ok ok so this maight not be good at turkey day since we are all supposed ot be good friends
however
here is the question
dont mean to sound cheep
I pay my workers from 8 to 4:30
does that mean show up at 8 , spend 10 minutes getting on nail belts
4pm your cleaning up
4: 28 your rear tires just hit the main road
back in the “olden days”
8 am ment your geared up and ready to pound nails, so you were there by 745 or so
430 ment you were done rolling things up and you were walking toward your car
anyway . Ive proven it here before , Im an asp, but is this too picky to say 8 am were pounding nails
Replies
Is your boat a bugatti?
Do you come back with pictures from your two week vacation in Cancun?
Do you have a bimbo on the payroll you're boffing on the side?
Employees only do what you allow. If you say that means ready to work by 8 then it will happen as long as you enforce it. If you are unwilling to do so you get what you got. Clear communication is the key. DanT
I would say....on.....
You need a little discipline. Want me to come by for a week? It's what I'm good at.
Who Dares Wins.
Edited 11/24/2004 9:39 pm ET by Gunner
Don't do it, don't do it !!Gunner'll have yer employees eating donuts until 9:30 am, and taking 4 hour lunch breaks at the strip club...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
Good going Luka.
Way to keep that worker morale up.
I don't know if morale should be riding on what time someone straps on their tool belt or gets "permission" to knock off.
If it is, I think you've got larger problems.
Morale seems to spring out of a sense of control over being able to do the best job you can, and be proud of, which makes you look good. You're not being undermined by colleagues and the boss behind your back. Grievances are aired and resolved quickly and fairly. Everyone is given and follows the same set of expectations, including the boss.
Some of the toughest jobs I've worked on had the best morale because everyone was doing their best work, boss handled problems before they became my problems, and expectations of me were very clear.
I wouldn't want to be a baddazz, but I look at it this way. If I'm paying for the time, and they're bringing the tool belt, they come suited up to work at 8 am. If I'm providing the tools and expect them to suit up on site, I'll pay for 10 minutes to get that done. I guess it depends then...who's bringing the tools?
Edited 11/25/2004 1:45 am ET by jmo
Depends.
First if that is your method of operation then your going to have to ask for and demonstrate it. If your method of remuneration differs from your workers your going to have a problem. Essentially salaried workers have a hard time demonstrating higher dedication to lower wage hourly employees.
Second is that boss men have access to the single most stress reducing mechanism available. One typically unavailable to hourly workers, control. Being somewhat flexible can allow the workers something.
Third is moral. Rotating jobs can break up the week. Some of the best bosses I have worked on had firm time requirements but in a relaxed manner. Typical of these commercial jobs the rule was that you were expected to be at the appointed location, typically the side of the trailer used as office, ready to go. Fed, watered, ready to go with tool belt at hand if the job didn't have a gang box.
If you got there ten minutes early the boss had doughnuts and coffee at hand. At the appointed time the boss or his representative gets up on the step and checks attendance against his list. Small groups this is done quietly by eye. Larger groups may use a call of the name.
Once attendance is recorded anyone who arrives after is told to go back home without pay. Subject to the call of the boss and any prearranged arrangements or advance warning. Everyone ready to go the jobs are allocated, crews assigned.
Typical the start is 0700 and jobs assigned by 0705 or 0710. Perhaps ten minutes more, as the lower ranks get set up,for the crew leaders to work out details. This ten minutes or so is well spent coordinating and working out heavy equipment allocations and who needs what. Lifts can be scheduled. What areas are to be blocked off, safety, etc.
Smaller jobs need less of this but coordinating, planning so that you show that you value the workers time more than just what you pay them shows respect. The old ideal of work for wage, complain and yell when they screw up and no praise doesn't work well. Some old timers thrive on it but even the crusty ones like a little praise even when they say otherwise. A simple honest 'thanks couldn't have done it without you' or 'good job' and a slap on the back is cheap and effective if well done.
What a lot of bosses forget is that half or more of all waking hours are spent on the job. Anything you can do to honestly help people feel valued, part of a team, and part of a larger picture without being fake is a good thing. If the workers feel this way they will bust their humps for you. Crunch time they will go the extra mile.
Fail at this and your lucky if you don't have to kick start them every morning and stand over them to get anything out of them. If they feel screwed they will be throwing it back at you and your outnumbered.
8:00 means ready to pound nails at that time ... waiting for instructiuons from the boss ... basic tools at the ready.
4:30 means off the site ... so maybe 15-20 minutes earlier most work stops so cleanup and rollup can happen ... depending on what's happening ... maybe a few extra minutes to finish nailing sheathing or whatever.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
It is surprising how well action speaks and how the workers will follow the example of the boss or owner. Make sure you are banging nails or whatever at 8:00 and you take 15 minutes for coffee and so on. You have to set the example if not workers will feel no obligation to it unless you have some real leaders on your crew. Most guys are pretty good they will respect and follow your lead.
On prevailing wage jobs it's start work at the start time, knock off to allow pickup, etc. Too many jobsite lawyers to do it any other way. We actually pay travel from the shop monday out and last workday of the week back in, maybe allow enough time for a safety meeting or chew session. When we need to put in a little extra to close something up everybody seems to pitch in witout complaint.
If you were the worker, would you want to be there 15 minutes early with your nail apron on and not be getting paid. They probably already spent an hour or more in traffic on their own time. If it's that tight, charge more.
Pay your employees for all the work they do for you. If putting a tool belt is necessary for them to do their job, shouldn't they get paid for it?
Do you ask them to pick up materials or perform maintenance on tools from 1630 on?
Jon Blakemore
Isamemon,
I've been down this road as an employee, a Foreman and a business owner. What time do you start paying your people? 8 AM? Here's the thing. Getting your tools out of your truck or van is WORK. Employees get paid for WORK. Period!
Here's the compromise we eventually came to and I stuck to with my own crew. Be there in time to have your belt out and your saw and cord out so that at 7 AM when I open my truck up you're ready to get out the comprresor and nail guns and such. We worked a 9 hour day so around 3:45 I would look around and figure how long it would take to wrap up. Then we would start picking up in time for everyone to have their own tools put away and be in their trucks no later than 4:35.
I had a first Sergeant once who used to hold a 0555 formation everyday. The rule was be 10 min early no matter what, then you won't be late. Every day since we were all there early he would hold formation early. The next day everyone would be a little earlier so they didn't have to risk being late. Pretty soon guys were lining up at 0515 for a 0525 formation that was supposed to be at 0555. See where i'm going with this? Since it was our job, Me and the other Active duty advisor type dude asked him what the he## he was doing. He didn't even realize he was doing it. I can't tell you how many Privates got Counseling statements for being " Late" to his " Early" formation.
If you want YOUR tools out by 8AM and it takes 15 min, then pay them from 7:45. If they use their own tools then split the time with them and be glad. If I was using my own tools and getting paid to start at 8 AM thats when my tool box would open. But then again, I can get away with being a jacka$$. My work buys me lots of slack on such issues.
I tell the guys, ('cuz that's the way I was told,) "Roll out on your time, roll up on my dime."
Be here 15mins early so I can take roll and tell ya what to do, and you can roll out. I need to know who's going to be here so I can plan.
Roll up 15 mins early, if you get done before QT, smoke a cigarette or something, but din't leave early.
So you work a couple of mins before you get paid, you stand around getting paid a couple of mins after roll up.
Leads and foremen spend roll out and roll up transfering information with me and each other and get 15 mins OT a day.
You ever noticed how fast and effecient the crew is at roll up time?
SamT
thaks for all the answers and ideas. was just curious
some of the advice is good
the one setting by example is hard though, because sometimes I cant get to the job site right away, Im at a supply house, meeting a customer , etc.
so it is hard to say, when I will show up
but again , I was curious as I need to start setting up a employee handbook type thing soon.