Thread: Employee & Operating costs

What??? No one gonna take a stab here... at least throw me a bone something!!

Hey Craig,
You know Im gonna chime in on this one. Im strickly commission right now. 30% across the board. I know that we have spoke on the phone about this but the hourly thing drives me crazy on the slow days. The guys used to lolly gag around in the morning and throughout the day to get their hours in. It drove me crazy. I know that our situations are different so I wont go on. Do you still have your senior employee still working for you? Hows he taking the hourly thing?


Steve

Originally Posted by Sparkle Window Cleaning

Also...im seriously looking to switch to a different payroll service to hopefully shave some expense as well.

Outside of that are any of you cutting hours with slower times and or cutting back on expenses that are not totally necessary?

We are actually debating axing our payroll service and bringing it in house for "the money lady" to do. She says she can do them just as easy through quick books, for a fraction on the cost.

No hourly for us. Too many people just milking the clock. Percentage makes the guys take that extra job at the end of the day, make the window count extremely accurate, cuts back on call backs and I think it motivates employees to hustle and do a stellar job every time. Best of ALL, the company knows what it brings in as soon as the bill is written. The only time the guys aren't making bank is when they are doing commercial store front work. We have almost all of our guys fully trained in residential and commercial. This way everyone has 1 or 2 days of commercial so the pay field is leveled. This is the first year the company is paying this way, we like it and so do the guys and girls.

Thanks for the input guys! As for Steve's question ...he's dealing with it of course i still hear some static but..like i told him nothing personal ALL business!

I can totally relate to the commission game,wish i could still be playing it sometimes as that would be the hot ticket on the leaner days but..just not doable for me because...my main guys was use to getting 37% alone nevermind a helper or 2nd guy.

You see out here to keep a good cleaner there is NO way a low commission would work.I believe in part its due to the cost of living (here in cali) but nevertheless,i save big time on labor with hourly on decent days. At least the difference i would be paying out on commission is handling the cost associated with that employee matching taxes,work comp etc.

I believe call backs can happen with both scenario's hourly or commission because if there hauling (commission mentality) there more prone to make mistakes (especially on slammed days) the only downfall with hourly is you have to pay them to go back to fix whereas..commission it wouldn't cost you to send them back but...then there's the gas & wear & tear on the vehicle.

Truly a dual edged sword IMHO!

See where your coming from Craig. Its hard to keep everyone happy and be fair all the time. And I believe we are in the same boat with the high cost of living. Here in New Jersey I know the cost of living is the highest in the country or very close to it. If a couple of our guys have a real bad week we try to throw them a little extra money just to show we care and we want them to stick around.

Yeah...no doubt! Its really a catch 22 i try myself to help ease the burden but...i can only do so much. I've been at this long enough to see how things can "unfold" with both scenario's(HOURLY VS COMMISSION) of course...i was using the worst case to make my example.

Thats why i threw out what i did to get a feel for how some of you deal with it?

I know from experience good employee's pay they dont cost but...lets face it the bottom line is "Profit" when thats affected greatly we start to really examine things a bit closer as with what i've been doing.

I talked to a guy at the convention last year about how he pays. He has multiple crews and pays his crew leaders a percentage (40%). The helpers get an hourly wage that is taken out of the crew leaders percentage. It seems to make sense because the crew leaders keep the hourly guys hustling. Also the more the crew leaders up-sell services the more they make. The crew leaders are responsible for all call backs too. So if there is a call back they are losing money. Even more incentive to keep the hourly guys on track. He did tell me that his system only really works if you have multiple crews.

I myself pay hourly now because I am there to start and finish almost all jobs and I only have 1 full time employee year round. And hire seasonal help as needed. Sure the leaner days I don't make out as well but I make a killing on the big days.

Hey Craig, I thought you were using some service for employees. Workman's Comp and the payroll is not included? What is included?