What's a decent hourly rate for a receptionist?

I work 37.5 hours a week as a part-time receptionist for a publishing company. I also do photoshoping for many of their publications as well as page layout. This means that while I'm at the front desk I'm not just answering phones and sending packages; I'm also doubling as a member of our design team. I started out as an art intern here a year ago and was later hired to come in a few days a week to do design work for minimum wage. When their old receptionist quit they hired me and another hourly employee to start working M-F 8:30-5. We take turns manning the front desk, but are kept busy with shipping and other art tasks when we aren't the one who sits out front. Anyway, we're both still making minimum wage and are 'part-time' employees. Does this seem like fair compensation? Our branch of the company has about 30 employees, but overall there are 3 offices throughout the US. We publish 7 monthly magazines which have circulations up to 70,000.

It's worth noting that I still have another year of school left. However, we (me and the other employee who shares reception duties with me) have agreed to still work for the company as receptionists when the school year starts and have planned our classes so that one of us will always be here at the office; our hours then will average about 20. This is really doing the company a big favor as it saves them from having to hire an actual salaried receptionist. However, it does explain why we have not been considered fulltime.

The Federal Minimum wage us not $7.50 an hour it will only be $5.85 per hour (starting July 24th). I see that the minimum wage for Illinois is that starting July 1st of this year.

Sounds like you do have a lot of duties, and maybe you should talk to your boss about a raise in pay. It might be that your boss does not know what you make per hour, or they may not realize you haven't had a raise recently. Sit down with them and have a sincere talk with them about it.

minimum wage is unacceptable for your position. i dont know what the minimum in your state is, but say it's 6.00. they are essentiall paying you and the other employee a total of 12.00 per hour.

this saves them from hiring and training someone else and paying just them 12.00 per hour (which by the way is about how much you should make...give or take a few dollars).

It really depends what city you're in. But the average rate to start for a receptionist is about $8 and up depending on experience (here in San Antonio at least). I was a receptionist for about a year and was making over $10 an hour.

Good luck, and hope that helps.

Well sometimes people have to pay their dues to get their some experience under their belt. I started in the same manner as you. I used to do the same amount of part time however I recieved $15/hr. My duties were exactly like yours which is to answer phones, make cold calls and do photoshop. After around 3 months they hired me full time to a starting salary of $35,000 which is about $17/hr which comes with four times the workload/duties. Even if I stayed part-time I would have made more on overtime along. Now I wouldn't have taken a job of such a low pay but I needed the health insurance because of a condition I have.

The point of my little story is this what do you find more important in you having the job? The pay? The experience? The benefits? In my opinion they are underpaying by a lot for your duties but they might be that first step that everyone has to suffer to start.