Ive always been terribly reliant on OT in years past. The guys I have dont mind working long hours and love their fat checks but Im rethinking that this year. Sales projections are up 20% already but Im looking at increasing labor by way more than, maybe as much as 50%, to get myself out of paying OT completely. What do you guys think? Has anyone else looked into relying on more part time labor?
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Sales are vanity, Profit is sanity, and Cash is King.
We pretty much stopped doing the OT thing a few years ago, unless under a real time crunch. Just ate into margins too much. We don't rely on part timers, we just hang right around 40 hours each week.
I'm like Stone on this one...And I've been surprised that the guys rarely want OT.
And it's inevitable that production and quality would be expected to decrease after 40 (if you're working hard, of course)..So paying extra to get less seems counterintuitive, in general. Though necessary at times.
I rely on part-time and temp labor a lot. My main core group of guys still get their fair share of OT. When the schedule begins to fill up and the weather starts to change my full timers each get a part-timer or temp or two and a list of projects. As we get closer to winter the part-timers and temps are phased out as the schedule shrinks until we are back to two "super crews" and sometimes even one.
My OT averages about the same each year and the temps don't count toward my WC or GLI ratings come audit time.
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Rick Hayden
Hayden Landscaping Inc.
www.haydenlandscaping.com
We are not required to pay overtime to our employees. I have an average of 55 hours per week at reg. pay. If it is a holiday they are welcome to stay home or they can work for holiday pay and their reg. salary.
I'm thinking of keeping hours around 40 also. overtime just eats up your profit sooooooooo fast. I wish we didn't have to pay overtime. I know some companies around here don't, they could get in major trouble too. If we have a job over an hour away, I'm thinking of doing stayaways to cut down on drive time( jobs over 3 days).
Right about OT eating profits. Last spring was a killer. Trying to get our cleanups done before grass grew was a nail biter. Had to deal with losing 10 days of April to snow. The guys were getting 60-70 hours per week. OUCH.
This year, assuming slight increase in workload, we will hire another full timer to bring OT down. Also will try a 4 day schedule with 10 hour days. Fridays will be off.
We are not required to pay overtime to our employees.
Has it always been that way in Canada? That would certainly change the way many business owners in the United States look at things.
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As a father I was always aware that I was raising my sons to leave home, marry, establish families, and be men who could stand on their own two feet. We must fulfill our own destiny. I really wasn't concerned about what they might 'do' but I wanted them to 'be' good men.
- David Epps
I would suggest you taking a day off work and staying at the daycare with your son for a day. Don't let him know you are staying just find a place to sit and observe. Of course it may be impossible for him to not see you there, so you may need to act like you are leaving as usual and then pop back in after a while. Do Not tell the daycare staff that you are planning this. On the day that you do it tell them why you are there and that you just wanted to be reassured that there wasn't a problem. It is the only way you will really know what goes on is to be there and see for yourself. Best Wishes.
well I didnt keep my word this year - OT was more than ever. There was not a single pay period that I didnt see approximately 25% of the time worked at OT. And truly, I didnt see it eat up my profit at all. In fact, my spreadsheet confirms that as I increase OT, at the same hourly rate, my NET increases beyond 40/wk.
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Sales are vanity, Profit is sanity, and Cash is King.
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