WorkingHours Version: 2.8.14
macOS Version: 12.4
I would love to see a tag type that adjust the hourly rate for a task, with options for all the normally-supported operators (+, -, *, /, =), as well as a "variable" operator.
Where I see this being useful is when modeling your time tracking with the tasks being like "projects", as well as in situations where, likely as a freelancer, the job you are performing might not be able to pay the same rate depending on the company you are working with. Another way it could be useful might be with tracking overtime, as one could simply create an "Overtime" tag with a 1.5x multiplier so that it applies that operation to the hourly rate for that work unit*.
In the first scenario, the idea would be if you are working on the same project across a larger timespan, and at different points in the project you might be performing different tasks. As someone who works on live productions, there could be one day where I am simply a hand performing simple labor, but then later on in the life of the same production, I could be operating the audio console, which pays a different rate. In this case, the show that I'm working on is the "task", and then tacking on an "Adjust Hourly Rate" tag would allow me to set "Hand: $30/hour" on a work unit, then later put a different tag on a different work unit for "Head Audio: $35/hour" without having to create multiple, semi-duplicate tasks for each role I might hold on a production.
The second scenario is even more widely useful for the freelance community, since I'm sure that there are times throughout our careers where we need to negotiate different pay rates depending on the scope of the project or the size of the company we're working with. The best example I can think of here is someone doing some editing for publications. If they're doing some freelance editing for The New York Times, their hourly rate might be higher because of the scale of the publication and the fact that NYT can afford it. However, if they then do some editing for a local newspaper on the side, the rate might be lower. The idea here is that the task is still "Article Editing", but the only differences would be the hourly rates between the contracts. Rather than having two separate "Editing" tasks, it might be simpler to have a tag for each company, and make the type of tag into an "Adjust hourly rate" with either an = or "variable" (in case they negotiate a better rate down the line).
Hopefully you, Timo, and others see the utility in such a feature. I think it would help clean up a lot of the Tasks section for those of us doing freelance for a lot of companies in an ever-changing economy.
Either way, I'm going to keep using WorkingHours because it is just so good!
-Brian
*While I know there is functionality for tracking normal working hours versus overtime, I have yet to mess with any of it because it seems more complicated than I was willing to wrap my head around at the time. But I'm guessing it's just as well-considered as the rest of the design of this app.
