Employee Screw Ups

[Brickman]

I know that I have loudly proclaimed the benifits of working solo, and after today am begining to remember most of them. But I have a question for you guys that do regularly hire employees and what you do when they screw **** up.

Today the guy working for me just cost me most if not all the days total take. First he breaks a window with a stone flung from the trimmer. And then about an hour later he some how catches the 21" WB on a gate and messes it up. The part on the mower was $30, and I expect the window to be in excess of $300.
The story he told me about the gate and the mower does not add up. I can't figure out how he did what he claims happened. But what ever.

How do you guys handle some thing like this? Pay the whole thing your self? ask the employee to pay part? I am not ready to fire the guy yet. But if this continues............................
I didn't think in the last couple of days he wasn't listening very well to the things I was telling him about how I wanted stuff done. So I hope that this will wake him up a little. I am still trying to train him in. He is fast, but that is part of the problem, it is hard to slow him down and do it like I have told him to do. I do know he is frustrated that I am faster and do a much better job than he can right now.

Thanks for your advice. I am a little stressed because the cash flow is still slow right now and this will hurt even more.

[A1 Lawn@Landscapes]

I would reiterate what you have told him about his speed and lack of quality. Sit him down and tell him the story about the turtle and the hare, have him wirte "I will listen to the man that pays me" 100 times, or give him a few days off without pay so that he can feel the hit a little. If all else fails, terminate the relationship.

[HarryD]

i feel for ya but trimmer ,rock, window is just part of the game i got me a van window last week
as for the screwing up the mower on the gate is it a walk behind or a push mower
walk behinds + noobies means trouble :dizzy:
i used to work for a large lawn service we ran about 6 crews of 4 guys and they used to screw up alot of stuff my boss just payed it and moved on

[Ajays]

My partners cousin has a nice outfit of 5 crews and one of his employees ran one of his brand new exmarks down a hill into one of his brand new dodge rams. Now thats got to suck.

[ilovethisgame]

I can't recomend what course of action you should take w/ the employee however, I find that when training someone new weather it be to the business as a whole or to the company too much + too soon = accidents. Let them use one piece of power equiptment for an entire week before introducing a new one to them. One it will slow them down Two it gives them a strong and lasting grasp on how to properly and safely handle the tools. If that doesn't work nothing wakes people up like a stiff backhand to the chops, lol

-Dave

[shearbolt]

The first day a guy was on the job he backed through a wooden fence and ran over a neighbours wheelbarrow. Next day he runs into the base of a tree and shears the blades off my Walker. Next day zero turns into a bid Ford Explorer. Luckily the back roller on my Walker only caught his bumper. But boy did he hit it hard!Recently an employee ran into the back of a garage with the trailer and almost tore the back wall off. A couple of years ago a guy poured gas into the crankcase(thinking it was the gas tank) on a customers lawn,obviously ruining the lawn and then leaving the gas soaked mower right by the customers back door. The grass has still not completely come back but I still do the lawn. No increases for her. The worst thing I ever did was take out a window in 6 years.

[Brieldo]

Let me tell ya this: IF you guys ever hired me, I'd never do any of that. All it takes is some advanced thinking as to "What happens if I do this...", common sense, and a knack for taking pride in what a person does...if they're jetting around on yoru equipment without giving a rip, it damages the integrity of the business you've worked hard to establish...

[Grass_Slayer]

the wb part i can understand the prob. there, new employee not used to the equip. run into the gate. heck i did that a couple of times when i first got my z. push one handle and it goes the way u dont want it to.

the trimmer though,:( give him a break there. we've all hit rocks and thrown them with a trimmer. that had to be an accident. get him goin good with the trimmer then set him up with the wb. get him to pay for some of the window to just to show him he needs to be more careful and watch out for stuff like that.

[Brickman]

Thanks guys. It has been a long spring and I have been plenty stressed out and then today on top of everything else and the short cash flow.
I planned all along to pay for the window. Then when the 21" WB incident happened and it is only $30 to fix I think that I will take that out of his check, after telling him. And then hold off on giving him a raise for another pay period. I was thinking of giving a raise after the first two weeks, this guy is great in a lot of aspects, and if I can get quality along with his speed. WOW. I just hate to keep reminding him of details that I all ready had mentioned. I don't want to be an A hole boss.


"ilovethisgame -- Dave" how are things going for you? How is the Walker working out I sold you?
I put a speed up kit on my Walker yesterday. It makes a difference in how fast it goes. I should have done it a long time ago.

[Albemarle Lawn]

Today a large steel and rubber caster wheel fell off a ZTR when employee crashed it into fence.

Then, get this...

He chops it, destroying a spindle and leaving a blade in the grass.

He continues on mowing another 1100 feet of fence until he realizes there are only 2 blades on the machine.

The obvious horrible sounds that machine must have made as it ingested a 10lb caster wheel.

Competely oblivious, he never even noticed a wheel missing.

two words: DRUG TEST!!!!!!!!


kb

[Albemarle Lawn]

IF you have to remind him of the same thing more than once, let him know how much it pains you.

And the simpler the thing you have to remind him of, the more of an A-hole you should be.

On the third reminder for the same offense you should make it a point to be a complete and total A-hole.

Ask him what his major malfunction is and why you have to ask him the same thing four times. Ask him if it took him until he was six years old to get pottytrained.

Don't accept a 50% effort this week...next week you'll get 40%.

If he is still making day one mistakes on the third week....there is hope for him. It's called fast food.

"Thank You Drive Through"

[awm]

jus killim. not really:) i just allways hoped people would not be to hard on my kids ,before they learned to think.sho wasnt easy on me tho. that been grounds for an a-- whuppin . course im old an from another time.

[kris]

I don't think you can legally deduct from his pay.

[Brickman]

Kris what is the difference if I pay $$$ minus $$, or pay him the full amount and he turns around and hands me $$ back?
I am not trying to be a smart aleck about it, just curious what the dif is.

This guy working for me is 42 and I am 28. That alone makes it hard for me to get agresive with bossing him.
Hopefully today goes much better.

[Hawkeye5]

Age, gender, color and anything else doesn't matter!! Employer/Employee matters!! You sign the check, end of conversation.
Stones (golf and tennis balls also) are going to fly every now and then. That is to be expected. Tell him to work on technique and doing a good job trimming first. The speed will come with experience. Fast, without techneque will not produce quality results. Going between fence posts with equipment you are not familiar with can be a problem. I once hit a fence post with my Uncle's hay winrower. Again, experience is the answer. Expect these types of problems with new employees that are not familiar with the equipment. I generally don't feel it is proper to ask employees to pay. There may be exceptions, but while he is in training I can't see it. Employees are expensive. JD

[Pro-Cut Lawns]

Chew his a$$ out, and make him feel good about himself at the same time.

Let him know how unhappy you are. Tell him that you understand accidents happen, but he needs to make every effort to prevent accidents (slowing down until he learns the equipment, listening to what you tell him, etc.). Tell him you are constantly trying to build your business, and you need help, not hinderance. THEN, point out how you feel about him overall with his speed and the potential that he has in the business. Tell him he can be important to your business which in turn will be more profitable to him (pay increases). Tell him maybe someday you will run multiple crews and he could be just the man to oversee one of them (if thats your goal). Build him up and leave it at that. Be negative as hell to start with and really get in his face. Then finish telling him how good of a person he is. He will not forget his a$$ chewing, but he will work feeling much better about himself afterwards if you end on a positive note.

Sounds like you may have a good potential employee. Just slow him down until he learns. Don't give up on him too soon. Coach him into working the way you do and he will pay for himself time and time again.

[LawnLad]

Generally speaking damage is part of the game, be it broken windows, scratched paint, a perennial pulled by accident.

I will not tolerate stupidity. We train from the get go the difference between 2cy and 4cy engines and their respective gas/oil requirements. Should any employee put straight gas into a 2 cy engine and burn it up - they're responsible for it. If you can't tell who the employee was - the crew or the foreman pays for it. We clearly label the cans and train the equipment. Even with this training and the knowledge that they'll pay for it - I watched a guy this spring pour straight gas into a Lawn Boy while I was standing talking with the foreman. Couldn't believe it.

Accidents happen - tough to avoid/prevent them all. You can train and teach, but sometimes employees just don't apy attention. I'm not interested in penalizing people and having them pay for things - but had that Lawn Boy seized up because someone wasn't watching what he was doing during his particular moment of being brain dead... should I pay for it? To me that's plain negligence.

We do drug screen - preemployment and post accident. The accident has to be expensive enough to justify it. But none the less it's there if we have to do it.