calculate salary must calculate the hidden cost also
 

I have a friend who worked in GLC, gloated over my low pay and suggested me to quit and join her.

So I calculated for her, what her "actual" salary was.

a 4-year experienced IT consultant,

Her annual based on monthly wage: 12 x $3300 = 39600
Her bonus/AWS (2011): 4 x $3300 = 13200
Her OT Pay = 0
She works 8hrs per day + 2hrs OT for free per day (THIS IS THE HIDDEN COST). Sometimes she came back on weekends, but let's don't count that

Work days in a year = about 230 days (excluding leaves, ph, MCs)
Work hours in a year = 230 x 10 = 2300 !!
Hourly rate = (39600 + 13200) / 2300 = $23 / hr

I had a job in SME sector that doesn't require me to do OT, but has very low bonus.
but my hourly rate is about $22 / hr, almost the same

Not forgetting counting in the annual leave and other fringe benefits.

people from SMEs has a "worse looking" CV than people from MNCs.

if you just want high hourly rates, give private tuition. can go as high as $100.

This pay per hour thing is a typical excuse average performers use to convince themselves that they are actually comparable to high fliers like bankers & traders.

You try this nonsense in a competitive and high performing interview you get laughed out of the door.

q true for per hourly rate u r on par. but on wholesome earnings, the other person still owns u....

No! Total earning, monthly wage, annual wage are misleading! Precisely why I posted the calculations. They don't take total working hours, leaves into consideration.

In my case, I have more free time than my friend. If I want, I can choose to work freelance in my free time, then my earnings will trump hers (on same working hours). But I prefer to spend the time with my family.

Bankers & traders are different. You compare orange with apple la. My industry is IT consulting, here people charge client by hourly rate or man-day rate. It's natural to assess self-worth by hourly rate.

Why are you so sure you can monetize your free time if you want to?

This is a self-decieving exercise, you can put whatever value you want in the hyopthetical "free time with friends & family" or "freelance work", of course you end up richer than whoever you want to compare.

And please lar, most consultancies IT or non-IT charge by manhours which most of the time they whack any number they can get away with, but they pay employees by monthly basic salary, not hourly.

Like that you might as well say Starhub charge client by the second so all Starhub engineers should calculate their pay by per second and see who is more satki.

Now you know a little bit more. Then I can explain to you.

So when you convert your monthly to hourly, you can know many things.
Compare to the hourly rate your company charged to clients, and from no. of employees working,
you roughly know how much you worth,
you know how much profit margin your company has, etc.

When comparing salary to salary, compare the hourly, instead of monthly.
Monthly does not take in consideration how many hours the person works.
He can work like a cow, or he can eat snake everyday.
Hourly to hourly is a fairer comparison.

As for freelance rate, it's not anyhow set like you imagined.
It depends on market rate, the work, negotiation with client.
One thing for sure, it is always higher than FT job hourly rate.

Hi, I chanced upon this thread and I can't help but to agree with what has been commented thus far. Pardon me for being blunt, but I feel that such analysis is totally a waste of time and reflects a very immature way of thinking.