What are the challenges y’all face having new employees?
I’ve decided to start aggressively growing my business this year and have taken on a couple new employees. They have already started and I anticipated a couple challenges but before hand implemented a training system which is already ( I feel) paying off.
Before, my training for someone was “as we go”. But having written a company manual, having purchased several window cleaning dvd’s and setting aside a couple days to train someone I feel they are much further along than past employees.
Their quality is much higher, their speed increased and they are more confident and require less shadowing from me.
I’m considering doing periodic reviews in more of a formal setting and looking for areas to praise their progress as well as discussing specific things they can improve.
What challenges does everyone face each year if you have new help and how do you deal with them?
Sounds like your already doing some good things with the training and having a company manual. I feel the challenge of having employees comes down to experience. The longer you own and operate a company with an employee base the better you will become at dealing with issues. Being that we started our business a little later in life I have the benefit of drawing back on past experience from working for a company. I tend to draw on the positive experiences and remember one business owner who in particular was a great role model and mentor who I still use as a reference point when dealing with any employee based challenges.
One gem I learned from him was to talk softly. It forces people listen.
Turnover is a constant challenge for us. The fact is unless you have regular contracted work with predictable revenue streams across the board… this will be a challenge for you… The more staff you have the larger the challenge becomes.
Window cleaning is seasonal… It always will be so your, going to be busier in the fall and the spring. Unfortunately your going to get great people trained up in the spring and have to let some of them go in the summer… Or significantly cut their hours… Thats just one of the many employee challenges you will face as you grow.
Thanks for the thoughts. I agree how you talk to your employees is very important. Last year I felt stressed at times and this came across in my managing so hopefully being a little more prepared this year will help me be more effective in handling stress.
Thanks Chris. Anticipating that Im planning on marketing heavily in a summer vacation spot about 30 miles away so hopefully that will balance out the summer. The winter, well its the winter.
Reward for what you want done, in some way somehow. No reward, won’t get done.
think of it as computer programming, if you don’t tell them or reward them, it ain’t getting done.
view them as your system beta testers, employees will find every loophole, weak spot, whatever, and in the places you least suspected
be ready for interpersonal issues - “I don’t want to work with him”, etc etc. Ages ago I had a team of 3 out and 2 got in a fist fight while out getting gas, you know, be ready for real nice stuff like that and anything else you never dreamt possible, will happen, and you will be amazed everytime.
anything and everything, doesn’t have to be additional money, can just be posted and tracked. One owner had holdbacks of pay if truck wasn’t washed etc. Not the whole paycheck, just a small percentage.
you want them to sell too while they are out there? there better be reward for it
You don’t want to buy lost ledgers over and over, better be some accountability for [U]personal[/U] tool setups
You don’t want complaints? there better be a comprehensive system to monitor for it and tracking of it. Response cards etc.
Think from a checks and balances angle
Look at how Chris is good at making games of things, you can make it fun too, games for most new customers, least lost tools, least callbacks
sometimes individual improvement is better than who got most or least, since many times it will be the same ones over and over who excel at whatever and the others just give up and think who cares anymore.
I agree with alot of what Bruce posted. Unfortunately you will have to figure out for yourself all off the bad habits on your own. Every single person that I have hired has a different work ethic and different good and bad habits. Employees will find loop holes and will take the easy way out sometimes. I would suggest making a note of things that need to be addressed that get under your skin.
My top 4 at the moment are: B Appearance [/B]- there must be a standard to your dress code and what you expect your image to portray to the customer. I have an employee that goes without shaving for a few days at a time. It looks like total hell. Thats gotta go this Spring. If you wear a baseball cap, it must be one from the company. B Punctual[/B]- They love to hang at the shop 15 minutes longer than they should. Add in stopping to get a soda and fill up the company van= late to the first job. I have a pop machine at the shop so the stopping for a soda in the morning has dropped way down. B Accountability[/B]- A few times a week, they will have the office girl call the next job when they are going to be late. There is nothing wrong with that except they do it when its 12:25 and they are supposed to be on the next one at 12:30. The office girl gets all the heat from the customer. They are now responsible for calling the customer if they are going to be late unless they give the office girl a minimum of 1 hour notice. They will have to make the call themselves and take the heat. I have suggested setting an alarm on their cell phone to remind them. I am hopeful that by making them call the customer themselves, they will be more aware of the time and will work more efficiently. Calls will be made to the customer after the service for quality and punctuality feedback. BCompany Vehicles[/B]- No smoking in them, keep them organized, remove used towels and any trash out of them on a daily basis. They are to be refueled if needed at the end of the day so that we can get a jump on the morning traffic.
These are just a few of the things (that bug me the most) that I can think of off hand. Good luck Adrain. Give it a few years, you’ll be able to write a book! (Hopefully not)
