| I'm a industrial engineer and have worked at 4 factories and am familiar with far more. I don't know of a single company where production employees are paid salary. I talked with a production employee about it when starting my current job. They said "man I could never work a salaried job. I'd get so frustrated with it". There are pros and cons to the typical US salary structure. * If the company gets too aggressive in the expectation of hours worked, people just leave since they're not getting overtime pay. * I also have flexibility to start/end my day when I want within reason * I never have to take time off for doctors visits * I don't have a micro manager for a boss, so if I work 35 hours one week and 45 the next, nobody cares. In the US, hourly employees get at least 1.5x pay for working beyond 40 hours. It's often cheaper to pay for overtime than expand the workforce, so some companies hand out OT like candy at a parade. An employee can double their pay by working 66 hours compared to just 40. There are often also shift differentials. They might be a couple extra dollars/hour for nights and a couple extra for weekends. Most salaried employees are "salary exempt" and are typically not paid overtime. |