I have tried this many different ways over the years. Hourly, salary, by the task.....
What works best for me is starting them at the very bottom. As most around here (SW Michigan) do not come in with many online industry skills. So they get 10-20 hours to start, and minimum wage.
I then bump up their pay, and hours, as they learn new skill sets. So once they can function with some of the daily tasks, doing them right, without me standing over them. Pay raise. Once they can do the next set of tasks without fuck ups, or supervision, pay raise. As they get more skills, they get more hours.
I have found that people need their 'rewards' for good work. Starting them at the top makes them lazy, and they are not getting the praise their little egos desire.
Where as I do it this way, and I have had better and more productive assistants since starting this in the past year. They are more hungry to learn more. More conscious of their mistakes, and quality of work. Just an all around better experience.
They are capped at $15.00 an hour. But get bonuses over the year.
