Is Charging Extra for Urgent Work Justified?

Is Charging Extra for Urgent Work Justified Being a translator, you are often faced with situations where clients will ask you to take up urgent jobs. This will very often put your schedule in a haywire status and make you burn the midnight oil and put in extra efforts to get the work accomplished. So, when such a situation arises and makes you go through so much hardship, is it justified for you to be charging more than your usual rates to take up such jobs? First and foremost, you need to decide on whether or not you have to take up such jobs. If it is upsetting your schedule too much it is better to refuse than to compromise on your other obligations in accomplishing this job. This scenario is applicable if you are asked to work on holidays and weekends, days when you generally do not take up any work. But, if you agree on taking up the job and would like to charge more than your usual rates, tell the client specifically that it is going to cost so much extra to get the job done.It is better to clarify on the matter beforehand rather than trying to approach it after the job is completed. This will ensure that your demands are either met or if the client is not agreeable will search for other options. This is better than trying to sort things later as it may sour relationships for future projects. Now that you have decided on charging extra for completing work urgently, the question arises as to how much is the additional amount that needs to be paid. Although perceptions vary from individual to individual, experts have a general opinion that it needs to be around 20-50% extra than usual translation rates. Of course, there is no industrial norm about this and this is totally left to the options of the particular individual who can decide depending on the kind of time and effort that is needed to complete the work.