[anekho]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Started interviewing drivers and soon realized that i was being interviewed by them.

Some funny demands:

- need one month's pay in diwali as bonus compulsory ( diwali is just a couple of months away now)

- need one month paid vacation plus 15 days paid medical leave. If i don't take those, i need to be paid for it

- i need a yearly increase in pay as per government inflation figures

- if you want me to clean the car in between (not the regular morning wash) i need 500 bucks extra

- i will need a 15 day notice before you fire me or you will have to pay me for 15 days

- i will not do any errands

- i need a 2 hour lunch and nap break everyday

- this guy took the cake: after he realized that we have 2 AT cars and one MT in the family, said that he will charge more if he has to only drive the MT

Whilst some of these demands (like the 2 hour lunch + nap break) are a little frivolous, I personally feel drivers (and others) demanding basic ground rules is a good thing.

We have to remember that we are hiring them because we need them, and they have a certain skillset that we require. And we have to respect that. Many of these demands are no different from the ones we negotiate for when we take on a new work assignment. We narrow down our focus of work, ensure we are compensated for extra activities and want paid vacation.

A general comment: Many people seem to develop an air of superiority when they interact with drivers/maids/cooks. Try not to think of them as servants but as employees and build a relationship that is mutually beneficial.

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Some funny demands:

- need one month's pay in diwali as bonus compulsory ( diwali is just a couple of months away now)

Beat this: "I need half the pay while I am on bench during summer vacation."

[Hayek]

Am surprised at some of the things people find odd. I pay my driver for 13 months a year (including the diwali bonus) and he is entitled to a month's paid leave and to get his full salary even if his vacation does not coincide with mine. We don't vacation only when the boss is not around, so why would he? And at least where I live, the idea of the driver cleaning the car us unheard of.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by honeybee

The payment would most likely be based on instances. So if the driver turned up on time and drove me from home to office, he would be entitled for Rs. x, same goes for the return journey. At the end of the month, he will be paid the total entitlement he has accrued.

One more catch that i missed mentioning is, you need to tell him that he is not needed a day before, because when he is blocked with you, he wouldn't take the assignment from the agency. Hence that implies loss of money. For us this is a big pain but we are getting along with it for sometime as schools are going to close soon.

The talk about all the vacations the driver wants and 13 month pay, plus annual raise as per inflation figures, will only kill their need. Only the super rich will be able to afford them then. Soon some other drivers who are not choosy on these demands will start replacing them.

I am not against vacations, our maids get fully paid vacations and so should the driver, but there are some limits to that, like the same way we have in corporates. You get ~30 days of paid vacation (not continuously at the same time), and you can never ask for pay raise as per inflation. These days lot of us have to make do with raises lesser than inflation (or no raises).

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Am surprised at some of the things people find odd. I pay my driver for 13 months a year (including the diwali bonus) and he is entitled to a month's paid leave and to get his full salary even if his vacation does not coincide with mine. We don't vacation only when the boss is not around, so why would he? And at least where I live, the idea of the driver cleaning the car us unheard of.

After the driver completes a year of service, we all pay them a bonus. Not a full bonus in a couple of months since diwali is around the corner. THAT is odd.

Any company gives benefits to any employee after a min of 3months of work.

Where i live in south bombay, me and all my friends and relatives, their drivers keep the cars clean. The servants wash in the morning but when they are free, they do make sure that they wipe off any bird droppings, etc. Wonder why you haven't heard of this practice. In fact, it's a good practice.

[honeybee]

I am looking at something like daily wages basis, so vacations or even quitting the job in a day's notice won't bother me.

Heck, even if the driver quit in the middle of the drive to home/office, I can handle that!

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

After the driver completes a year of service, we all pay them a bonus. Not a full bonus in a couple of months since diwali is around the corner.

Any company gives benefits to any employee after a min of 3months of work.

Where i live in south bombay, me and all my friends and relatives, their drivers keep the cars clean.

In my building slightly to the North, car cleaning is the preserve of the car cleaners - a driver may occasionally clean up if the car get very dirty but that is certainly not part of his job. At any rate, get used to it - labour is going to get costlier, and the days of the loyal "Ramu Kaka" who gets paid a pittance and does everything you ask him to are over. As for Diwali, haven't you heard of sign on bonuses?

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Hayek

... labour is going to get costlier ...

Interesting. I have been reading in newspapers that the rural youth are taking to driving lessons as a means to get gainful employment. So that means in the near future you will see the supply of drivers rising. Even today the drought has made people leave their homes and reach the metros to earn a living, and if any of them happen to know driving, it's all the better!

As for the friendly 'Ramu Kaka', you almost sound like people who ask their drivers to keep the cars clean are exploiting them. Or are we heading towards the 'specialist' era, where cleaning a car too becomes a specialist service?

[carboy]

Originally Posted by honeybee

As for the friendly 'Ramu Kaka', you almost sound like people who ask their drivers to keep the cars clean are exploiting them.

No - it's not exploiting them as long as they have agreed to it beforehand.
Likewise, it's not strange if a driver thinks it's not part of his job - again as long as he has told you beforehand.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Or are we heading towards the 'specialist' era, where cleaning a car too becomes a specialist service?

Do you sweep under your desk and the area around it at work? Do you wash windows if your work desk is near or window or you are in a window office?

Or is cleaning considered a specialist service at your workplace?

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by Hayek

In my building slightly to the North, car cleaning is the preserve of the car cleaners - a driver may occasionally clean up if the car get very dirty but that is certainly not part of his job. At any rate, get used to it - labour is going to get costlier, and the days of the loyal "Ramu Kaka" who gets paid a pittance and does everything you ask him to are over. As for Diwali, haven't you heard of sign on bonuses?

Oh come on! Sign on bonus?! This is not your investment bank and nor am i hiring an MBA grad as a driver.

You guys are digressing too much from the topic. No one is saying that it's the drivers job to thoroughly clean the car every morning. But yes, it's expected that they do keep it clean if possible. And yes, one has to mention it to the driver that this needs to be done whilst hiring him. If a driver refuses, i won't hire him. If a person's job is to drive cars, he should take pride in keeping it clean, if he doesn't, then he's a no no in my book.

Carboy, your examples are not valid in this case. You cannot compare your job to your drivers job.

[Samurai]

The drivers in the apartment complex where I stay have formed a cartel, and are trying to fix a minimum of 12500/- for hiring a driver. Most of the time I see these drivers hanging out in the basement. Their job profile is such that they are sitting idle for 80% of their duty hours.

Other day my wife commented that the cooks and domestic maids do back breaking work and make far less than these drivers who sit around most of the time. That is kind of unfair, considering drivers don't really have any special skill. A maid can do 4 houses at max in 8 hours and won't make more than 8-10K. A driver doesn't put out 10% of their physical effort.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Carboy, your examples are not valid in this case. You cannot compare your job to your drivers job.

Why not?

Originally Posted by Samurai

Other day my wife commented that the cooks and domestic maids do back breaking work and make far less than these drivers who sit around most of the time. That is kind of unfair, considering drivers don't really have any special skill. A maid can do 4 houses at max in 8 hours and won't make more than 8-10K. A driver doesn't put out 10% of their physical effort.

Well, pay is very rarely proportional to the backbreakingness of the work. Otherwise the people doing manual labour would be the highest paid in the land. In general, it's always the opposite.

If the drivers didn't have a better skill than the maids, then the maids would have become drivers and earned more doing 10% of their current physical effort.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by carboy

Well, pay is very rarely proportional to the backbreakingness of the work. Otherwise the people doing manual labour would be the highest paid in the land. In general, it's always the opposite.

You are missing the point entirely. I didn't compare maids to a doctor or an engineer. Car driving is hardly skilled labour. As my regular taxi driver (owner driver) says, these days lots of villagers are taking a 10 day driving course and becoming Meru cab drivers instead of getting into construction work. Same happens in New York City, lots of unskilled immigrants take to driving cabs.

Originally Posted by carboy

If the drivers didn't have a better skill than the maids, then the maids would have become drivers and earned more doing 10% of their current physical effort.

In US I had noticed that domestic cleaning ladies made much more than drivers. I knew at least two domestic cleaners who used drive Mercedes (not pre-owned). And construction workers in US definitely make higher salary than car drivers.

[mustysekhon]

Would it help to visit the district "sainik welfare office" or get in touch with Resettlement office for armed forces. There are retired or per-mature retirement cases that could be hired and they struggle o find employment.

Even if one ones not get a trained driver, one old have them trained from a driving school. They are honourable men and it old be our small way of giving back to our soldiers.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Samurai

You are missing the point entirely. I didn't compare maids to a doctor or an engineer. Car driving is hardly skilled labour.

It's all relative. And pay doesn't depend only on skill. It depends on demand and supply. And skill is one of the things which is a factor in supply and demand.

Originally Posted by Samurai

As my regular taxi driver (owner driver) says, these days lots of villagers are taking a 10 day driving course and becoming Meru cab drivers instead of getting into construction work. Same happens in New York City, lots of unskilled immigrants take to driving cabs.

If enough of them do it to equal the no of maids, then probably their pay will equal that of maids. Considering they are paid more for job which takes less manual effort, it's quite obvious, not enough of them are doing it.
Also, it doesn't require a 10 day course to become a maid.

Originally Posted by Samurai

In US I had noticed that domestic cleaning ladies made much more than drivers. I knew at least two domestic cleaners who used drive Mercedes (not pre-owned). And construction workers in US definitely make higher salary than car drivers.

I am still missing the point.