[Stonehenge]

I've been finding that over the last 6 years of the life of my business, the primary employees I seem to attract are those that are very young. 19-22 seems to be the main age bracket.

On the up side, they tend to be young and fit. On the down side, for the most part they live at home, are not very motivated or are lazy, don't always bring a great attitude to work and can have there heads turned for $.25/hr more than what they're making now.

I haven't been able to attract too many people older than 22. These folks tend to be a bit more stable, having been around the block a few times, maybe have kids. To me they seem to be a bit more responsible, having a good deal of responsibilities already (more than someone living w/ Mom and Dad). The problem is, I never seem to be able to offer a package that these kinds of people want. What's more, if my business is ever going to start getting bigger, I need to have a few good people on board for awhile.

With that, what kind of package would be reasonable to attract these kinds of people?

When you hire these folks, what's their starting wage (range)?

Do you offer Medical/Dental? How much do you lay out for their bennies?

Are there other fringe benefits you offer?

I'm at a point (I've actually been at this point for awhile) that I have a hard time stomaching training most or all new employees each year, and I've seen the benefit of keeping people around for more than a year. I'd like to make it more, and I'm no longer afraid of writing bigger checks.

Also, what about winter work? Plowing here is spotty at best, and we're not into it yet, so what can be done there? Do you offer medical through the winter, even though they aren't employed? Lay them off and cross your fingers that they return in spring?

I want to provide a long term, stable job for a few people, but am not sure how to go about doing it.

Ok, I'm rambling a bit here, I guess because I've been faced with this each Spring and am really tired of it. Any help would be monumentally appreciated.

Jeff