[jwholden]

On Saturday I gave my guys a bonus of $100 each when we finished , figuring they should be rewarded for good attendance and excellent effort over the past month. I had a sinking feeling about my generosity when my wife asked what my plan was for today.

I explained the plan, but then said I suspect my employee who has missed no days in 1 1/2 months will see an opportunity to miss one. Monday comes and one hour before start time I get the call, he has to go do whatever.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, and won't be the last, but it really pisses me off that someone would take advantage of a situation like that. It pisses me off more that I keep doing stupid things like giving bonuses , but I think that will be it for the year!

Not really looking for input, just venting and letting you all know you're not alone...

[Paul]

You mean that you didn't give your people the National Holiday off? We enjoyed a nice three day weekend and everyone was on time to begin work today.















Of course if they had worked on Monday it would have been double time and it gets a bit expensive at $75 per hour...............

[HRLand]

How do you handle holidays like this past Independance day? How many here let their employees take the day off? Do you pay them for this one even though it's not the actual holiday?

We didn't work on Monday basically because I wanted a day off but I saw alot of companies out there like it was any other Monday.

[Stonehenge]

We were out there like it was any other Monday. It's not an actual holiday, but since I give them paid holidays, to be a nice guy I gave them 8 hours to use as a vacation day some other time.

There were a few places open Monday, but when we were out working, it was like the movie 28 Days Later - it was just silent.

[Pelican]

I'm so far behind where I want to be I couldn't afford the day off. I'm working in a development under construction and we were the only ones working, all the other contractors were off. My materials suppliers were all closed too, but fortunately I have a friend with bulk materials in his yard.

I give the guys certain holidays when they fall during the week, but yesterday was a regular day for us. My men haven't put me in the mood to be real generous this season, I've had to handle a lot of complaints and fix screw ups. Tonight I found my own lampost has been hit by a mower and damaged, no one told me about it!

[jwholden]

That should have been Tuesday (this) morning comes.

My wife informed me the world was closed on Monday and I wanted the day off so I took it as well. We worked Saturday figuring a nice two day weekend.

My theory is the people that work for us should be treated as people, not slaves. I also like the idea I scratch your back you scratch mine. This is what has me incensed (sp?).

[VoodooChile]

We took Monday off, mostly because you feel like an intruder when you work through a holiday in a resort community like Lake Geneva, and in truth, I can't resist a reason to loaf hard.

John, I find your post very intriguing. Are you suggesting that your employees took advantage of you because you were generous, or you were perceived as "soft", or you perceive yourself as "soft"?

I'm "soft", or understanding with my guys and their situations, but we screen really hard when hiring and weed out unreliable employees aggressively. We always pay on Fridays, and usually the guys who can't handle their pocket full of change and liquor are fired in a fortnight max, when they don't show at the beginning of the following week.

Some slip through, and after surviving their probation, fly their true colors, mostly because they explain they need Friday afternoon off to resurrect their mother from the dead, and I say "Sure, and let me know how it works out", and then the following week they need to cyrogenicly freeze their mother's brother's wife's cousin's poodle, and I say, "Well just this once," and then they need the following Monday to save their mother and the poodle from a wayward asteroid destined to destroy the planet, and I say "Too bad for your mother, the poodle, you and the planet. You're fired."

When I was learning to never teach high school History, all the vets would say, "Don't smile until Christmas." Might apply to you and me both, John!

[chesie]

We took the 3 day weekend. It was much needed. We haven't had the intermixed rain days that provide periodic days off. So we did holiday pay for monday. Just not quite sure where the 3 days went

[Wild child]

We Took the three days off, much needed for them and my family and myself. My suppliers and the world around us seemed shut down as well. Didn't see much action from other companies, or our suppliers.
No holiday pay here.

[jwholden]

Voodoo,

I think both my employees and myself percieve me as 'soft'. Never was a hardass, not my style.

I predicted that my guy would miss that day because it has happened, with him, other days after I gave a bonus. Is that one missed day really worth trading him in for someone who will most likely miss more days and have to learn the whole system again? Probably not.

BTW, I'm to blame for this situation. I give anyone with more than a season with me five days to miss, with pay, with no consequences. I think it is a nice incentive and I vowed I wouldn't go ballistic until after the days were used (preferably not in a row). Last I checked most people with real jobs are treated this way.

I've talked to others in the area and it sounds like this is an unheard of concept. Perhaps I've gone too far.

New thought:
One observation I've made is to never judge an employee by the first week of work, especially the first day. Wait until they settle down after the second week to see what they are really about. I almost laughed last year when a guy hit me up for a raise at the end of his first day. He didn't last a month due to a 'family issue'. Soft yes, stupid no!

[VoodooChile]

John,
I think you have gone too far. 5 days off, with pay, no prior warning, NO WAY!!! I know we both run small crews, and if one guy is missing it can set us back on a job and for the week, costing a ton of money.

For example, a guy of mine got busted this Spring for cracking a beer in his car, and essentially disappeared for three days. The first day he missed we took delivery of 10 yards of Merimac B, and it was left to me, my other guy, and a Dingo to get this out and spread. We wound up not finishing this job that day and week, and had to come back, set-up, finish and clean-up one additional time. Man hour wise we were looking at maybe six additional hours to complete the work, but since half of an extra day was involved, we had all that added time that had nothing to do with actually finishing, not just this job but also the other job that finishing this job cut into. Figure 3 man hours per travel-time/setup, 3 per cleanup, we are talking 6 additional hours per job, X 2 jobs, or 12 additional hours @ $45 = $540 this one incident cost me.

Needless to say, this guy is no longer with me....

Our approach to employees' needs is to stress the importance of reliability. During their one month probationary period failure to call or show on time is grounds for immediate release. We do explain why this is so, and I do share some stories about the fates of former employees.

On the "soft" side, I am always accommodating with reasonable requests. If someone needs off, and gives me adequate warning, then that's fine. We don't however pay for personal days. We have always tried to pay above the regional rate, and reward quickly for good performance, and saved the freebies for company field trips.

I am not timid about nipping problems in the bud, and feel that I can spot who is gonna work out pretty quick; after twenty plus years of supervising laborers, you get a good feel for who is gonna pan.

Some of my rules/prejudices: 1) Anyone who smokes won't pan, 2) Anyone who considers chips and soda a lunch, won't pan, 3) Anyone who denies the work is hard, won't pan, and 4) Anyone who doesn't have long term goals, won't pan.

The biggest problem with an accommodating management style is that some employees find it a slippery slope, and soon they want to work a three day week, with four days off to recover!

[Stonehenge]

JW, I think I tend to lean more toward Voodoo. I absolutely judge a new employee during the first weeks - if they can't be on time and genuinely interested in the job during that time, they won't 'learn to love the job'. I see the first few weeks as the meat grinder period. You throw a new employee in, and treat him with respect, but grind him up as best you can, with the hardest work you can. If at the end of those few weeks he makes a good hamburger, then he's a keeper.

[jwholden]

Voodoo,

I totally hear you on one guy missing a day screws up your week. Needless to say myself and one employee didn't finish the full days work scheduled for three guys on Tuesday, and the return trip on Wednesday had us finishing up around 1:30 in the afternoon. If we went back to the shop and retooled we would have gotten to the next job just in time to go home.

The thing that annoys me most is that I needed a day to catch up on estimates. Had I gotten a call the night before I would have been fine with it and given my other employee the day off so I could play catch up. I was working on tuesday with a big puss on my face thinking how my time is more valuable catching up on estimates than performing garden maintenance.

As far as smokers go, I totally agree.

Genuine interest in the job is awsome. I love to see that!

Until my current crew I hadn't kept an employee more that three or four months. Perhaps I've slacked off too much, but I'm getting spoiled with guys that show up (almost)daily, don't bitch one bit about the heat, and know how to smile while doing hard work. There are some negatives I deal with that I won't go into here, but I'm not perfect either.

In the big picture 'most' days I've got two eager hardworking employees who enjoy thier work. I think that's half the battle. We worked until 8:30 on Friday because I couldn't work Saturday, I didn't hear one complaint.