Wednesday June 15, 1:49 am ET
Hey, Gladys,
It's summer and my landscaping business is booming. So why am I writing you instead of mowing grass, planting flowers and eliminating weeds from my customer's properties? I have a real problem finding help and when I find help they don't stay after the first paycheck. It's nothing that I'm doing wrong. They say that temperatures are too hot and the work is too hard. I've tried everything to find help that will stay. I have been working from dawn until dark and I am exhausted from overworking. I can't continue like this. Can you make any suggestions?
Jeff
Are your expectations and your workers' expectations on the same page? Do you have a structure that your hires can work with? Do they start work at a certain hour, get time off for lunch, and have a definite ending time to the workday? Or, are you expecting them to work, like you, from dawn until dark?
Sometimes entrepreneurs become over-enthusiastic about developing customers, earning money, and breaking ground to grow their companies. When this happens - and it often does - we overwork ourselves as well as our employees.
Early in my business life I was thrilled at getting new customers daily and even more excited about my earning power. The problem that I had was a revolving door with employees. Shortly after being hired they would quit. I couldn't figure it out. I paid well, the work environment was pleasant and I always provided lunch. "What more could these ungrateful people want?" I often said to myself.
One day I had the ultimate wakeup call - a bureaucrat from the state human relations commission dropped by to check up on my employment practices after a former employee had filed a complaint.
The official had a list of complaints: Long work hours, eating lunch while continuing to work, and no scheduled breaks. I admitted that this was the way things were. After all, I didn't ask the workers to do anything that I didn't do, and this was exactly the way I worked. So, what could be the problem if I'm working right along with the employees? Needless to say I learned that day there are government laws and regulations designed to protect people from uninformed workaholic employers.
I have since realized that a healthy balance between work and pleasure is important to our overall well-being. Working from dawn until dark can become the breeding ground toward poor health in both mind and body.
I am not suggesting that this is your problem. However, there is a reason that people are leaving your employ. Perhaps you could start with evaluating your expectations and working conditions.
If you find that all has checked out well and you are not expecting more from people than they can or should give, move to the next step. Hire the kind of people who enjoy working outdoors. When you find your workers complaining about the heat, you have hired the wrong people. People who enjoy being outdoors don't usually complain about the weather. Take time to write out a job description and detail the requirements for the job.
There are a number of places to find workers. Contact local employment offices; there is a Labor Ready office in most major cities. They have employees lined up every morning looking for work. I have personally never used Labor Ready services but I know many entrepreneurs who have with satisfaction. Post "Help wanted" signs everywhere you can, in grocery stores, church bulletins, trade schools and colleges. Don't forget to notify some of the places that are not obvious, such as local non-profit organizations like the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club. Or even the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. Girls cut grass too!
Be diligent in your search, check your working conditions and most important bring more balance into your life: Make certain that you take time to play as hard as you work.
Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. Click here for an index of her columns. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, 52, is founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, a six-step guide to success published by Viking. You can visit her Web site at www.gladysedmunds.com.
Hey, Gladys,
It's summer and my landscaping business is booming. So why am I writing you instead of mowing grass, planting flowers and eliminating weeds from my customer's properties? I have a real problem finding help and when I find help they don't stay after the first paycheck. It's nothing that I'm doing wrong. They say that temperatures are too hot and the work is too hard. I've tried everything to find help that will stay. I have been working from dawn until dark and I am exhausted from overworking. I can't continue like this. Can you make any suggestions?
Jeff
Are your expectations and your workers' expectations on the same page? Do you have a structure that your hires can work with? Do they start work at a certain hour, get time off for lunch, and have a definite ending time to the workday? Or, are you expecting them to work, like you, from dawn until dark?
Sometimes entrepreneurs become over-enthusiastic about developing customers, earning money, and breaking ground to grow their companies. When this happens - and it often does - we overwork ourselves as well as our employees.
Early in my business life I was thrilled at getting new customers daily and even more excited about my earning power. The problem that I had was a revolving door with employees. Shortly after being hired they would quit. I couldn't figure it out. I paid well, the work environment was pleasant and I always provided lunch. "What more could these ungrateful people want?" I often said to myself.
One day I had the ultimate wakeup call - a bureaucrat from the state human relations commission dropped by to check up on my employment practices after a former employee had filed a complaint.
The official had a list of complaints: Long work hours, eating lunch while continuing to work, and no scheduled breaks. I admitted that this was the way things were. After all, I didn't ask the workers to do anything that I didn't do, and this was exactly the way I worked. So, what could be the problem if I'm working right along with the employees? Needless to say I learned that day there are government laws and regulations designed to protect people from uninformed workaholic employers.
I have since realized that a healthy balance between work and pleasure is important to our overall well-being. Working from dawn until dark can become the breeding ground toward poor health in both mind and body.
I am not suggesting that this is your problem. However, there is a reason that people are leaving your employ. Perhaps you could start with evaluating your expectations and working conditions.
If you find that all has checked out well and you are not expecting more from people than they can or should give, move to the next step. Hire the kind of people who enjoy working outdoors. When you find your workers complaining about the heat, you have hired the wrong people. People who enjoy being outdoors don't usually complain about the weather. Take time to write out a job description and detail the requirements for the job.
There are a number of places to find workers. Contact local employment offices; there is a Labor Ready office in most major cities. They have employees lined up every morning looking for work. I have personally never used Labor Ready services but I know many entrepreneurs who have with satisfaction. Post "Help wanted" signs everywhere you can, in grocery stores, church bulletins, trade schools and colleges. Don't forget to notify some of the places that are not obvious, such as local non-profit organizations like the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club. Or even the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. Girls cut grass too!
Be diligent in your search, check your working conditions and most important bring more balance into your life: Make certain that you take time to play as hard as you work.
Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. Click here for an index of her columns. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, 52, is founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, a six-step guide to success published by Viking. You can visit her Web site at www.gladysedmunds.com.
