I am looking to hire a hand in the coming months. One idea I am toying around in my head, is a base hourly rate + a % of daily sales from jobs. The idea is to motivate the worker to want to bust butt and get jobs done quickly so that we can do more work per day increasing my own revenue. Let’s say I pay $12 an hour plus 2% of daily sales total. Would this motivate the hand to work faster so we can get 1 more job in on the day? If the daily sales was $2000 they would get an additional $40 on that day which on an 8 hour day would be an additional $5 per hour. If this works and I can get in 1 more job per day at $400 which nets out $300 in gross profit, I would give up $40 to still net $260 more on the day, plus I have a worker making $17/hr which would be very good money for them to consider walking away from and as you elevate your pay scale you will attract a much higher quality individual.
Just have to get the base and % worked out.
You get what you pay for applies to workers as much as it does anything else in life. You don’t get a rockstar on low wages. Around here, I can go flip burgers at In and Out starting at $12-$14 an hour. I personally don’t want that person working for me. I want someone a bit higher on the scale.
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I think that could be an excellent idea. I don’t know too many people who aren’t motivated by money. If you hire a decent worker from the get go they’re going to see an extra $5 an hour as an amazing perk and should definitely keep them moving right along. A $5 an hour increase is no chump change.
I do think I would feel more comfortable testing it before applying it to a full-time worker. I wonder if you could hire a temporary summer helper who is home from college just to test the waters. If you tried it with a full-time worker and, it didn’t make that big of a difference, you’re talking $800 a month extra out of your pocket.
Keep in mind that I will need to be at $14 to $15 an hour to get someone more capable then flipping burgers. So paying $12 plus bonus is really shifting $2-$3 from base to bonus. The risk I am taking is really $2 an hour or $320 a month or 1-2 jobs a month.
You may need to understand the caliper of worker who’s satisfied working part-time when work isn’t steady. They just don’t have the ambition to give a spit. I have 2 guys that are just as happy working one to two jobs a day. Drives me nuts, but they DID stick around in the Winter months with some weeks with less that 10 hours. They both earn $15hr, and gladly end the day whenever their last job is complete, whether that’s at 4-5 or in the morning before lunch. This is a trade-off I’m willing to make, because they are already trained and do good work the Mr. Sparkle way. I need that. But whether you’ll find someone who will work faster just because they might get a few more dollars at the end of the day? Doubtful.
I agree with George. Speed not my primary concern as much as quality of work. I rather have guys that are thorough and reasonably well paced versus someone who just wants to knock out the job so they can get to another.
So my solid hire quit before he even started…disregard any advice I gave.
It sucks…have the trucks, equipment, and the work. But can’t find anyone to work. Even at $15 an hour starting out. Hard when gas stations are paying $13.
I read something awhile back to always be hiring. Even if you are full on staff. Wish i could remember where i read it. It went more into detail on it and made alot of sense.
I was listening to Dave Ramsey the other day and he talked about offering profit sharing. Most companies that offer profit sharing actually find better employees that do more work than normal. If the employee know they keep up with work so more employees don’t need to be hired that they take a bigger share of the profits.
It also makes employees feel like they are more part of the company and will help grow the business.
He gave an example of “we often see everyday employs picking up trash in the parking lot because they know it makes us look better to customers and they know management won’t hire a janitor if they work to keep the place clean” he went on to say that no one ever even instructed them to do so.
The concept makes sense. But they have to have a 6-12 month probation before they start receiving profit sharing.
If you took 3-5% of your profits after all expenses and divided it up between 2-3 employees quarterly do you think it would boost morale? Would it make them work harder? Depending on your profit margins as a company I would think so!
Always be hiring as in advertising for it. Pretty much they call you do a interview over the phone then tell them your all filled up but will keep thier info. Now you have phone numbers to call for help even if 1 out of 10 will come work for you.
Have them all show up on a Saturday. Tell them it is for interviews and outdoor agility test and to dress accordingly. Dismiss anyone with their shirt tail untucked. Have them carry ladders, set up ladders, roll up hose, carry 5 gallon pails. Interview anyone that impresses you.
Nice! I went to a local fire dept and left a flier. I think hiring part-timers from firemen might be a really sound practice, but have received no calls yet. Firemen are usually men of integrity who aren’t afraid of ladders or hoses and could easily pass the @Innocentbystander test.
All the books and advice can’t help when the people applying are crap canidates. I use Indeed and 99% of the applicants suck. $15 min wage is going to make things worse for us here in NJ. Why bust you hump pressure washing when you can sit behind a cssh register for same money.
Yes, but no luck around here. Once they’re certified they can work for another fire dept on their off days and make $400/day plus it still counts towards their retirement.
