Employee question.

[danpauselius]

I have about 9 people total working for me now, 4 of which are full time now, the others are per diem. The problem I am having is that one guy is young and rather lazy (can't be left on a job alone because nothing will get accomplished) and the other 2 are hit and miss with showing up at a moments notice for water damage work. I've had to do a couple WDR jobs (including demolition) by myself because of this.

I do pay my guys very well, even for NY. But I am beginning to feel that I may have to clean house to find the type of people that I really need.

I'm rather new to the whole "Boss" thing. What have you guys who have employees done to find the "right" people.

 

[Steve Toburen]

You hit the nail on the head without knowing it in your post, Dan. I believe you used the phrase "hit or miss".

Ya gotta remember that everybody puts their best face on when they first meet the boss BEFORE they get the job. Why, I remember that night over ten years ago when Nick Paolella picked me up at O'Hare and took me out to dinner. I actually used my fork and didn't slurp the spaghetti!

I will say that nothing you personally do is more important than finding quality people to share your dream. The others? Cut them loose. The marginal flake zipper-heads of this world (to quote my old buddy Mack Clark) will spoil your good employees AND drag you down. What I call "managerial dilution". (Heck, I might have stolen that from Mack too.)

When you have the right people, business is just so easy AND fun. Bad people? An agony. Life is waaaaay too short to spend it working with losers. Business becomes a joy when you can look forward to each day working toward a common vision with quality individuals. (This is one reason I am still with Jon-Don after more than 10 years.)

How to find the "right people"? Get the odds on your side by doing in depth interviewing, background and reference checks, etc. But at the end of the day I am amazed how many of us put up with people that deep down inside we would not want working alone in our home with our wife ... and yet we inflict these losers on our unsuspecting clients. In other words, get the losers out of your life quickly and move on. "Hit or miss" ...

Oh, yes. treasure the good people in your company. The best way to show your appreciation? You guessed . By not forcing them to work with LOSERS!

Steve Toburen CR
Director of Training
Jon-Don's Strategies for Success

PS You know, I really do feel your pain, Dan ... and your frustration. I get so many e-mails from our SFS members whose growth is curtailed by their inability to find quality people. The fact of the matter is most good employees (not all) already have a job and a career and aren't looking for a new one. Good hunting. (Dan, review the procedures in your SFS Operations Manual under Fast Track Training.)

Note: For anyone out there who is not a SFS member just write me at stoburen@homefrontsuccess.com and I will e-mail you a procedure called "Fast Track Training" and another one called "Employee Orientation". Both topics are essential if you are not going to allow yourself to be "held hostage" by loser employees!

PPS Dan, if you are having trouble having your people show up at a "moments notice" do you have a rotating weekly "on-call" technician that is paid a bonus just for being available? We had the same problem but then realized our employees deserved to have true time off. So we started up the On-call arrangement and the problem went away. Check your Ops Manual under "Water Damage Restoration" for all the SFS On-Call procedures.

 

[danpauselius]

Steve, that is probably the problem. I don't have on-call duty. Everybody is on-call ... all the time ... even me. Apparently, that needs to change right now.

When I first mentioned the opening and what it entailed (how much they get paid) everybody was ready to work yesterday. Now that they see the hours, some of the excitement is gone. A couple of weeks ago, one of my guys made over $2000 for the week. Of course, I worked him like a used mule.

The real problem is that my 2 best guys do landscaping side jobs where they make some pretty serious beer money. I can't necessarily blame them for wanting to make more money but I NEED reliability. When these guys are on a job, everything gets done right and ahead of schedule. They are animals, that's why the 18 year old kid usually works with one of them. I'm hoping it will rub off a bit. But reliability is more important to me than the speed at which they work.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Dan, WE COVERED THE ON-CALL CONCEPT IN CLASS! Where were you??

Here's something it took me years to learn. Even the best employee will never be ... YOU. They aren't the owner and it sounds like you are expecting them to work like one.

Steve

PS And yes, even you need "true time off". Run, don't walk, to your SFS Ops Manual. Implement the On-Call arrangement just like we have it written there with great fanfare- and I think you will find morale will soar! (I would probably bump up the amount of the weekly On-call bonus. Inflation and all. Gotta make it worth their while.)

 

[Dolly Llama]

STEVE hit the nail on the head.
I don't at all disagree with anything he said, but here's the rub
(and the "nail head" I'm suggesting he hit;

" The fact of the matter is most good employees (not all) already have a job and a career and aren't looking for a new one."

I "drafted" ShaneTodd right of high school in '01.

I had known him for years, knew he wasn't going to college and knew his work ethic and honesty.
I STOLE Cody from a roofer 3 years ago, cause I knew his work ethic, attention to detail and honesty.
I take good care of Cody and Shane.
They're my most valuable assets.
I wouldn't be "semi-retired" without them

I've been through a dozen loosers and marginal peeps as well.

If you find a good man, treat them like gold.
Cause a good man will literally return his weight in gold to your bottom like.

They're not "chimps", bucket monkeys, hose slingers, or gofers.
They're a valuable and integral part of your "team".

Just a simple mindset I developed when introducing the little genies...
You'll never hear me say they work "for" me.
I say they work "with" me

..L.T.A.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

This may sound cruel, but here goes:
Never hire unemployed people!

No exceptions.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Hey Lee,

I think it was Jeff Bishop who almost thirty years shared with me two seminal statements, "Most people who are out of a job are unemployed for a very good reason" and "Steve, you are not the United Way." Every time I have ignored those principles I have lost big time. (Wow. Mack Clark and now Jeff Bishop quotes in one thread. At least I TRY and attribute stuff I borrow. Not everyone is so honest ...)

Employees will always be your biggest challenge AND your greatest joy. However, especially until your business achieves what I call "critical mass" (which is where the departure of any ONE employee will not cause angina and early hair loss on your part) the emphasis will be on that word "challenge".

Steve

PS I couldn't agree more on the need to "draft" or even recruit good people that are a good "fit" for your company. I know some of our
SFS members even pay their employees a "bounty" when they recommend a friend that makes it past his or her probationary period.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

My best hand is leaving the country next week, and will likely move by midsummer. It will be impossible to fill his size 16 shoes, and I don't really have time on short notice to get another one the way I got him, so... two of my other sons will have to step up to the plate. We'll see.

 

[Bob Foster]

I want to got to SFS so bad but still paying off my fk'n blower repair.

 

[Tony Neville]

This is our biggest problem!! We have the work and the equipment to do more but not the people. We are always looking for help! Has anyone else noticed that it is better to find guys with no experience in cc, Then people who have done it before? Seems like you just spend more time trying to change bad habits.

Tony

 

[steve r]

i think everyone is correct to a degree but what i read is the good guys are being drug down.when even one guy gets away with something others feel they should get special privelages too,who could blame them.you have have guidelines and stick to them for everyone ,its contagious.one guy sleeps when others work so those working feel they deserve time off,so on and so on.