Employees

[Chuck Melton]

It's a really tough thing knowing who is worth developing and who you need to let go quickly. I've had to fire 3 people in the last 18 months and two of them I let linger far too long while giving them third and fourth chances. This had a huge impact on my bottom line, easily six figures over that time frame,

Fast forward to the present day, my team is rocking. Even the guy we are bringing along is getting more work done of a higher quality than the malingerers. Go to great lengths to hire the right people and the first time you think someone isn't cut out for the job, you are probably right.

[Beechwood Chip]

Fast forward to the present day, my team is rocking. Even the guy we are bringing along is getting more work done of a higher quality than the malingerers. Go to great lengths to hire the right people and the first time you think someone isn't cut out for the job, you are probably right.

 

Been there, done that.  Having a good team is a great feeling.

 

What I've found is that I don't have to hire a great worker; I just need to hire someone who's trainable.  Then, I have to make training that person my top priority for the first three months.  I've never had a problem when I've done that, and I have had problems when I was "busy" during that introductory period.

 

I really like "One Minute Manager".  (Also works on kids and spouses, by the way.)

[servant74]

The Holy Grail seems to be to hire someone that is a Master Skills with a Novice price tag.  But reality sets in and we must hire people and develop them into the workers we need.  Even 'experienced hires' seem to need a training period (just not as long as novice) to become productive enough to pay for themselves let alone profit from their labors.  

 

One problem with hiring others is it is hard to remove an employee especially if they are in a 'protected class' or if you are not in a right to work state.  

 

Keeping good employees working is 'cheap'. poor employees are expensive even if they work for 'free'.

 

I agree with some others that automating (CNC etc) is a great way to keep from needing to acquire 'to many' employees, but unless you can run it all yourself at production levels, some employees are inevitable.  This is why some shops stay small, on purpose.  I have heard of areas where competitors will sub-contract to competitors when there is more business than can be handled.  If the competitors are civil and work together, this can be a way to keep everyone busy and shops small. 

 

It would be nice to hear how 'Dumb and Dumber' are doing now.  I hope they are becoming more than they were.  

[Rick A McQuay]

It is not difficult to fire an employee (even a protected class) if you have good reason. The key is to be strict and fair while keeping written counseling and appraisals. One minute late is (legally) exactly the same as one hour late. A common scenario is a good employee comes in a minute or two late and it is overlooked but a bad employee comes in twenty minutes late and you'd like to fire them but legally both employees were tardy and you have to treat them exactly the same.

 

Here is an example of how I handle raises. At raise time (same for everyone) and a certain dollar amount is set aside, for sake of argument say it's $10,000. The top 25% of employees get 50% ($5,000) of that money, the middle 50% get the other 50% ($5,000), the bottom 25% get nothing; ranking is based on written appraisals (only) since the last raise. And I'm upfront about how the money is distributed. Of course this only works if you have enough employees. I'm also a big fan of profit sharing and I prefer to hire people who want the ability to influence how much they earn through individual performance.

[dwacker]

 

It would be nice to hear how 'Dumb and Dumber' are doing now.  I hope they are becoming more than they were.  

 

My guys are doing well but they are real pros just pigs. We have 6 total between the two small shop and have decided to buy another building and just go into one large shop and hire 5 more. I think this is going to be the best move since Im not really much of a help anyway and my daughter and son in law need to keep going after Im gone. Besides it gets everyone the hell out of my shop and I can turn it into a playpen rather than a shop to make money.  We will never trade people for a CNC This goes against my business model that has kept me alive for a quarter century while every other shop in town has closed their doors. We are in feasibility on a 15K ft building now with plenty of room to expand if all goes well. I can go back to being semi retired and spend some time traveling.