I had an employee today give his three week notice to go to work for another company ( small start up) for $ 3 hour more than the <br>$12 he was making. That's ok, because the quality of his work was declining anyway. Now at the end of the day when he came in 45 minutes early and filled out his paper work and wrote his time out at 3:30 pm. Nobody happened to be in the shop.Mechanic was on service call, and I was moving equipment. He was seen leaving the shop in his personal car at 2:55 pm by our construction supervisor, who then ratted him out to me. We both checked his time card and it showed 3:30 and hell, it was only 3:00 pm right then. I really don't want him around short timing it and talking with clients, so I have determined that I am going to whack him tommorrow afternoon. <p>Am I being hasty?? I don't think so . The last thing I need is a short timer with an attitude talking to clients. I have people to take his place right away. Thanks, I feel better now.
A half hour, it could be worse.<br>A three week notice? I would give him pay through Friday, but lose him tomorrow morning. This way he will leave on better terms, and unlikely to retaliate, and no time to compile data on your operation for the competitor.
Yeah, I went through a similar situation a few short weeks ago. I had a guy whom I bent over backwards to help any way I could. I once paid over 350 bucks to try to get his driver's license back for him. He said he lost them due to a speeding ticket.(turned out to be a lie, like most things this guy said) Anyway, I had repeatedly spoken with him about the decline of quality on the jobs he was doing, as he was in charge of the crew in my absense. I was TOO nice to this guy , as I have seen over the last few weeks. What topped it all off, was that for over a month as the summer heat increased, he wouldknock off early, and when questioned by other crew members, he would say"who's the supervisior?" Which, by the way is a title I NEVER bestowed upon him. The lists never got finished at the end of the day, which put you behind at the start of the next day.<br> The straw that broke the camel's back is as follows: He told me he needed to get off by 1:00 two days in a row. One day was some stupid reason, the other was for a urine test so "I can get my license back."<br>Turns out one day was for an interview at an<br>autoparts store, the other was to drug test for their employment. When I found out that he had put my customers on the back burner<br>to test for another job, I FIRED HIM like a 12-gauge!! I found out later that he had also been screwing me on the time sheets, too as he was in charge for filling them out for the crew.<br> I guess the bottom line to all of this is that none of us should get too close with our workers. I think it is a MAJOR mistake to get too chummy with employees, because they will use this against you, and walk all over you. Don't get me wrong, I do care for my people, and I want the BEST for them...but the minute you put it all on a personal level is the minute they will BURN you!! IT IS FOR THESE REASONS THAT I HAVE GONE TO A SALARY SYSTEM! It is really working well, and I don't have to worry about someone sandbagging the time sheets!<br>Also, I make out a route sheet for the day and it gets done. If they work past five to get it done, so be it. They no longer take an excessively long lunch, because they want to get off on time. As far as I am concerned a salary system is the only way to go.
The way I solved the time card issue was by buying a time clock. Since then I have had no problems with hours worked. I also automatically deduct 30 minutes off of the card each day to account for lunch and breaks. <p>
I have found it is just easier to work solo.<br>With bodies so hard to find you are better off finding a niche market to work.<p>As for employess they are sorta like lawn mowers and trimmers in that you should always<br>bring two of the to the job less one "breaks".<p>My longest tow is 36 miles to a school district. If I have to travel 50 miles one<br>way for 8+ man hours at high margin so be it.
Ok, dudes gone as of this afternoon. This was not the first time. I am trying to salavage an $ 800 month account he botched up. I have had more than one complaint about him from clients and his lack of work ethitc. Already have the explanation letters in the mail and I will personally see every one of the 43 accounts he was at. Owners kid is home from college taking the route for two months so I can hire a quality person.<br>
Dale <p>Have you ever tried paying employees by the route. If you know what your times are then just pay by the day and if a crew wants to go swimming in the middle of the afternoon on you, as long as they get the route down it won't matter. Also you will have a better handle on your labor cost.
You might also want to log in and out your equipment at the end of each day using the machines hour meters. This would alert you to anyone on your crew freelancing on the side with your equipment.
