Employee Policies

treehead32 said:
I've never made an employee pay for something damaged and never felt the need to address it until this last November. My two main guys are loyal, smart, professional, passionate about our industry and enjoy working for us. Out of nowhere we had a rough week that went like this:

In a single week:
Monday: F250 truck comes back with the passenger mirror busted off completely. I was told a vehicle side swept it and kept going. I'm thinking.."Ok, they either hit something or someone really side swept it and kept going. Not the end of world, no reason to question them since we have had no prior issues." $478.00 fix at Ford.

Wednesday: Phone rings at 8:20am. "Boss, we uh...we...we need a new tire for the chipper. We...damn, we fucked up. We forgot to take the boot off the chipper and drove 4 miles with it...tire exploded." Me: "You drove 4 miles dragging the boot on the chipper? No one heard it? I'll have someone there immediately." $280 fix. Immediate meeting to review roles and responsibilities.

Friday: "Stump grinder got stuck on the fence post and the gate won't close anymore, I think we need to replace the post for the homeowner. We tried for an hour to get the thing back there." Me: "So the stump grinder got stuck, rather than backing out you continued to try and ram it through?." $200 fix. Fencing repair contractor told us there was not any concrete holding the post up, so the fence was installed incorrectly to begin with. We obviously paid for it anyways, but if it was installed correctly it would not have budged. We reviewed correct stump grinder use, safety, obstacles, etc.

By the end of this week, I was thinking about employee reimbursement for mistakes like this. The AWESOME part was when payday came that afternoon on Friday, I gave them their checks and they handed them right back to me. I didn't ask for it, we didn't talk about reimbursement, they knew they screwed up and they were avoidable mistakes. I did not accept their paychecks, but it did mean a lot that they offered it. Since then, I randomly find $40-$60 every week in the work area that one of them leaves. Haha, its their way of saying..."hey, sorry boss." as they try and fix that week in November.

If it was a new hire that did those mistakes, they would be gone. How can I trust someone with my crew in the trees and equipment if they make those mistakes. My seasoned employees have shown me that they know better which is why they are still with us. I have yet to implement a reimbursement policy because I am not sure how to do it correctly. Loss of bonuses seems like the right fit, but the truth is, at the end of the day..I am just happy that we had another safe day of production, another happy customer and grew more as a team.
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This underscores my point. You lost $958 in a remarkable week, already quoted here in Biblical terms.

I've made that much in profit in just four hours on good jobs I've already forgotten about. I don't share all those profits with employees. . . .
 
Document the errors, put it in reviews, attach it to incentive pay, then gently move them along if it is a habitual problem.

We had a guy who couldn't get through a week without breaking a rake handle or causing property damage carrying a pole saw from the truck to the backyard.
A total bull in a china cabinet.

When we let him go with a weeks pay before his 90 day review and he asked "well, why didn't you guys even let me get to the chainsaw training? I'm really good with a saw!"

We pointed to the signed and documented paper work then said "Well, Dave - we don't think you fit our businesses commitment to:
safety & quality. You busted 3 rakes, a window, and a light fixture in 3 weeks. It cost us x dollars to repair or replace. A chainsaw in your hands is a liability to your health and life, to our customer's property, and our businesses sustainability. Good luck - we will recommend you to any demolition or wrecking business out there".


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NorCalBrock said:
Document the errors, put it in reviews, attach it to incentive pay, then gently move them along if it is a habitual problem.

We had a guy who couldn't get through a week without breaking a rake handle or causing property damage carrying a pole saw from the truck to the backyard.
A total bull in a china cabinet.

When we let him go with a weeks pay before his 90 day review and he asked "well, why didn't you guys even let me get to the chainsaw training? I'm really good with a saw!"

We pointed to the signed and documented paper work then said "Well, Dave - we don't think you fit our businesses commitment to:
safety & quality. You busted 3 rakes, a window, and a light fixture in 3 weeks. It cost us x dollars to repair or replace. A chainsaw in your hands is a liability to your health and life, to our customer's property, and our businesses sustainability. Good luck - we will recommend you to any demolition or wrecking business out there".


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Safety violations, documented, are a great tool in keeping accident prone workers from hitting the lottery with the "big one".


SZ
 
He was really baffled why he got let go and couldn't graduate from the rake.

I wish I had videos of some of the stuff I've seen that makes me "face palm" and laugh. Some people just have a brain that's cross wired.


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I am going to add up all the busted equipment and cost to the company at the end of the year. Subtract that number from annual bonuses which is based off profit and give them that calculation. hopefully that will hit home. Fortunately my guys are pretty good.

I just have issue with their after work habits which I believe affect attention on the job site. Not something I can document because it is rather vague...... Like knowing they spent too much time looking for a job site they should have easily found. Not remembering little things I ask of them.
 
I have another question on employee policy.

How much do you think is fair to pay employees to attend annual conferences. I sign everyone up ($1500) including hotels. I am now debating if I should pay them while there? What do you do??
 
Hey, baumeister! First, I'm not a business owner nor even a pro arb, for the sake of full disclosure. Having said that, and speaking from the point of view of an employee, is attendance at these conferences optional or mandatory? If you offered me a choice to attend a conference that I knew cost $1,500.00, as well as paying for my hotel fees, and it was something I had an interest in, and I did not have to pay a crippling amount of money to get there in the first place, my time would be given freely.

On the other hand, if attendance is mandatory, all expenses other than local travel requirements should be covered by the company, and everyone should be getting paid their normal hourly rate for the duration of the start and finish time of the conference on each day.

That's the difference between giving someone a choice and making something mandatory. If you are afraid that not enough people would want to attend if it were optional, you could ask folks just how much you need to sweeten the deal before they are willing to take the deal.

Those are my thoughts on this matter.

Tim
 
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Most conferences offer some kind of CEU's. If obtaining required CEU's and new industry information that will be beneficial to your company then I think all expenses and 8 hours pay per day is appropriate. If you are taking your guys to just have a good time and check out some new gear and not really beneficial to your BUSINESS then I think the option to go without pay (with expenses paid) would be a fair way to proceed.
 
Thanks Tim and netree.

That is good information. Everyone is excited to go and learn. No one except myself is getting ceu's but we all learn something and have a good time. I have paid 8 hours in the past but this year everyone got a raise. My foreman in particular has been at 16 for years and went up to 20 this year because of what I read here on this site and felt he was underpaid. Now I think he is overpaid. He also gets work pants and boots (his choice) including cut proof pants and shirts and gloves and cell phone paid In Full. He tried the certified arborist test 3 times and failed. Pay rates don't go down of course but now I am seriously considering all the other fringe benefits I give. Hence the paid time at conferences is being questioned.
 
If the conferences are mandatory or optional, but take place during normal working hours, I think employees should be paid. If it's optional during non-normal hours (i.e. weekend) then no pay and just cover expenses.

As to your foreman. Take away his fringe benefits until he passes the certified arborist test. Failing three times tells me he's not taking the test, and therefore his job, as serious as he should be. With as large a raise as he received comes added responsibilities, and passing that test should be one of them.
 
Sounds like you treat your guys very well. I think it is more than fair to offer to take them to events expenses paid but not wages (as you/they will not benefit from CEU's). Maybe that can be an added bonus for them getting certified. Wages will be paid at conferences where CEU's are obtained. If they would still like their wages,they can stay and cut firewood while everyone else goes :nocausagracia:
 
How close is he to passing? What can be done to improve that? What sections is he missing? Get that done pronto.

As a foreman, does he climb, drive, bid, run the ground show, or what? 16 to 20 is generous, but next time might be better as 16-18, you've earned it already. 18-20, I want to see you become a CA, and you get to every job the first time, GPS and computer generated maps, right?
 
At all costs..avoid the major fuck up. Be it injury, property damage or whatever, play worst case scenarios out in your mind every time and envision any major fuckups and DON'T have one. Everyone's gonna make relatively inconsequential mistakes. Forgive and forget...but always document.
 
baumeister said:
He tried the certified arborist test 3 times and failed.
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This may be a case of no learning habits or a style that is incompatible with the learning method used.

Look at this way, you also benefit from his increased knowledge and certification. It would then suggest that making an effort to assist him in this process beyond footing the bill will generate a return on your investment that you've yet to gain. Review with him the material. Find out how he learns best. Is it through hands on demonstration and practice? Orally, by way of a discussion vs. lecture? Work with him to learn the areas where he's coming up short.

We rely on a very diverse group of employees, ranging from post secondary educated, to elementary school drop outs. Language barriers, reading comprehension skills, learning disabilities are not uncommon to our industry (one of my instructors pointed out it's an ideal job for those with ADHD). Being able to identify someone's barriers and helping them to accomplish the learning objectives will pay off in many more ways then you can imagine.
 
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