Slashdot Mirror
Premiums for Work Related Travel?
elbarsal asks: "I was just wondering if there is any common thoughts on the mechanics of travelling for work. I work for an automation consulting company, and have been asked to move into an industry where the likely split for travel is nearly 100% time on the road (as opposed to my current 20%). What benefits / compensation / time off have other people received for living out of a suitcase for 6 months? What consideration for those folks (like me) who have finally settled in (bought a house, joined organized sports leagues, etc.) has been or should be shown? Life on the road is ok for about the first week. After that, I start to miss things like my favourite pub and going out after work on Fridays, instead of spending time in far-off airports. Any thoughts?"
Two companies ago I travelled up to 25% for a while. I think I got two comp days, one for staying on-site and working over a 3-day holiday weekend, and another after working from 10pm to 4am at one customer, flying to another customer site, and working there until 9pm that night and 11 hour days next 2 days. I just couldn't stay awake when I got home from that one.
The only direct benefit I can think of to a job requiring 100% travel is that you have a job. I imagine others would trade positions with you. With a young child, there's no way I could do it unless I was making about 50% more than I could otherwise. Without the kid though, I'd probably do it.
Make some deals with the company. One of my coworkers regularly got the company to fly his family out to a customer site if he stayed there over the weekend. Instead of paying his airfare to come home, they'd send his wife out there. They'd also get reduced ticket and hotel rates for staying over the weekend if they planned ahead.
On the other hand, you could start to live a double life. I worked one place where there were rumors about someone working sales for two companies at once. Also, most of those heavy travel guys I've worked with are always looking for their next ex-wife.
Make sure you have a laptop with a DVD or get an external. Sure beats staring at the wall when you're snowed in at Newark for two days. You can use one of those rent-by-mail DVD websites.
Take up some interesting hobby. Maybe ham radio (I regularly hear visiting hams chatting with locals from their hotels). Visit every Hooters in the region. Go see a home baseball game in every stadium. Learn more about airplanes and airports. Take up photography. Start writing letters/postcards to friends and family.
Of course, there's always porn.
I traveled quite a bit for my employeer 10-12 years ago. I used to keep a bag packed for overnight so I could leave instantly when it was required. No comp time, no frequent flyer miles, I was even billed by my company if I watched a PPV movie. These days I'm a consultant and I bill the client for travel time and minimum hours. Works out pretty good when I've gone to Europe for meetings. Management knows that business travel sucks and if they aren't willing to pay extra for it, they are consciously ripping the employee off.
I worked for Price Waterhouse a few years ago. I will never do anything that requires 100% travel or anything close. It kills your social life, your personal life, and frankly it doesn't do wonders for your professional development either. You literally forget what your friends look like.
I love traveling -- even seeing new airports and cities. Unfortunately, most "geek" jobs don't require any travel. The farthest I've been paid to travel as an employed programmer is to a lumber mill a mile from our office.
:-) )
:-)
I for one would gladly take a programming job that required 75% or even more travel. (If it involved Linux of course.
So what's the big deal? Why do others not like it? I can see how it would hurt a social life, but you ARE home sometimes, and it gives you more opportunities to meet "in real life" cyberbabes you meet on the Net.
- Stewardesses
- Mile High Club
And if you can't get a date with a stewardess (oops, sorry, I meant 'flight attendant') when your job is %100 travel, well, sucks to be you.(and when I say 'sucks', I don't mean that in a good way)
I honestly don't think that there's one answer. For me, I'm single, don't have a mortgage and like to travel. Therefore, my conditions are some compensation for missing out on my social life, decent accomodation and the time to be able to do some sight-seeing.
"Some compensation" varies depending on the location. I went to the United Arab Emirates a while ago, and I wanted a decent per diem for that as there's not much to do there(!). But on a trip to my university town I only asked for my meals/accomodation paid for.
I like to travel and have to ties, so I'm cheap! If I had a family I'd probably just say "no" unless it was just a couple of days here and there (I don't think any amount of money can compensate for that 'face time').
Secondly, he gets a good deal of flexibility in terms of what he flies. Solong as he gets there for a meeting at a certain time on Monday, the company dosen't care what airline he flies. Sometime he picks the flight for the convenience, somtimes for the miles, sometimes because he missed both flights listed above. He also (contractually) gets a certain amnount of flexibility in his travelling. For example, every once-in-a-while he can call in and say he dosne't wanna fly on Monday (if we have an event or somhthing) so they let him go out on Tuesday. The most important bit, however, is having a comfortable place to be when you're away. I'm not sure if this applies to you (as I do't know if you're going to the same place or different ones) but he (and the other people that did the Germany-London routine) made the company lease an apartement for them. It was a nice apartement with lotsa restaurants around it and an individual bedroom for each person that did the routine. This way, he had to carry no baggage between the UK and Germany. It also let them all have the impression of going "home," despite the fact that this home was a different home. He (and everyone else) left several sets of clothes and suits in the apartement, and had a laundry service come each week.
In effect, he turned a weekly travel into an hour-and-a-half bus ride to another apartement. Oh, and the Company paid for all phone calls from the apartment and his cellphone bill (which was tri-band GSM so we could call him anywhere). I'm not sure how applicable this is for you (again, I'm not sure your situation) but this worked for him.
Cue The Sun...
I have only done the 75% travel thing, and I am single. I did it for a year and a half, and the main things for me were: Lots of unscheduled time off(Both on the road and at home), huge $$, and 4 weeks vacation the 1st year. I liked it, but I am horribly sick of flying!! Try to drive if at all possible... it's a beautiful world, why not see some of it on the company's dime?
"...I'll need guns" --Chow Yun-Fat in 'Replacement Killers'