I need advice...

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Big D 40

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I have an employee who came to me this evening stating that he loved working for my company but he was offered another job with a local contractor making $2 more on the hour. This particular employee was hired less then 9 months ago and has been given 2 pay increases since then. I hire all of my people green mainly because I do not want any bad habits coming into my shop. I have a policy of giving raises every 6 months based on dependablity, performance, ect. and I am pretty liberal with time off, holidays, and the like. It shocked me that he was so brazen to ask if I would match the competitors price. I told him that I did not in good faith think that it would be the right or fair thing to do and that he could walk if he wanted. Now I am having second thoughts and wondering if I really did the right thing. Any suggestions? By the way he is going to let me know tomorrow if he is leaving.

Thanks!:confused:
 
Do you ever play Poker?
It sounds like a bluff to me, or he would have told you right then he was leaving.
If you give him more pay what consideration will he give you to not do this again?
Will he sign a contract to stay on for a year? at this pay rate?
Negotiate.
If you don't pay up he has to leave or he can't do this game again.

1)Tell him he's fire for even trying this.
2) Offer only $1 more p/hour but its a raise in advance of his next which he won't get.
3) If he is this aggresive about this. what make you think he won't be stealing your customers in a few years? We all know how that works. LET HIM GO
 
Do you own the company? If so then you are the only employee that cannot be replaced. Employees get raises because they deserve a raise. Not because they asked for one. If that was the cirteria for getting a raise there would be alot of super wealthy employees out there.

I had an employee a while back hint around at me that his former employer offerd more money to get him back. He was really not that good an electrician and I honestly was thinking about letting him go.

He finished a project we had, I went to his house the next day and informed him he was fired. He seemed hurt, I told him " I am going to make 3 people happy here, first your former employer because he wants you back so bad, next you are going to be happy because you told me he was going to pay you more money, and finally I will be happier because you caused me to take a loss on this last project". I have not once regretted letting him go.

If any of my employees demands more money I tell them if they need more money then get it from performance bonuses. If they want more by the hour and it is that much, I tell them see ya !
 
First question is, do you have him enrolled in a formal trainning program?, if you do, then he knows exactly what his raises will be, and when he will get them, and it is very rare, for someone your trainning and investing time in leaves, if he is not enrolled in a formal program, then might it be, the other contractor will get him registered, and offer him the 4 year program with known rate increases?

My view on him comming, and asking for a match in rates, would have me looking for someone else, if he asks; and you give in, it will never stop, a few months down the road, and he will hit you up again, not the kind of employee anyone wants.

Does he know that the other contractor, may be busy right now, and just needs a body for a while, and sure he will pay a bit more, he dosen't intend to keep him on, as soon as work slows, this guy will be back looking for his job back, this is common in this business, when they come back we just say sorry, we have nothing open.
 
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thanks guys for all of the good advice. I am the owner of the company and I have only been in business for a year and a half. I do an in house training with all of my guys once a week. And I try the best I can to be fair with everyone. I think you all are right about him and I guess I now need to decide whether I should grow a set of b@lls or let him walk all over me.:rolleyes:
 
I'll throw in my $2 worth. The only questions I have, is he worth the raise? Is he making you the kind of money that warrents a raise of $2. If you answer yes to this question I think it is fair for him to ask and fair for you to pay it. I worked for an EC years ago who gave me $5.25 worth in raises over a 8 month period. Why? Because I deserved it and he knew it. And I didn't have to ask him for the raises they just showed up in my checks and each time when he gave me the check that had a raise he said don't worry the figures are right on this. I had another employer that I asked for a $2 an hour raise and told him I was thinking of leaving if I didn't get it. He gave me $1.50 -three months later I was in business for myself and now do all their contract electrical work since I am the one who installed all the new systems that they have.

Bottom line is if you like the guy and he is good and making you the money he needs to pay him and he will make you even more.
 
Big D 40 said:
By the way he is going to let me know tomorrow if he is leaving.

Thanks!:confused:
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That means he doesn't know if the other guy will actually give him that money.

It reminds me of...well....ME

I played that game with almost every contractor I worked for. I was a quick study when it came to hands on stuff...but a bit dense (and still am) when it came to book learnin'.
I would tell the guy I worked for that Joe's EC would give me $x more per hour....hoping my guy would give me 1/2 $x. Never happened..my guy would call the bluff and I had a choice - take nada and look like a fool, or walk. So I would walk.
When I got another job, I would tell the new guy that the old guy was paying me $x...he would say, I'll try you out at $x - $1.
I really didn't gain much, monitarily speaking, from this "act"...and spent a lot of time looking for a job.

See what happens tom'row....and let us know if he walks.
 
How good is he and how busy are you? How hard is it to find good help in your area? Is he making you money? Questions you need to ask yourself,
Employees come and go. That's part of business.
If he is good and if help is hard to find then maybe it time to make a deal with him. Give him $1.00 now and tell him in a few months he will get the other $1.00. At least it's buying you some time to either find new help or see if he is worth the money.
There is an old saying "You have to feed the mouth that feeds you" it's only when he has his fingers in your plate that is the time to let him go.
 
Are you paying a competetive wage? If so giving in to his demands will bite you real quick. Soon others will know about it and do the same. If you have a pay and rate structure in place stick with it but evaluate it on occassion.

Talk to your people regularly and let them know whats what, keep them informed and make them feel like part of your company. If there only interest is short term monetary gains then he will leave eventually any way.

Change your people or "change" your people.
 
Pay him only if he's worth it. I don't have any schedule for raises. When they are worth a raise, they get a raise. My guys know I do the best I can for them, so If someone came to me with the scenario you described, I would not hesitate to suggest he take the other offer. If your employee is not lying about his offer, you really can't blame him for asking. If he is bluffing, I really wouldn't want him to stay on anyway, as I'd wonder how his dishonest actions will progress. Almost sounds like lose/ lose situation. Keep us posted, and good luck.
 
My advice is to do nothing other than to "knock the ball into his side of the court," and get back to work yourself. Tell him that he is free to make his own decisions. You have a career path to offer him, the terms of which you have already laid down. If those terms do not suit his likings, then he must decide what he wishes to do about it.

My long-held understanding, though I have no statistics to back this up, is that if you give a person more money in situations like this, the person will leave within a few months anyway.

If you think this person is worth keeping around, then do, absolutely do tell him that. But make sure he knows what is available to him at your company, and make sure he knows that that is all that is available. If he stays, it is more likely that he will be more loyal because you have been honest with him.
 
It sounds to me like you run a pretty good and fair shop. If you have a 6 months raise policy I wouldn?t deviate from that policy. We all go to work to make money, but money is not the only motivation to work for someone.
People can never make enough money and if he is hitting you up for a raise now, there is no guarantee that he won?t try to go to the well again six months from now.
 
update

update

First let me say thanks to every response. I decided to do the hard thing and that was to let him go. So I took the advise of one of the respondents and went over to his house last evening and let him know that I was letting him go. My suspect that he had already made up his mind to leave anyway, because he didn't bat an eye.
He was an employee who had a track record of calling off often. In 9 months he had called off 13 times. I know..you're thinking that should have been the hand writing on the wall. And as a matter of fact, 2 months ago, I gave him his walking papers only to have him literally cry and beg for another chance. Was he a good worker..yes, when he was there. A very likable guy and one that I hoped would stay with the company and grow. This is my hope for all my guys, but money talks and the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
Thanks again to all...by the way any one need a job???:rolleyes:
 
Big D 40 said:
...by the way any one need a job???:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I take a lot of time off....it'll be hard switching hats from employer to employee, but I'm willing to give you a chance ;)
 
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