How do you handle coverage when employees are out on vacation?
We’re dealing with this right now. Our best employee is moving out of state, which already puts us in a transition period. At the same time, 2 of our employees are taking vacation, so we’re going to be under capacity for the next few days. That means my wife and I are picking up the slack. And realistically, it’s going to be some very long days of scoops. This is one of those parts of running a route-based business that doesn’t get talked about enough. When everything is fully staffed, the schedule looks fine. Then one person leaves, someone gets sick, someone has PTO, the weather throws things off, or a route runs long, and suddenly you realize how thin the operation actually is. I don’t blame employees for taking time off. People need vacations. They have families, lives, and things outside of work. But as the owner, you still have to figure out how to protect the customer experience when capacity drops. A few things I’m thinking through right now: how much extra capacity should we have built into the schedule? when should we stop accepting new jobs temporarily? when does it make sense for owners to jump back in? how much notice should we require for vacation requests? should we cross-train more people across routes? how do we avoid burning out the rest of the team when someone is gone? The hard part is that smaller service businesses usually do not have a deep bench. One or 2 people being gone can completely change the week. This is also making me think more seriously about building routes and hiring plans around capacity gaps, not just normal weeks. Because normal weeks are easy to plan for. The stressful weeks expose the weak spots. When employees are on vacation or you’re temporarily short-staffed, do you: - reschedule customers? - have owners cover the work? - limit new jobs? - bring in part-time help? - build extra capacity into the schedule year-round? - something else?Thoughts on hiring experienced workers ($$$), or newbies ($) for a new/small business
I am a small fine gardening business and am seeing the need to hire someone to take over the lions share of my day to day position out in the field. I have a part time person who works with me 2 days/week and they came to me knowing very little of the work. I don't trust them to go to sites without me over and over because their knowledge and skills are not there yet. Question is: do I spend more money and hire a knowledgeable person with extensive horticultural knowledge that I would have more confidence in (but also a higher risk of them leaving to go work on their own as many of us do in this biz), or do I find another newbie and try to give that a go again? Thank you! The goal is to free up my time to do more business and design work in the office rather than be out in the field every day and do office work in the evenings.When do you know when to start hiring?
Here at GB Plumbing, we knew we should be starting to hire when we were working over 70 hours a week and not seeing any slow down with jobs coming in. We’re now up to 3 trucks, and are looking to hire again as things continue to keep growing and we want to continue to provide more services to our community.
Commission Based Pay?
Hey guys! Wondering if anyone here has experience with paying employees commission instead of hourly. How is that working for you guys? How do you have it set up to where you’re making the profit you need and the employee is happy and motivated to work hard? At what percentage do you pay? Thanks!How long do you train a new employee before letting them work routes alone?
We’re currently hiring 2 new scoopers, so I’ve been thinking a lot about training expectations and how quickly a new employee should be trusted to run routes independently. Right now, our training process is usually around 2 weeks. That gives them time to get comfortable with: our job flow checklists customer notes “on the way” messages completion expectations how to walk a yard properly how to identify problem areas the actual technique of scooping efficiently how to handle gates, dogs, and customer-specific instructions With pet waste removal, the job sounds simple from the outside. But there’s a big difference between “walking around picking up poop” and actually knowing how to service a yard thoroughly, efficiently, and consistently. A new employee has to learn how to scan the yard, follow patterns, avoid missing areas, manage time, respect the customer’s property, and communicate properly when something is off. I also don’t want to rush someone onto a route too fast and create callbacks, missed areas, or customer trust issues. At the same time, training too long can be expensive and slow down capacity when you’re trying to grow. So I’m curious how other route-based or service businesses handle this. How long do you typically train a new employee before they work alone?
Where do I hire a qualified box truck driver willing to do hard work?
I run a growing local food scrap hauling and composting business in Louisville, and we’re looking to hire a dependable part-time route driver for box truck and step van work. The job involves early mornings, local routes, heavy wheeled bins, liftgates, outdoor work in all weather, and a long drive down some windy country roads after backing in and out of loading docks downtown. For those of you who have hired solid delivery or route drivers before, where have you had the best luck finding hardworking, reliable people who are comfortable with physical work and independent routes? Indeed? Amazon/FedEx drivers? Word of mouth? Looking for advice from folks who have actually found good people.Upsides and downsides of hiring a summer helper?
I am thinking about hiring someone to help me in the busy season and the idea of a high school kid as a summer job sounds like a promising idea. I wouldn't have to pay them a crazy salary, they are like sponges with information and they are typically more physically full of energy. I wouldn't be able to send them on their own, but they could help me get a few more jobs done in a day. I am wondering if anyone has tried this and what would be the pros and cons of doing it?
Where do you find the best workers to hire?
Where have you had luck finding new members for your business? I have several avenues that I would like to try but I'm wondering who has had good luck and where you've had that luck. Vocational schools? Facebook job posting? Next Door? Anyone use Home Depot's hiring through their Pro Network? Looking for the best starting point. Thank you in advance for your feedback!
