LAST week, I wrote about ekonomista’s adventure as an Ingliserong guro.
The first two weeks in my new job were really fun, albeit the relatively slow entry of regular students.
I enjoyed the company of my new workmates even though most of my classes were substitution or make-up classes.
The pay rate is based on every 10 minutes of successful classes conducted. Therefore, if classes were cancelled, calls were not answered or postponed, I won’t get paid.
Pay is actually based on output, rather than attendance. This is technically called piece rate. The more classes I conduct, the more I am paid.
However, after two weeks, the honeymoon period is over. I was assigned very few students, whether these are regular classes or substitution. Many classes were postponed, canceled or students were absent.
I spent more time shirking than actually conducting classes.
This means that if any of these happens, I will not earn anything. What’s worse is that I spend more than I earn.
In Economics, costs may be explicit or implicit. So when I talk about expenses (or spending), I do not only pertain to actual money or cash out. It also includes costs that do not require actual money from my pocket or from anyone’s for that matter.
Explicit costs include transportation costs, meals, and overhead. We are given transportation allowance, therefore it is an actual cost of the company. Sadly, even if I don’t conduct classes, I still receive this allowance. Therefore, it is an actual loss of the company when I do not have any output.
Most of the time, I bring a packed meal, but if I don’t, I either buy from a workmate or a nearby convenience store.
Either way, it still entails costs on my part.
For overheads, this actually does not cost me anything, but these are costs incurred by the company. These includes electricity, water, internet, office supplies, etc. These are minimal costs, but when one looks at these costs carefully, the average overhead cost I personally incur daily would actually be a huge cost.
The average explicit cost I incur may be more or less P175 daily. With this alone, I would receive minimal daily income ranging from P50-150/day.
On the other hand, implicit costs are costs that are imputed; also called opportunity cost. This is the benefit of the next best alternative that was forgone for choosing one option.
For choosing to report to the office, I was not able to devote time to do some work for our baked product (ad)venture and/or able to watch my favorite series, The Good Doctor.
For our baked product venture, two to three hours of work done would produce bread or pastry ending with decent profits/income.
The idle time I spend in the office not conducting classes may have been used for other more income-generating activities or for me to catch up with the US drama series episodes.
Another concept in Economics is the leisure-labor trade-off.
This concept explains that one day, that is, 24 hours, may be used only for leisure and for labor. Time for labor is the time used for income-generating activities, while the time for leisure is for the time devoted otherwise. It is noteworthy that both leisure and labor are equally important.
Household work like chores and the like are still considered under labor, again because of opportunity cost. The time devoted to these chores could have been used for other income-generating activities. That is the reason why Economics considers being a housewife a job that generates income.
Leisure, on the other hand, is essentially invaluable. It is something that is needed by everyone. This is the time that should be used for self-maintenance and sleep. Maybe that’s why the ideal ratio of labor vs. leisure is 1:2; meaning, for 1 day, 8 hours is for labor while 16 hours is for leisure.
For my case in my new job receiving a wage based on a piece-rate, this may be considered as a grey area. Having idle time while in the office is not productive and cannot be used to rest or relax. Therefore, there is a high opportunity (or implicit) cost for having this idle time.
Overall, there is a very high cost (explicit and implicit) spent when there is idle time. This may be the origin of the adage, time is gold.
Although I have a master’s degree in business administration (focused on Human Resource Management) and soon, a Ph.D. in Management (specialization: Organizational Development) and consulted for a number of government and non-government organizations in the past, I am still new in the field of ESL, so I am still learning the ropes. I am open to new learnings and knowledge, and I appreciate those who support me while I am still new.
Having a wider perspective on organizations, particularly on the aspects of operations and HR, I understand fully that in organizations, no one is indispensable, but I have to emphasize that everyone is valuable. Nonetheless, I fully understand why I have all this idle time, and I am not complaining. I am even thankful. I have to be patient while I build up my fold of students, which may take some time.
While it is true that time is gold, it is more important that patience is a virtue.
Since time is gold, for those who would like to maximize their time and/or are looking for a job. A U.S.-based financial services company is looking to hire 2000 CSRs who will work from home. It’s a great opportunity for fresh grads without experience and for those who would like to change careers.
There are also opportunities for higher positions like QA, TL, Escalation Managers, and Sr. Escalation Managers. Send your CV to jpbvillanueva@gmail.com.