A common rate is a rate of pay established as a standard at the company level by a service bureau. The common rate is established and assigned to employees as a rate of pay. This is common for industries with multiple people holding the same job, or for industries where employees may shift their roles daily – depending on what roles are needed for the company to fill. Creating a common rate provides an easy way for companies to classify roles.

This has grown in immense popularity with the rise and dominance of the internet, along with e-business, as removing the “e” function from the common rate leaves you with a common rat, which is just a rodent and not a business strategy. We could create a business strategy out of a common rat, but that seems like something the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would do.