Integrators: Do You Pay Techs To Wash Take-Home Vehicles?

Everyone is expected to have a commute to work. From home to office shouldn't be paid. If your employee chooses to live an hour away, he/she accepted that commute when they applied for the job. If theres a job site outside of your typical area, and they need to add more than an hour to their typical work day to get to the site, i think compensation is fair, which you should first build into the cost to the customer.  

We have found that a cost effective yearly membership at a no frills drive through car wash has kept us pretty clean and it didn't break the bank. The most our guys should spend at the location is 15 minutes and it can be done on the way to or back from a job site, even during a quick run to grab lunch. The cost of a yearly membership was just a few labor hours. You may not have a local spot where this would work, but this method surely beats the hose, bucket, and shammy in the driveway on a Saturday afternoon route when theres obviously a million other enjoyable things to do on your time off. If this doesn't work, tell your guys that if they want the luxury of a company van, you gotta keep it clean, plain and simple. And in return, you take it in for detail once or twice a year. Just my two cents =)

For contract jobs we don't pay our installers any travel to the job site within a 40 mile radius of our office. For jobs 40 miles up to 125 miles we pay them travel one way only.  Anything beyond 125 miles we pay full travel both ways and usually end up staying overnight anyways for multi day projects. We find this policy is a fair compromise, yet allows us to be competitive in a much broader area, allowing us to get more work. (would a tech rather not be paid travel just one way and work all day, or sit at home because there is no work?)

For service calls our techs are paid from the time they leave the shop to the time they get back. These costs are billable to the customer.

As far as washing the truck goes....any tech that has a company truck is allowed to take it home, and use it for reasonable personal use, evenings and weekends (running errands, driving the kids to soccer etc....), so our expectation is that they would wash it on their own time and expense every so often, and every so often I expect to see a timesheet and expense reimbursement for the same.

Our policies might not be perfect, however, we think they are at least "fair" to all.

Sorry this may not be a complete answer to your question.

If he picks up any material and transports it, he's on the clock. If he uses the van in the morning to come to the shop he's not necessarily on the clock yet, but if he's en route and you call him, his time starts for the day. Same goes for email and text if you require a response, granted those things shouldn't be done while driving. 

As for washing the company vehicle, that is on-the-clock time in my opinion. 

Also, this is one of those gray areas that depends on what state you're in along with other factors, but employees using their personal vehicles for business can have some tricky legal ramifications when it comes to insurance. In some states, the employer can be held liable for any injuries incurred by employees using their personal vehicles while on business. If an employee runs a red light and kills someone while they're working for you, you could be the one liable for it. Again, this depends on a lot of factors. Just something to be aware of.

If he's driving somewhere at your request, you should pay him for it.  Commute to the office isn't paid.  If it's a 5 minute commute to the office, and an 60 minute drive to the customer, you owe him for 55 minutes.  If he's washing your van, you should also pay for it. Either pay him for the time and reimburse him for the expense, or give him a $50 a month "car wash per diem", with a company policy that the van must be washed once every two weeks, or more often as needed.

Personally, if my employer expected me to drive all over town for free and then wash his van on the weekend, I'd be looking for another job. 

So you feel that driving from home to a job site is paid time, yet home to an office isn't? 

I don't think labor law cover commutes to either home, or job site do they?

My first job was unionized, so our contract stated we were to be at the first job, or at the office for 08:30, and use up to 30 minutes of personal time to get there in the company vehicle. Anything beyond 30 minutes was paid time. Basically it meant leave your house at 08:00. Same with going home, done at 17:00 (unless something happened and you're in OT) and if you're home later than 17:30, you get that extra time above the 30 minutes.

When I left there and started at another company, it was just expected to be at the first job or at the office for 08:00. Obviously if I was getting sent two hours out of town, that expectation was no longer there. We were not allowed any personal use of the van, so washing had to be done during the shift, because I wasn't getting paid while driving the van, then it was person time. Previous company was the same way, no personal use of the vehicle, so washing was to be done during business hours. Company gas card worked for some car washes.

Sometimes it was a pain, company obviously preferred we just worked all the time, but would then complain when the vans got too dirty.

I may have a bias because I am a tech, and my previous situations I was not allowed to wash company vehicles off the clock, but the van is yours (your company), if you don't want to pay your tech to wash the truck, then make them leave it at the office and you wash it. I mean really it shouldn't be taking that much time anyway, get gas and wash the van. I don't wash my own truck very often, I sure as heck wouldn't spend my own time and money to wash a company one regularly.

In the end, you get what you pay for.

If the vehicle is marked with Company info, it is basically a rolling bill board. Also the driver must drive differently then they might in their own or unmarked vehicle, so they should be on the clock, because you are asking them to behave a certain way, so if they comply, they are following your orders. 

If I follow your orders and your not paying me, what does that make me?

When I worked for a company, I was given a van after some time, and I took it home. It was a rough time period, and I was able to let one of my kids drive my old car. It saved me insurance, fuel, a car payment, etc. I appreciated the hell out of that van and took pride in it. I made sure to wash it every week or two. That van saved me 10K a year plus.

If I could leave the van at the office, I would. Just not comfortable about leaving it in the parking lot at our office. But if I save 30-60 minutes of a techs pay every day, that savings adds up pretty quickly and would cover any broken windows or missing tools.

I told the tech my biggest pet peeve was keeping the van clean, 3 weeks later it has not been washed once.

Recent turn of events raises a new question. He got rear ended the other day. So what happens if a tech gets in an accident, while off the clock, in a company vehicle?

1. You get a car, you don’t get paid for a commute to the office or site. If a job site is outside a city, your work time starts at a city limit.

2. You use your own car for a daily commute. You get paid for your 8-4:30 shift.

3. Service call get paid from receiving a call/email to getting home (closing laptop lit) after finishing it.

It's those types of splitting hairs that cause turnover.  Not only is it against labor laws, but will have employees looking for employers who don't will compensate them fairly.

If you have employees using their personal vehicle, they should be covered by company insurance and compensated with some sort of a car allowance.  If they get in a car accident on the clock (in their vehicle or yours) they will have to be covered under company insurance or you could be liable. 

We incorporate time to site with no problem whatsoever, and would do so whether a team of 4 or 30.  If we are asking an employee to travel somewhere and do work, we must of course pay them.  Getting to the office is a different matter, we don't have to tell them to do that. Traveling to and from the office is something hardly anyone is compensated for, unless it is negotiated before hire.  Anything over 125 miles we pay for their hotel, travel time and per-diem.

We pay our employees for their efforts (no matter what they are/training/down time/cleaning).  Any employee would reasonably expect to be compensated for their work, whether they take home a truck or not. It's a job, if your boss asks you to do something, you expect to be paid for it.

Having a subscription to a car washing service is well worth it, we just ask our employees to un-clutter vehicles once a week on the clock..not actually wash the vehicle.

Not every employee views company benefits in the same way.  I know one employee who doesn't want to take home a company vehicle.  Some techs feel like once they have one, they have extra responsibility...after hour calls, etc.  It is common in this market to have a take home vehicle, and it is the company responsibility to keep it maintained.  

Depending on your state, since the vehicle is owned by the company, any work done to the vehicle; maintenance or car wash should be on the clock.