RATE CHANGE/CHANGE OF RATE

Last update: September 16, 2024

OBJECTIVE To make sure that the rate increase will be invoiced and paid accordingly. RC and client to be well educated of the rate increase process.

EFFECTIVITY  SEPTEMBER 1, 2024

I. If the client agreed to provide a rate increase for your RC, please confirm/do the following before creating a ticket:

• Ask the assigned Billing Specialist to identify a rough estimate of the new client hourly rate based on the agreed increase.
• Please note that the cutoff in requesting for rate change computation is always the last business day of the month strictly until 1PM PHT.

• Relay the new hourly rate to the client and set the expectation that rate increases will always take effect every 1st of the following month.
• Any rate increases converted to commission will always follow the reference rate starting October 2024

II. If everything is agreed, please add a note to the existing ticket containing your email trail with the client pertaining to the rate increase. Please see the details below as a reference.

CRE MUST

• Add a note on the existing ticket on Fresh Desk and edit the properties of the ticket accordingly.
  • Edit the Subject to: Rate Increase effective (Date eg. May 1, 2024) | (Remote Contractor's Full Name; same name showing on the portal)
  • CRE: (Your name)
  • Client name: (same name showing on the portal)
  • Type: Request
  • Department: Clients
  • Inhouse Ticket Type: Finance 
  • Concern: Remote Contractor Change Rate 
    
  • Status: In progress
  • Group: Service Group
  • Agent: (Choose the assigned Account Officer for this client)
  • Internal Group: Service Group
  • Internal Agent: (Payroll Officer - Monica)
  • Priority: Medium
  • Contractor Name: Type the RC's name
  • Tags: Rate increase
  • Add a 'NOTE' and a brief narrative/description of the request.
  • You can add additional notes, screenshots, attachments that is relevant to the case.TEMPLATE

FOR ACCOUNTS, PLEASE SEE THE DETAILS BELOW FROM THE RATE INCREASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CLIENT AND RC. THANKS!

CLIENT:

RC:

EFFECTIVE ON:

CLIENT APPROVED RATE INCREASE:

• Please add the following as ticket watchers:
  • Sr CRE
  • Annie from Accounts
  • Leigh from Payroll
  • Sha/Chique from GP (only if RC is enrolled to GP)
  • Ness from Tax Team (only if they are tax registered). You can check here if RC is registered.
• Copy and paste the FD link to the contract page on the portal v2.0 including information of the previous and current rate

TEMPLATE

RATE INCREASE GIVEN EFFECTIVE (DATE)

FD TICKET # - 

OLD RATE:

NEW RATE

III. Set a future date for when the agreed new rate is to take effect on portal v2.0 . As agreed with Accounts, it should be set on the portal within the same month from when the rate increase request was made [CUTOFF IS EVERY END OF THE MONTH]. To do this, kindly click on RATE >> Edit >> Type in the new Staff Salary or new Staff Hourly rate/Reference rate provided by Accounts/Client Monthly or Hourly Rate/COrrect margin>> Select the effectivity month on the 'Scheduled Date' field >> Save Changes. CRE should only update the 'Staff Salary'  field for now. The other fields will auto-compute as soon as both mentioned fields are filled in.

Kindly take a snippet of the rate change confirmation from the overview page as shown below and kindly paste it on the note section of the FD ticket you're created.

IV. Towards the end of the month, please make sure to monitor the accounts GC on Skype and the email update from Accounts regarding the successful rate Increases for the month making sure that the name of your remote contractor is there. (YOU CAN SET A TASK UNDER TO-DO ON THAT SAME TICKET VIA FD or ADD A CALENDAR REMINDER)

V. Following the effectivity date (as agreed this will always reflect the 1st of the following month), kindly send an addendum to the RC via Signwell using the HOURLY RATE template. Please input the following:

                    Independent Service Provider - RC's complete name and RS email address

                    Client Relations Executive - (Your name)

VI. (THIS IS AN OPTIONAL STEP) Following the effectivity date, kindly send a Confirmation letter to the client via Signwell using the RATE INCREASE CLIENT CONFIRMATION template. Please input the following:

                     Client - Client's complete name and business email address

                     Client Relations Executive - (Your name)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do you have to wait 1st of the following month for the rate increase to take effect?

 We bill for the remote contractor's rostered hours for the month in advance wherein we follow a forecasted reference rate to rectify the fluctuating actual market exchange rate. Thus, it will be too complicated and confusing to apply the rate increase in the middle of the month.

2. What if the client is persistent in applying the rate increase within that same month or backtrack the effectivity date?

If the client insists on backdating an increase, you can suggest that it can be credited as a one-off bonus to the staff. We will calculate the difference between the previous rate and the new rate and multiply it by the total worked hours of the staff from the backdate they prefer up to the end of the current month, and that amount will be invoiced to them and credited to the staff as a bonus. The new rate will then be invoiced the following month using the reference rate even if the amount will be invoiced as a bonus/commission.

CRE needs to create a separate ticket on FD for the commission. Please be as detailed as possible on your notes via the portal. CRE also needs to set a clear expectation for both RC and client why we have to convert the rate increase to one-off bonus/commission.

3. Instead of an increase, can a client decrease the rate of a remote contractor due to unsatisfactory performance? (ie. the actual output of the RC is not at par with what's on the CV and the client is willing to train them in the expense of decreasing the RC's rate)

As much as we don't highly recommend this arrangement due to the high risk of causing demotivation to the remote contractor, it will all depend on whether both parties would agree to this arrangement. It's a win-win in the sense that the remote contractor will be upskilled and the client is willing to invest on the RC. Recommended approach is not to deduct but just to put a percentage of the RC's pay on hold while training is ongoing and will be released as a lump sum once he/she surpasses the training period. As the CRE, you should set the training timeline and performance evaluation period clear to both parties.

If there is a reduction on task and both parties agreed to decrease the rate for a trade off (flexibility in hours), kindly send an email of this arrangement via FD. This will also serve as a ticket for this request. Please add this as a note on the contract thru portal v2.0 for future reference.

4. My client isn't sure what the typical rate increase percentage is in the market?

We don't performance manage the remote contractor, thus we will always ask the client to decide on the rate increase that they think their remote contractor deserves. There are also numerous factors affecting the market's rate increase trend. You may refer to this Market rate reference to aid your clients.

5. If I provide a rate increase, can you guarantee that everything will go to my remote contractor?

Our margin is fixed and it's based on the number of hours your remote contractor completes per week. This simply means that any rate increase you've granted for your remote contractor all goes to him/her because our margin is fixed based on your contract type.

5. What if there is a noticeable discrepancy on the auto-computed rate hourly rate or staff salary fields, what's the best thing to do?

Please create a separate ticket reporting the incident as a possible system bug. Kindly assign the ticket to IT/Operations (Group) and kindly leave the agent field as blank.