how do I get employees ready for more responsability

[juniorc82]

I have grown from an owner op, to an owner op with 2 part time employees with full time hours soon aproaching. I have tried every way I know how to motivate my help and try to get them up to speed to do more tasks on their own ( right now they can do some commercial and some rentals on their own). They arent bad enough to let go but they should have made much more progress than what they have (one has been with me for 2 years and the younger one for a year). For example Im tired of tools getting left on the jobsite if Im not there to remind them to get everything, tired of the dumb questions they should know after a year, and Im tired of all the problems being deemed "my fault because you didnt tell me", comon do I really need to tell a 25 hour a week 1 year helper a vacuum needs to stay on the truck and get the dirty rags off! I would have figured he first 200 times I told him would have been sufficient. I know lisa and ken will probly deem me a piece of shit like they did to ace for venting employee issues, but I really am wondering if being an owner op is the better choice. Every time I try and take my hands off the wheel my help proves they arent up to the challenge. how do I begin to sort this out and structure my business so one day I will finaly have a workforce and can take a sick day without losing my mind? I gotta be honest, figuring out how to get decent employess who can go take care of business has been the biggest challenge I have faced when it comes to my company. How did you guys get over this hump?

 

[Goomer]

Only 25 hours a week for a year?
Is that his only job?

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm sure the smart biz owners will offer some great suggestions on this.
Like maybe an employee handbook with clearly defined responsibilities.
or maybe weekly staff meetings to set and track goals

or maybe just plain putting a great foot i their azz



I'm curious, are you able to pay them a "livable" wage ??
if not...good luck "keeping" a good man ..if you're able to find one


..l.T.A.

 

[juniorc82]

To answer both questions . Yes I pay them a decent wage for part time work. They both have other jobs, one is a full time custodian for a local college and the other mows grass pt. I say that 25hoursi a week is an average some weeks have alot more work than others. I have been burned by help so many times I thought going with a couple part time people was easier than putting all my faith into a full time person. Plus I use a local staffing agency to do payroll that way I dont have to mess with withholding tax ,work comp and so on, the temp agencys fee covers all that. I also like paying them through the temp service because I am not responsable for unemployment benefits .

 

[asupremeclean]

Any temp agency worker is NEVER worth anything you payem! at least in my experience. For me the best help ive gotten were college students in the summer mos. Real go-getters. I do have 1 fulltime guy whom I pay way too much IMO however he is great with custys and they love him. Which makes it hard NOT to pay him too much.
I believe ALL employees will never be able to live up to my / your standards as owners but I agree w MEat about a good "system" for training and 1 meeting a week.

If you have to tell someone something 200 + times the same thing. DONT hire that guy FT. If he wonders why he never gets a raise you just keep telling him the same thing 200+ times. "Because you forget shit everywhere and also forget what I tell you"

Hope this helps

 

[joeynbgky]

Why pay a temp service 15 bucks and hour and they pay them minimum wage? Your employees don't have motivation, there not even really your employees. Do u buy them lunch? Or drinks when u stop? Give them nice equipment and tools and take care of them. If there working through the temp agency, there not making squat. You have to know how to talk and treat them. How often do u praise them? If u have told someone 299 times how to do the same thing, then its your fault not theres

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[FLYERMAN]

I heard some great advice years ago and now I pass it on to you...

If they were as good as you they'd have your job!

With that said the best thing I ever did back when I tried what you're trying is the almighty check list. Easy enough to draw up and there's no deniability. Either they filled it out and all the tools were on the truck or they didn't and they have to go back on their dime. Then they will know if they have the vac and other tools before they leave the shop or the home.

As for telling them a couple hundred times I would reword it to something like this... Write your question at the top of a page <-- you're saying this to him. Now write my answer down. Once he asks that question again tell him you already answered that and he'll stop coming to you for answers he already has.

As for motivating them make sure you never make it a competition. Make it a win-win. Here's what I mean. Say you have a reward for who has the highest upsells this week. Or the cleanest van or the most times on time to work. You get the idea. But what happens is the guy that sees he can't win gives up and his moral goes to pot (sometimes literally). So what you do is tell them that everyone that hits a certain goal this week gets movie tickets or seats to a concert etc. So tell mister leave behind guy if he goes a week without leaving something behind he gets __________ <-(insert what motivates him).

Now when it's time sit down and have a "MY Way or The Highway" meeting.

But always remember if they were as good as you they'd have your job. Not literally but really if they were all that and a bag of chips would they still work where they do and for what they are paid?

 

[Al]

I feel your pain!

Meat mentioned weekly meetings, meetings keep everyone on the same page, I know you only have a couple of guy's but you should hold meetings, maybe they have some good ideas for your company.

We have at least 3 meetings per week and i only have 3 full time employee's.
They can do everything without me but If I don't keep them in line they will slack off. Their human

You need a company hand book and a system to evaluate your employee's progress and a warning system for problems like forgetting tools, being late, not shaving basically not following the hand book.


I have stepped away from the business, so I may change it to daily meetings, it's running on it's own now and I'm living my dream with my new fishing business. shiteatinggrin

 

[juniorc82]

Now dont take this temp agency thing too far. I picked my own people and mearly use the temp place as a payroll and drug testing service. these people dont feel like temp workers .

 

[Ken Snow]

Lots of good advice here- I have found it is never the employee ~ it is the man in the mirror (gender specific cause it is me).

Either I didn't make my expectations clear, make the training fast & easy to comprehend (this is just carpet cleaning) or I kept a nincompoop around too long.

I have a feeling yours may be some of all 3, like mine often are, but mostly the last one. As a carpet clenaing trainee/assistant/helpter etc.. by the end of the first day it is usually pretty obvious if they will cut it. Giving a marginal person a week to get their shit together would be generous in my opinion and it sounds like these guys have been around 700+ days too long.

Ken
Ps I don't think you or Mike are a piece of shit, just human and maybe not looking in the mirror and making those tough choices.

Pps I would get away from the temp agencies, notorious for having people unemployable in the real work world. Pay someone $12-20 an hour (depending on your cost of living), or even better commission and demand a superstar. Proving them ahelath benefits will also raise your caliber of prospects.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Either I didn't make my expectations clear, make the training fast & easy to comprehend (this is just carpet cleaning) or I kept a nincompoop around too long.

Ken nailed it there. I'd have to say it's all within that sentence.

I would speak with them individually, let them know of your disappointment. Figure out what it is going to take to get them on board. Maybe they need an incentive to make them take it to another level.

Most of the time it's motivation that is lacking, they need something to work for a reason to improve.

It doesn't have to be pay, (although possibly it could be it could be) a dinner or a bonus if you go a month, week a day without damaging or losing something.

I'd also make it hard for them to fail, look at what is causing you the grief and how it can be fixed. The fix it so at least that problem doesn't repeat it self. (End of job load list, etc.)

If it is the employee you need to get them on their way and get started with the new guy. You can do a lot with a tech as far as training, but you can't fix stupid. Those decisions need to be made early on, if they can't retain what you're telling them and you spoken with them a couple of times its time to cut them lose. Don't waste time and money training the un trainable.

You'll feel a lot better not having to deal with someone that is just not capable of helping you.

It is a challenge and will be an on going issue with these or any employees but you do get over the hump. Eventually you find and train a few that are good or even great and life does get easier.

Hang in there! 8)

 

[joe harper]

cHinEEzE pRoVerB: "You ORDER shit."........"You EAT shit."

NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD CLEAN CARPETS ..."By the HOUR"... :roll:


PUT THEM ON PERCENTAGE..... :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

"Eat What You Kill..!!!!"

They will either .....STarvE..?
Or they will learn to HUNT....!

 

[Brian H]

One of the toughest things I have done was to terminate a marginal employee.

One of the best things I have done is get rid of marginal employees.

I have agonized and procrastinated over getting rid of low performers. I have tried to kid myself that they are worth saving. It's hard telling someone that they are fired, especially if it's because they are just marginal. The truth is once I got up the guts to let that person go, it was such a relief to not have them working for me and I instantly felt better.

I have never once regretted terminating an employee that wasn't cutting it. Everytime I have done it, I have replaced them with someone better!!

 

[Ken Snow]

Well said Brian!

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[Desk Jockey]

We use to have the problem of not communicating poor job performance with the tech's in question.

We would have a meeting about the individual in question and discuss firing if they did not improve. Then speak with the individual only to find out they were surprised that things had gotten that far. No one from the crew leader to the supervisor had ever told them they were doing poorly. :shock:

So to prevent the ambush we made every meeting concerning job performance formal. It has to be written, date noted and what was discussed, what needs to be improved.

This establishes a paper trail and no one is surprised when they are let go. They've also have had every opportunity to improve and if they did not, they fired themselves more than anyone.

 

[Burtz]

Why pay a temp service 15 bucks and hour and they pay them minimum wage?

wow king money bags joey upchuck

 

[joeynbgky]

Im saying u pay the temp agency 15 an hour and in return the agency might pay the worker 7.50

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[Desk Jockey]

I have two temps helping the girls with Fire Contents. I'm paying $13.55 for them and they are paid $9.00.

So for $15.00 they would be making $10.50.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

I don't know how they do it profitably but a large national temp service charges us $14.35 and pays $10hr. They've been pretty good as far as temps go. The trick is to be brutally honest and upfront about the class of person your gonna deal with. Find a rep that will tolerate you being tough and not waste your time and theirs. Usually when we use temps we are getting 4-12 people for 1-3 days on pretty short notice. 40% of them try to impress you enough to hire them on, 30% just do pretty good, 20% do just enough, and 10% aren't worth having back again.

 

[GCP]

treat them the way you'd want to be treated if you were working your way up as they are, and remember where you started @. so that way your always walking in there shoe's as we'll as your own.

 

[Hoody]

Its nice to see how some folks here actually "get it".