Employees know your gross sales? I

T

treehead32

Location
Colorado
When I was a manager at a store when I was younger I remember cashing out the registers at the end of the day and getting frustrated that the company took in x amount of money a day and I was stuck at x amount of pay. I was ignorant to all of the business overhead, I get that now.

Now I am starting to wonder if my employees are feeling the same. The work orders they are given have the sale amount on them and my foreman collects payment from the customer when the job is done (if they are home.) I pay them well, allow time off, they know they are valuable, they aknowledge that but I've been getting a vibe that infers they want more or want x,y,z.

For those of you that aren't on the job site anymore and have employees, not contractors...what do you do? Does the work order have pricing? Do they collect payment? I'm not making a killing here, but I feel like morale is down. By collecting payment when the job is done, it definitely saves office time...I'm not hunting down payment all the time.

I've given raises, but there are other incentives besides raises. Money and production wise, you get to a point where you can't pay anymore because you can't produce more out of the crew.

Do I stick to them knowing the gross sales or take it off? Anyone switch and see it make a difference?
 
I would take it off. Or open up your books entirely with you crew/foreman one day and show your expenses.

A pre-stamped envelope with your address is a nice touch as well. Leave it under the mat or between doors if the client is not home.
 
I was in a similar situation before, knowing what the business was bringing in daily and knowing what the crew was making. I never complained about my wage as I was living comfortably and enjoyed the work. However, the boss sat the whole crew down toward the end of the year anyway and broke down his expenses for the year. By the time Liability insurance, Vehicle insurance and maintenance, Equipment maintenance and replacement, Payroll, Advertising, Fuel, Communications (cell phone, landline, internet), etc., etc. were tallied the boss was only taking home maybe double what I was. It was eye-opening for us (the crew) to see the costs of running a business and more importantly I thought of it as good bonding for everyone. The boss trusted and respected us enough to open his books, and we realized he's not some slave driving millionaire.
 
My old boss eventually started taking the numbers off the work orders for this reason, but I don't think it worked for him. Sometimes having the numbers would help crew members manage time better. You'd have an idea of what you were getting into for that third job you show up at, at 3:45pm. Also, collecting payment at the end of the job was pretty key. Saved a lot of unnecessary headaches later on.

However, he did always keep the books open if anyone wanted to look at them, which I thought was cool. He wasn't hiding what the company was bringing in. I am a fan of the idea of transparency. I think transparency in terms of money would solve a lot of the world's problems (especially for huge business and government), but even at the individual level.

The unfortunate part, like you mentioned, is that some people would get angry about the "money you are bringing in" vs. how much they make. This is only my first year in business for myself, and I have gotten a good taste of what it is like. A lot of unseen time and money goes into it. Business owners make better money for a reason, but I am in no way depreciating the value of an employee.
 
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MikePowers321 said:
Sometimes having the numbers would help crew members manage time better. You'd have an idea of what you were getting into for that third job you show up at, at 3:45pm.
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This. A million times this. As a crew leader it was always good to know how much the boss had in to a job, whether I had to crack the whip, or whether we could be relaxed and just work at a steady pace.

An alternative I've seen is having the time allotment for the job on the work order, but no price, and no one knowing what the hourly rate is for the company. That way the crew has all the information they need to get the job done on time with none of the dirty business of money getting in the way.
 
Ours are totally transparent. Leaves little guesswork re expectation and seems like boss trusts us and is very open with us. Everyone is also paid at or above industry standards so I think that fosters less of the " the company is making how much and I'm only getting such-and-such" mindset.
 
A couple of problems for transparency: 1. if everyone knows what everyone else is being paid, there is bound to be resentment, friction, condescension, jealousy, etc. (its human nature). 2. if the crew working is aware of the price of the quotes, then if they are lazy there is a way for them to "slow down" on the jobs that are bid high in order to pace themselves and take care of incidentals on the clock. This means that every time the company is going to "bid high", they will never get the extra profitability they would have. Instead, the crew will only return average or below average daily per employee profits. If you pay high enough wages, I suppose, the company can attract employees of the highest caliber who always work at their best because it is natural to them--no rotten apples in that barrel. The profitability will still stay high.
 
I would pull off that pricing in a heartbeat. They will see those numbers and get frustrated. What kind of accounting software are you using? If its computer based, just cut/paste your work order for the day and text it to the crew.

I use quickbooks online, and highly recommend it. I can do everything from my smartphone now. Write estimates, invoice, etc.. I don't need to send my guys with paper invoice. I email one at the end of the day with three options of payment: Credit card (online thru intuit), bank transfer or snail mail via check. Giving these options really made a difference in cash flow, and most people pay within one week. No need for my guys to see or deal with any of this. They are there to get the tree work done, not settle bills.

What I do is keep an online calendar for the whole crew. Everyone on my crew has a smartphone, so it works. They can see the entire job schedule for however far out we are booked, and each day has the days work on it, and how many hours each project should take, as well as address to job. There are no dollar figures on there, just man hours.

Hope you find a way to deal with that problem
 
Boomslang said:
I was in a similar situation before, knowing what the business was bringing in daily and knowing what the crew was making. I never complained about my wage as I was living comfortably and enjoyed the work. However, the boss sat the whole crew down toward the end of the year anyway and broke down his expenses for the year. By the time Liability insurance, Vehicle insurance and maintenance, Equipment maintenance and replacement, Payroll, Advertising, Fuel, Communications (cell phone, landline, internet), etc., etc. were tallied the boss was only taking home maybe double what I was. It was eye-opening for us (the crew) to see the costs of running a business and more importantly I thought of it as good bonding for everyone. The boss trusted and respected us enough to open his books, and we realized he's not some slave driving millionaire.
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We chose the transparency route. Our foreman was shocked and appreciated us sharing it. We pay above industry standard in our area and the crew is wonderful with what they do, however efficiency could be better in the entire company, including myself. Business growth is exciting, yet also a tricky balance and it sure does cost a ton of money to grow. Transparency is what felt right and we are implementing some immediate changes and some in the upcoming weeks. I'm hoping it works in everyone's favor and our company culture is healthy. Thank you for the feedback everyone.
 
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