Part time help

How do you keep employees working when you can't promise 40 hrs.? Does anyone have any unique situations? Ideas???

Maybe look for a school teacher that just wants some part time cash

Rock wrote on Jun 8, 2013:Go to #1

How do you keep employees working when you can't promise 40 hrs.? Does anyone have any unique situations? Ideas???

I pay them above market value as well as offer them free lunches. I also do not deduct time for lunch or breaks. We are all on the honor system but... that might not work with you as my employees are also my friends (Deaf). Our community is very tight and we depend on each other as we all have the same goal... to gain employment. It is a serious issue in our community for sure. The Deaf community has a very very very high unemployment rate as folks don't hire them too often [size=78%].[/size]

I tell them that I am teaching them a trade and will be happy to sell them a machine down the road so I no longer have to do McDonald's

If you can afford it then you can guarantee at least 30 hours a week, they just have to be available to work them, if they play the "I'm busy today" game they lose the guarantee for the week and only get payed the hours worked. Just don't be calling at the last min. You don't have to buy lunch but pay enough they can afford to eat. Not deducting for lunch break is good if you don't have a lot of employees but can get costly if you have ten people sitting on their cans on your dime. I know that lunch costs me about 80 bucks an hour. The main thing to keep in mind is that life is expensive, your employees have to pay rent, buy food and all the other things life throws at us, if they can't make enough with you they will go else where. An employee is a business just like your company is a business and like any business he is looking to turn a profit. You can throw a bunch of freebies at an employee but in the end if it doesn't pay the rent he will look elsewhere.

wise words. when we run into that situation, we tell them that it's more of an "on call" position to start while we evaluate their performance. you'll weed through the ones that wont hack it (plan for a lot) and you'll see who's going to be available in a pinch and those are the type of employees you want to found your business with. be honest and up front with them before they start "right now we'll start you on for around 20-30 hours a month while we do our preliminary evaluation to determine if you'll be a good fit with our company culture. for the first few weeks, you'll be put on the "on call" list and with that, we expect you to be ready and at the shop within a two hour window. if this will be a problem for you and or you have any other questions, please let me know now" set your expectations up front and save yourself the headache when you have yourself an unhappy employee coming and complaining about the hours (too much, too little), you never told them there was night work, you never told them they had to work weekends, "you mean I have to wake up early and be at the shop at what time?!?!". our methodology is spelled out in their employee handbook that they sign so there's no questions. good luck!

paramountboss wrote on Jun 9, 2013:Go to #6

you'll be put on the "on call" list and with that, we expect you to be ready and at the shop within a two hour window.

You expect an employee to leave the kids first school play to enrich you? You expect an employee to pack up the kids and leave the zoo before they even get to the monkey cage, to enrich you? You expect an employee to give up family time just because you can't plan ahead? You'll have an employee turnover rate that will rival most trucking companies. There are no parking lot painting emergencies. No one here gets a 2 hour warning, they get a seven day warning. They know what time to start every day seven days ahead of time.

straightline wrote on Jun 10, 2013:Go to #7

paramountboss wrote on Jun 9, 2013:Go to #6

you'll be put on the "on call" list and with that, we expect you to be ready and at the shop within a two hour window.

You expect an employee to leave the kids first school play to enrich you? You expect an employee to pack up the kids and leave the zoo before they even get to the monkey cage, to enrich you? You expect an employee to give up family time just because you can't plan ahead? You'll have an employee turnover rate that will rival most trucking companies. There are no parking lot painting emergencies. No one here gets a 2 hour warning, they get a seven day warning. They know what time to start every day seven days ahead of time.

I once got a call at 2am to place a single 15 foot line (reflectorized). They needed it done by morning so they could send off for pictures. I like working for construction companies. They pay well... and they call you more than once.

TruColors wrote on Jun 10, 2013:Go to #8

straightline wrote on Jun 10, 2013:Go to #7

Quote from: paramountboss on June 09, 2013, 09:21:30 PM you'll be put on the "on call" list and with that, we expect you to be ready and at the shop within a two hour window. You expect an employee to leave the kids first school play to enrich you? You expect an employee to pack up the kids and leave the zoo before they even get to the monkey cage, to enrich you? You expect an employee to give up family time just because you can't plan ahead? You'll have an employee turnover rate that will rival most trucking companies. There are no parking lot painting emergencies. No one here gets a 2 hour warning, they get a seven day warning. They know what time to start every day seven days ahead of time.

I once got a call at 2am to place a single 15 foot line (reflectorized). They needed it done by morning so they could send off for pictures. I like working for construction companies. They pay well... and they call you more than once.

And they knew they needed it when? 1 am? They knew at least a day before if not longer, they just waited until the last min. My business phone gets turned off at 6 pm, only people that I want to talk to have my personal number and that list is very short. You will only like working for construction companies until they hold back 10 or 20 percent until the project is done and sold, that could be 2 years down the road.

I don't really care about that. I will go to work ANYTIME. I am not as busy as you are. Until then... my phone stays available. I also have had a sealcoat company call me at 6am to come do a lot right away on a Sunday. I've worked with several so far and payment has been pretty quick with all of them. A couple times they were going to withhold 10% but I asked them real nice and all... they gave it to me. The ones that I DON'T like working for are the chain places. One of them paid me on a 120 day net. UGH! That was when I was working for gas money. It was definitely a tough time.

im with Tru on this one, ill take it anytime i can get it. if you dont take the work someone else will for sure.

TruColors wrote on Jun 10, 2013:Go to #10

I don't really care about that. I will go to work ANYTIME. I am not as busy as you are. Until then... my phone stays available. I also have had a sealcoat company call me at 6am to come do a lot right away on a Sunday. I've worked with several so far and payment has been pretty quick with all of them. A couple times they were going to withhold 10% but I asked them real nice and all... they gave it to me. The ones that I DON'T like working for are the chain places. One of them paid me on a 120 day net. UGH! That was when I was working for gas money. It was definitely a tough time.

You will when you have $10 on the ground and need all that money to pay the help. A lot of people go out of business over these hold backs and the bigger construction companies won't bend the rule. As far as the 120 days to pay, change your contract to 30 days net with an interest charge after that, tends to speed things up. As long as they can sit on it for free they will.

ncstripe1 wrote on Jun 11, 2013:Go to #11

im with Tru on this one, ill take it anytime i can get it. if you dont take the work someone else will for sure.

You can't let people treat you as if they own you and you sure can't treat employees that way because they will find a better company to work for. These people know ahead of time what they need and if they got a ticket for something they have 30 days to make it right, no need to call you on day 30 to fix it when they could have called on day 2. If you let them treat you like a one man operation desperate for work now they will be treating you the same way 20 years from now. Act like a professional organized company now and they will treat you like one. An asphalt job takes 2 weeks to plan out. They have to sell it then determine how to section it out then notify the businesses or residents to clear the areas to be paved then order trucks and get the crew together, no reason to wait until the job is half finished before calling the striper. Seal coat isn't much different. Concrete need 30 days to cure, that leaves them 29 days to call, why let them get away with waiting until day 30?

When I started out I went anywhere for "gas money" it might of helped getting my name out there but come tax time net profit was crap. I'm done doing McDonald's in the middle of the night. You know how some jobs have better margins then others. I'm going lean and mean. Your right someone else will do it. I now have a large list of repeat customers that I can restripe during the day or weekend. I will no longer have to pay for any workers, day care. If I only net 20 now instead of 60 I'm fine with that. No more working like a dog.

you make taking care of your customers sound like a pain in the butt. im glad to get the work, ive got the manpower, equip and knowledge to handle it, if you cant than thats on you. i do it all and still want more. i take it from your post you are insulting me friend, i dont take kindly to that. thats small behavior coming from a "professional".

My priorities in life have changed and it's best for me and family to be a highly profitable part timer. I could say a lot more if I was trying to insult you. My comments were not directed at anyone just my opinion in a discussion.

ncstripe1 wrote on Jun 11, 2013:Go to #14

you make taking care of your customers sound like a pain in the butt. im glad to get the work, ive got the manpower, equip and knowledge to handle it, if you cant than thats on you. i do it all and still want more. i take it from your post you are insulting me friend, i dont take kindly to that. thats small behavior coming from a "professional".

Being abused by customers is a pain in the butt and abusing my employees becomes a pain in the butt when I have to hire every week. On the other hand, if you want to give up your life and family and work 24/7 you can, just don't expect anyone to work for you for long. They didnt take the job just so they could lose every thing important to them.

FYI My years as a sweeping contractor specializing in construction sweeping we had to be available at all hours for emergencies. I found that a late night or unplanned call out by a regular customer was rare but part of the service. The new first time customer, usually an out of town company were told that we would be there when the check was there. They would be charged a premium for a after hours call out. When you're waking someone up at three in the morning they had better not argue inconvenience of a simple check at three in the morning. All of our paper work indicated that full payment was due as agreed and there was to be "No Retention".

Calif Striper wrote on Jun 12, 2013:Go to #17

FYI My years as a sweeping contractor specializing in construction sweeping we had to be available at all hours for emergencies. I found that a late night or unplanned call out by a regular customer was rare but part of the service. The new first time customer, usually an out of town company were told that we would be there when the check was there. They would be charged a premium for a after hours call out. When you're waking someone up at three in the morning they had better not argue inconvenience of a simple check at three in the morning. All of our paper work indicated that full payment was due as agreed and there was to be "No Retention".

Big difference from emergency cleaning and the gypsy or part time paver waking up and remembering that he has to stripe the lot before he can get payed.

im terribly sorry staightline for posting a view different from yours and i should realize your way and the force is the only way. im desperatly waiting for the life-lesson post you are planning for this thread...oh lay it on us great one. i gotto to work tonight so i wont see it till late.

You want a life lesson, it's simple: Make time for yourself, if you don't you will regret it. Make time for family, if you don't you will regret it. Make time for your children, if you don't you will regret it. Never let anyone own you, if you do you will regret it. As for me, I'm half way to Montana, it's too bloody hot in Texas.