performance bonuses on lawn routes?

[happy]

Does anybody give performance bonuses weekly or monthly on lawn routes? This is based on 1 guy running the route. Say it takes me(the owner x amount of minutes per yard, and then you figure in drive time and then with that figure say Monday is an 8.5 hour day, and he gets it done in 8.5 he gets a bonus. I guess maybee it would be per week, I do not know. However maybe per day would be good because there are some days I go with him. Any thoughts at all would be appreciated. Just trying to give the guy some incentative to get them done a little quicker.

[topsites]

I'm not disagreeing with the tactic but I'm afraid this type of bonus could lead to mow-n-blow results...

Then it goes beyond even quality and speed because one might have an employee who turns out the most
great looking jobs but (s)he's a bit, uhm, undiplomatic with thine customers hehe.

So, I am thinking perhaps an Employee of the month award?
Once a month, the employee of the month is decided upon,
and perhaps as a reward they get a gift certificate for dinner at an
upscale diner along the lines of say Applebee's / Ruby Tuesday's /
TGIF's / O'Charlie's / or most any along those lines...

It's not that expensive, it would set you back maybe 50 bucks a month,
maybe you can strike a deal with certain restaurant manager,
say if you bought a larger amount of gift certificates all at once?

Then it boils down to an equation between production, quality, overall
workmanship and attitude, you have to decide on this but make it a real
test, so to speak, and everybody gets a chance etc, etc...

Just thinking...

[happy]

I was thinking of the Mow-n-blow results that it might produce. I like the employee of the month, however I have 1 guy that does the mowing route. I usually come along on Wed. and Friday if I can to help him out, and to help avoid overtime. He started in May, and is doing a pretty good job. I think that he needs to improve on his times though. I do not know if he smokes before doing a lot of the jobs, and that is what slows him down or what. He is 31, and I am 32 so age should not be a factor. We are not talking huge time differences, but I keep thuinking on most days, he should be done 1/2 hour or so before he gets back to the shop. maybe I need to recalculate my drive times again. This is why I was thinking of the performance bonus. because he could take as long as he wants on a job to make it look pretty, but it still does not pay any more to the company.

[mngrassguy]

When I tried performance bonus, quality suffered. My biggest problem with mowing help was they always quit 2-3 weeks before the season ends. I found out works great is if I offered a bonus to everyone who stays through the end of the growing season got a bonus.

[treegal1]

I reward quality and safety!!!! time, thats what we get paid for!!!!! let him take a few extra bits of time to save the equip, not get tickets, do a good job!!! thats what sets us apart from the rest. dont walk by the broken head fix it!!! take out the trash on trash days!!! pick that weed, prune that bush!!!!

also reward sales generously!!!! almost till it hurts, you only have to do this once and the results are long lasting and keep side work from happening!!!! also, every employ should be a star!! reward the team, then that way the team will control the individual instead of me having to ride his arse, the team will tell him to pickup the pace or let me know that we need a new team mate.

seriously guys and gals treat your good employs good and FIRE the slackers asap, pay well and treat them good, trust me they wont want to lose there job that way and will help you build your business, if that's not them find the next guy in line!!!!

[Roger]

Bonuses have become too common in many places. The issue: Do the job for which you are being paid -- end of story.

In the recent past, we have read the stories of schools paying students to come to school, some small payment when they show up for school. Last week, the school system in a major city school wanted to give their administrators bonuses, while the school system was subpar in performance. One of the major airlines was giving bonuses to their baggage handlers for getting the bags off the airplanes, into the claim area in a timely fashion. In other words, some employees have come to expect a bonus for doing the job for which they are being paid. The plan suggested by the original poster sounds like this follows the pattern of employees needing an incentive for doing what they are supposed to be doing in the first place. The trend is growing, and it isn't a good one.

What is wrong with doing a job, getting paid for the task, and be happy to have employment, and the ability to work?

[LyaecS175]

Well, the best thing to do would be to analyze what your goals for this employee are... there are many possibilities.

Do you want him to:

Go faster?
Do better work?
Achieve better customer satisfaction?
Keep your equipment in good shape?

They may seem like all the same thing but they're not and you'd need to define a metric (measurable outcome) for each to determine whether or not he gets a bonus.

Think of it like this:

You decide you want him to improve his times slightly but the core of your business is offering top notch service as perceived by the customer. As an employer you want your expensive equipment kept in good shape.

You would offer the employee a bonus based on a combination of the 3 factors.

Say: 0.5 (time) + 0.25 (customer satisfaction) + 0.25 (equipment) = % of pre-decided Bonus

If he got an overall score of 50, and you decided the most you'd give was $100 / quarter or whatever, he'd get a $50 bonus.

Where you assign each of the time, customer satisfaction, equipment a value between 0-100.

You could base the time measurement off of some desired point, you mentioned you think he could finish 30 mins earlier, therefore if he finished 30 earlier he'd get 90, 15 earlier he'd get 50 and if he somehow managed to finish 40 earlier you'd give him 100. Similarly you could mail out a quarterly survey to your customers on their satisfaction with their service, average all the results of the surveys and assign that the 0-100 for satisfaction. Finally, give your own assessment of how the equipment seems to be taken care of... if stuff is always beaten on and needs to fixed, give a lower score, if its always perfect give 100.

This way you are rewarding the employee for exactly what you want them to do. Obviously you could change the weighting for different aspects, or use different assessments altogether, but outcome based payment is really the wave of the future for maximizing employee productivity and quality.

[1cooltreeguy]

I was thinking of the Mow-n-blow results that it might produce. I like the employee of the month, however I have 1 guy that does the mowing route. I usually come along on Wed. and Friday if I can to help him out, and to help avoid overtime. He started in May, and is doing a pretty good job. I think that he needs to improve on his times though. I do not know if he smokes before doing a lot of the jobs, and that is what slows him down or what. He is 31, and I am 32 so age should not be a factor. We are not talking huge time differences, but I keep thuinking on most days, he should be done 1/2 hour or so before he gets back to the shop. maybe I need to recalculate my drive times again. This is why I was thinking of the performance bonus. because he could take as long as he wants on a job to make it look pretty, but it still does not pay any more to the company.

All i Have to say is that if you are concerned with a half hour for 1 guy per day - YOU ARE DOING WELL!!!! - i know it adds up but NOBODY will treat your company like you do. If he is a half hour off your time - let it roll and thanks him every day. My guys dont even come close to that!!

[treegal1]

its real easy you pay X $$ and expect the same guy to do as good as you do and you make 3X more $$$$$.

its time for far wages and more labor with less product. just look at the economy now????

[topsites]

Oh that's too easy, just do nothing and consider that 1/2 hour his bonus.

[lawnjocky]

For a 1/2 hour I wouldn't worry about it.

As far as rewards I used to do three types.
The first was a year end bonus. This started out as a fixed amount for the year then I changed it to per hr. Per hour worked better and it was tied to requirements.
The second was for daily production/quality quotas. My main goal's were to reduce property damage (both mine and the customer's), improve attendance, and to get the work done in the time bid. I always stressed that they didn't need to do 20 acre's in 20 min. to make bonus. It wasn't set up that tight. Weather, time of year, breakdowns etc. will change time needed. Even so I was always fighting the "get in, get out" mindset. But the daily bonus cut equipment and property damage big time.
Lastly I did, and still do, a special bonus for different things that come up.

[Micheal2008]

I can tell you i uset to work with freind in his landscaping business and he payed me $8 a hour and i did more work then him (as usaul for bosses). And this guy was all about the time, i mean he will count down to your every min of your break even if you been digging holes with a shovel and pick all day in hot ass sun while he goes behind you and plant the plants.. Me knowing he charges people 35-45+ a hour and me doing most work i decided to keep working at my other job at grocery store making the same amount $8 hour and save money. Well now i have saved up enough to get started and i work at nethier of the jobs anymore cause i got tired of being age 24 working for $8 a hour and getting treated like ****.. Im saying to you is that they guy is for sure making alot less then you and u are timing him by what u get it done at and hes only half a hour off let it slide and tell him he is doing a good job, pat him on the back every now and then.. I mean he is out there working FOR YOU to make YOU MORE MONEY!! Im not sure if you ever worked for anyone eles or for a company but alot people/places take there employees for granted more then they should, I mean if me and brother ever grow to size where we have to hire a extra hand or two to help us and he is a honest hard worker and helps us put in a hard days work every now and then we will buy him something to eat or not deduct him for his lunch break or something.. Just think about it befor you go and lose a decent employee and have to find someone to replace him which will cost you more money then probaly him taking half a hour longer for a year... Ive never hired anyone for this type of work or any other but for some this work we do im sure its not to easy to get decent employees who will be there everyday and work for you by thereself to make you more money..