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Thread: Employing Staff.

  1. #46
    Member Macka's Avatar
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    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    $25 per hour plus Super plus $5 from each lawn that he brings to the business paid as a bonus each year if he doent leave, if i sack him he still gets the bonus

  2. #47
    Member mowbro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    I would figure if you had a worthwhile employee you would pay them More than $22 p/Hr. If you want to keep them you need to make it worth it for them.
    My employee understands that I may chase some work/quotes etc while leaving him to do some of the not so liked work. He knows that if he wants his preferred hours we both must be flexible with workloads.
    He is my brother so understands what's expected but that's the type of working arrangement you need to have otherwise it's always going to be a hard gig.
    You also need to see what's available in today's market place and what incentives their are available for you.
    An older employee suited me because we have regular work and work at just a steady pace. This suits both of us as we both have the aches and pains of many older people in this industry and we prefer go usually work well within our limits.
    You really need to work out what you want from your business and what you are prepared to do and if the expected headaches you may get from employing will give you the results you want.
    We would still be in the dark ages if everyone looked at the obstacles to employing and then just put it in the "too hard " basket
    Couldn't agree with you more, John.

    Generally speaking, your employees will only give as much as they see you giving. They will become like their surroundings.

    If you only get them to be your 'garden maid' and tidy up behind you, get paid $20(ish) an hour, never given an opportunity to use the ride on mower, never invested in from a skills point of view and just continue to pull weeds, rake leaves and push a Honda around all day, then you will end up with a worker who is disgruntled, doesn't take initiative, lacks more advanced skills, and will take a sick day even if he's not actually feeling sick because they don't enjoy their job.

    Quite honestly, if you're employing with a purely 'what can my employee do for me' mentality, then you shouldn't be enjoying someone at all. I know guys who've complained about having terrible employees for years, but never taken the time to look at them selves in the mirror from an employers perspective.

    It's not just 'luck' that gets you a good employee. I work hard to make sure that my employees are satisfied. As a direct result, they work hard for me and I can trust them to do a job without me just as well as I could have done it myself. If they enjoy who they work for, the environment that they're working in and feel like their experiencing new things, and feel valued and respected, then their far less likely to head out and do their own thing, or be terrible at working for you.

  3. #48
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    Quote Originally Posted by mowbro View Post
    Couldn't agree with you more, John.

    Generally speaking, your employees will only give as much as they see you giving. They will become like their surroundings.

    If you only get them to be your 'garden maid' and tidy up behind you, get paid $20(ish) an hour, never given an opportunity to use the ride on mower, never invested in from a skills point of view and just continue to pull weeds, rake leaves and push a Honda around all day, then you will end up with a worker who is disgruntled, doesn't take initiative, lacks more advanced skills, and will take a sick day even if he's not actually feeling sick because they don't enjoy their job.

    Quite honestly, if you're employing with a purely 'what can my employee do for me' mentality, then you shouldn't be enjoying someone at all. I know guys who've complained about having terrible employees for years, but never taken the time to look at them selves in the mirror from an employers perspective.

    It's not just 'luck' that gets you a good employee. I work hard to make sure that my employees are satisfied. As a direct result, they work hard for me and I can trust them to do a job without me just as well as I could have done it myself. If they enjoy who they work for, the environment that they're working in and feel like their experiencing new things, and feel valued and respected, then their far less likely to head out and do their own thing, or be terrible at working for you.
    ......yeah but and here's the kicker at some stage that good employee will wake up one day, no matter how well they are treated (the good ones almost always do no matter how you look after them) and say why should i be working for you for $30 an hr when i can go work for myself for $70,$80,$100 plus an hour, i can set my own hours and do things the way i want things done and never have to answer to a boss ever again. I mean that's why most of us get into this game to become our own boss and be in control of our own destiny to some degree.

    If its working for you stick with it, but lets face it for the vast majority of contractors they'd be far better chasing premium work, working for premium customers, rather than chasing volume, clogging up there round with bad payers, bad jobs. Far less hassle working solo. You aren't chasing debts and late payers because you've culled all those from your round. You aren't being messed around on a weekly basis running a staff member. You aren't getting snowed under with all the extra paperwork that goes with extra customers and running staff and for what a few extra dollars that really don't amount to much at the end of the year once you are taxed and all your expenses and extra running costs are taken out.

  4. #49
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    Quote Originally Posted by South East Mowing View Post
    We would still be in the dark ages if everyone looked at the obstacles to employing and then just put it in the "too hard " basket
    I would say the gardening industry is stuck in the dark ages in a lot of ways. Compare it to how far other trades have come in the last 20 years and we don't stack up too well on most things. Wages..... um nope we would be one of the worse paying trades, Oh&S compliance.....arh no, professionalism.....it's gotten better buts it's still not where it should be, machinery.....in some ways yes but for the most part the machines i'm using today are very similar to what i was using when i started 25 years ago.

    We haven't progressed. Which in a lot of ways makes it harder to attract good staff which brings me right back to my original point that i posted earlier.

  5. #50
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
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    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    It's the wrong line of work to be bringing in employees.I agree with others who say yes it can come back to bite you when you realize one of your current or ex employees is stealing jobs from you by undercutting you.As no big outlay is required in getting started and a employer who got them started with trained confidence.

  6. #51

    Default Re: Employing Staff.

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    It's the wrong line of work to be bringing in employees.I agree with others who say yes it can come back to bite you when you realize one of your current or ex employees is stealing jobs from you by undercutting you.As no big outlay is required in getting started and a employer who got them started with trained confidence.
    Many things can come back to bite you. All I was trying to say is everyone has different needs and wants for their business.
    Some put "hiring employees" into their business plan & some don't. Many make a good go of it and heaps don't.
    Is the glass half full or half empty??

    It's working for me again after 5 years of casuals who used it as a fill in job with varying results.

    I find many are employees because they don't have what it takes to start and run a business. Hired quite a few over the years and never had anyone leave a steal clients off me. Probably can happen in many areas but again it's just "horses for courses" Each to their own!

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