How do you pay your employees?
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I was recently following “blue’s” thread on cutting labor costs, and I thought this might be an interesting time to bring up the subject of pay and benefits.
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If you pay your employees every two weeks, you could cut the cost of running your payroll in half. You also might loose some of your employees by doing so. If you pay weekly, most companies seem to pay on a period ending on Saturday or Sunday. What pay period do you have?
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In the box “Important Policy Issues,†David Gerstel has a heading for “Pay and benefits.†The second point listed under it is payday. A payroll can easily be run on the Monday following the last Friday worked. Obviously employees like their money sooner rather than later. What day do you pay your employees?
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Unless you pay someone really, really well, everyone usually expects a raise after a certain period of time. What kind of raises do you offer the people who work for you?
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Then there are a whole lot of other things you can do for your employees: Vacations, paid holidays, medical coverage, a pension, and profit sharing. Even tuition assistance and use of company equipment for side work. These last two seem especially rare. Do any of you offer any of these benefits?
–T
Replies
Man, I would like totally dig it if you would post in one color with no italics or anything else. I stopped doing acid 20 years ago for a reason.
Timesheets in every Friday afternoon, pay every Monday. 40 hours per year paid personal time off (actually, it's 1/50 of an hour for every hour worked), paid medical insurance, and .75 per hour tool allowance. Plus, you get to work with me all day most days and I'm pretty decent to hang around with.
Plus, you get to work with me all day most days and I'm pretty decent to hang around with.
Gee, Dave- where do I sign up? In fact, if I get to work with you, you don't even have to pay me- I'll pay you .....lol.
Bob
Hey, that's perfect, just what I need. We have several major crawlspace projects coming up, and you can take the lead on them. Don't worry, I don't take those jobs unless there's at least 12" clearance everywhere. I'm also starting to get a lot of big fiberglass insulation jobs and some steep roof tearoffs!
journey ( one of my favorite groups )...
week ending on Saturdy, pay weekly, payday is Wednesday.
payroll service and most of the guys opt for Direct Deposit
we pay partial health insurance ( BC/BS ) thru our RI Builders
truck & gas for my lead man, cell phones for everyone
paid Federal holidays... no paid vacationMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Bi-weekly pay period ends Friday at midnight, direct deposit happens around midnight of next Thursday.
Raises are based on performance.
All employees get 6 holidays and paid time off is on a case by case basis. Truck or gas reimbursement provided for employees along with cell phone or cell reimbursement.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
What pay period do you have?
I used two weeks for a while, but wound up running an every Friday schedule. My "reporting" period was SoD Friday to EoD Thursday. That meant that any Saturday work was clearly in a week. It also let me have (a tiny bit of) time to sort through timesheets to be able to "book" my billing to the clients.
What day do you pay your employees?
Friday, End of Business day. Written policy that any other arrangements had to be made in reasonable advance, in writing (so that there was as record everybody could go back to).
everyone usually expects a raise after a certain period of time. What kind of raises do you offer the people who work for you?
Well, given that the cost of living goes up, a certain amount of "cola" (cost of living adjustment) seems reasonable. I based mine (for those few employees that lasted that long) on the inflation rate (mostly). If inflation is 3% per year, and you don't get some sort of raise, then you're making 3% "less." Usually, though, in my case, it was merit raises--and I keyed them to what the employee could "earn" for me. I had a leadman who turned out to be a very good segundo (foreman/super) that I could put on a job with little supervision. Since that effectively doubled what I could do, I was able to get him a very fat raise from being just lead. Later on, I worked in some performance/profit-keyed incentives. That way, he was getting a "cut" out of making me money--good for all of us.
Thanks all.
-T
Vacations, paid holidays, medical coverage, a pension, and profit sharing. Even tuition assistance and use of company equipment for side work.
Benifits must be an east coast, or far west coast thing.
Vacations are linked to the employee's contribution to profitability while on vacation. When an employee can be as profitable away as on the job site they can take a paid vacation. Isn't unpaid vacation the same as quitting for a short period of time?
All holidays are paid...based on how many hours are worked that day.
If insurance coverage will increase productivity then premiums will be covered up to the amount of extra profitability.
All employees are encouraged to invest in their own pension program. The company will match the value of any unpaid hours worked.
Employees will be assisted in determining how to pay their own tuition (check, money order, or cash).
Employees can use company tools for any and all side work that is both invoiced by the company and accomplished with unpaid labor hours.
I think I get the joke...
Heck, to get health insurance we have to marry the right gal who has a real job.
:-)
I wouldn't work for ya', and I'm guessing with an attitude like that you're attracting the bottom of the barrel. Try getting some first-rate carpenters that own their homes, have families, are career minded, and protect your turf for you... then see if you feel like taking care of them is worth it. I can't get a thing done without the guys I have and if someone else can pinch them by offering $1 more per hour then I'm cooked.
I wouldn't work for ya', and I'm guessing with an attitude like that you're attracting the bottom of the barrel.
Mostly I'm poking fun at contractors in our region. It's just not normal for a construction company in these parts to offer benefits. Any time benefits are considered and talked over with the crew, carpenters would rather have the extra $ in their checks.
It's not that some contractors don't have squat for bennies, but rather none do. Zip. Zilch. Nadda. Well, once in a while some will give a free christmas party or annual bonus, but that's about it.
Try getting some first-rate carpenters that own their homes, have families, are career minded, and protect your turf for you... then see if you feel like taking care of them is worth it.
Er...uh...without sounding too self-ritchous...at least by our suppliers, subs, peers, clients and past employees we are seen as being amoung the best.
In the rocky mountain region, with the carps I've either supervised or employed, top carpenters in the luxery home markets are expected to produce high quality results at a brisk pace day in and day out.
Our projects are mostly built using best practices and require carpenters to be quick learners and have a broad knowledgebase to draw from. Most have had college degrees and are well above average in intelligence.
Carpenters are also fully tooled up, so there is never a reason for a carpenter to borrow company equipment. Even assistant carpenters typically have most of their own tools. Hiring a carpenter without his own tools sounds like someone who isn't serious about his perfession.
I can't get a thing done without the guys I have and if someone else can pinch them by offering $1 more per hour then I'm cooked.
I'm still a firm believer that the quickest way to increase a carpenter's standard of living is to pay them more. Give them the money and let them decide what to spend it on.
If someone can make more money working for another GC then more power to 'em. We're booked until next year with great projects, interesting and challenging opportunities to learn new stuff, with fantastic clients, highly skilled co-workers, and income better than 95% of our peers.
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Having said all that, I can see how you're trying to do the best for your guys and that's saying a lot.
Carpenters, as with all humans, don't always make the best long-term decisions financially, and many of the bennies are trying to do the right things for the right reasons.
Best wishes,
In the rocky mountain region,
Where??? NADA in yur profile..Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
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Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
We pay our field guys every other friday. Our payroll period ends on every other sunday with the pay check issued on the following friday. That way we hang on to 1 week of pay so that if a guy quits and maybe still has a tool or two of mine, at least I have something to bargain with.
We don't pay for vacations, holidays, or other time off. I have a hard enough time getting these guys to give me an honest 8 hours without paying them not to work.
We do annual reviews on our guys on their anniversary date and their raise is determined by their effort and advancement in skills for the preceding year. My parents raised me to believe that I had to show someone my value before they showed me their gratitude. As long as I was valuable to my employer then I should expect a pay increase.
I don't know what most of these kids think nowadays. I have one guy, 24 yo, that comes to me about 3 months ago and tells me that he needs to make more money. I tell him that his pay is in line with his skill set and that he can make more money by becoming more valuable to the company, i.e.: increase his proficiency in his skills and speed.
He just got a raise of $1 per hour and I told him he was not eligible until the end of 1st quarter next year. He says that he needs to make more and couldn't I raise his pay about $4 more per hour and he promises that he will get better just like I want him to. ?????????????????????????????????????????????? I have been in this business for 29 years and that is the first time I heard that. What the hell is wrong with these kids. I don't get it.
I fired him last week because he was taking liberties at the house we were working on. The HO told me that he would come upstairs and use the bathroom 2-3 times a day, he would use their fridge to store his lunch and water, and that he had drank about a case of their soda in the 2 weeks he was working there. All completely against company policy.
I think I have gotten off the thread. Sorry 'bout that.
We do offer medical and dental to our guys on a 50/50 premium split.
Unless you are offering your guys profit sharing, 401's, paid holidays and vacations, plus top pay, I don't think the peripheral benefits makes as much of a difference as the pay that they earn on an hourly basis.
One last thing, I am toying with the idea of paying my lead guys on a "book rate" similar to the way that a car mechanic is paid. Haven't worked out the details yet but at least I could control job costs better that way.
sully
Our pay period run's From Wed-Tues. Weekly mandatory company meetings occur every Wed. So it makes a convenient time to collect time sheets.
Payday in the company manual is listed as Friday, if the boss completed the payroll prior to Friday, payday comes early. Personally I wish he would stick to Fridays. It irritates when I'm asked "paychecks done?" Though most guys have stopped asking due to my polite responses ;)
IMO Raises have nothing to do with how long you've been there. What have you done to make yourself more valuable, produce more, or capable of doing more. That's all that will get you a raise.
For benefits, all full time employees have company paid health, they can purchase it for their family if they wish.
There are 7 paid holidays a year, if things are going well the day after turkey day is also paid, same goes for x-mass or new years IF they fall on a Tues or Thurs, then you might have Monday or Friday off paid as well.
Gas and cell phone checks are paid once a month to cover fuel and cell service. It's a set amount of 175 per month per employee... I get more, but I also drive and talk more.
Matching 401K program, if you put in 5% of pay, company matches up to 4% of your total pay.
There is also a "tool buying program" you can purchase a tool on the company accounts and have money taken out of your check over a period of time till it's paid off. Authorization is required. There seems to be a non-official limit of around $500.00
There is no paid vacation.
Gas and cell phone checks are paid once a month to cover fuel and cell service. It's a set amount of 175 per month per employee... I get more, but I also drive and talk more.
We do something similar, but I'm curious if you've ever had any problems with the IRS about this type of compensation (I guess as far as the IRS is concerned it would be reimbursement). Do you collect receipts to document the validity of the checks?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I don't know much about it. I do know it is treated as a reimbursement, everything is run past the accountant so I assume it's kosher
Place I used to work for, building bridges, paid once a month, usually within the following month or so. Pay was all straight time, same hourly wage whether you wourked 25 hours that month or 250 (you never knew ahead of time, and I had several months of each).
That said, I think job satisfaction in the long term has a lot to do with responsibility, and being given credit for a job well done. I can honestly say that I know a lot of people that would go for that sort of satisfying work environment even if it meant a few dollars an hour less.
zak
"so it goes"