc is useless, you only know for sure when you try actually to make the extra money during free time.

At best he can claim it's a lifestyle choice for him to get low pay and more time for personal things. The problem comes when he try to justify that he is actually paid higher than his friend who has a higher salary by using poorly defined parameters.

Ironically he appears more desperate than his friend to prove he is "better paid".

Judging by the things you wrote, it is no wonder that you are working in a SME.

I have just read all the post over breakfast this morning.
I think TS's view may be right but is not useful in any way.

The ultimate end point is how much money you bring home at the end of the month.
TS may be able to monetize his free time but at the end of the day, did he?
If he has the capability to make more money but he doesnt, then its of no use at all.

Look at the high fliers, they work long hours but they end up with nice condos and flashy cars sooner than anyone.

And i am 100% sure TS will never bring in as much money as the high fliers who work 16hrs a day.

how shallow. people here only care about "nice condos and flashy cars". i am different. i care about good living and living a good life.

the guy who started all these stupid calculation is nothing but a sore loser who is only capable of whining. Dont bother about him lah. He is just making a joke out of himself.

Two employees, one works 9-5, always knocks off on time, one is made to do overtime every day and always comes back on weekends. Suppose the figures on their monthly pay slips are the same. Are they compensated equally by their employers?

No. They are not. One is obviously underpaid than the other. I don't know why some people here can't understand this simple obvious fact.

Plus my original post never showed me getting a higher salary than my friend (only close to).
I see many didn't even bother to read properly first, then made wild assertions here.
I am just offering an alternative view to salary calculation.

That's why these engineers are considered "underpaid", their hourly rates (if calculated using my method) tend to be adjusted to lower side, due to lengthened actual working hours.

They should find some way to let their boss know of these effort, otherwise they don't get the deserved compensation.

people who work 16 hours a day for the extra cash are basically slaves who are being taken advantage of by their boss. it is not worth it as time is precious and in fact it is priceless, so the smart ones will know how to use their time properly and have time for family and personal interests.

i set up a software outfit of 10 people a few years back, and i don't have to get in to work earlier than 930, and i knock off by 6pm sharp. most of my staff are bright sparks and hardly ever works late (to me working late is a sign of bad management by the employer or wrong employee fit). average annual revenue has been healthy and at age 35 i already have a net worth of close to SGD 2.5 Million.

how do you get sales for your software outfit?