Unreliable Employees/System

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Benton

Benton

Senior Member
Location
Louisiana
I have a few guys working for me, but I feel as if they can (have) take advantage of my need for them to show up to work. Even one of my lead guys who’s worked for me for years and runs a truck will miss from time to time and now the truck that he has is at his home or something to that effect.

Does anyone have any advice of what type of systematic steps I can take to not be so blindsided by my employees when they are unavailable and unreliable? Does anyone have any advice on how to divvy out company trucks and what type of rules should I said in place with company trucks?

To this point everything has been on a trust system, from my part, but I am finding that it’s becoming my downfall because my employees feel like I need them and it ends up slowing things down when they are not available.
 
James L

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
Sounds like you do need them. When you need them more than they need you, it's an employees' market. When they need you more than you need them, it's an employers' market.

Can you tell us what type of work you do? It might help.

For instance, if you do service work, schedule a day off for one of your heathens, without him knowing. When he comes/calls in for his assignment, tell him you assumed he wanted the day off so you didn't schedule him. Then it's time for a heart to heart

That's not gonna work if he's on a build job, though. Hence the question of what kind of work you do
 
Benton

Benton

Senior Member
Location
Louisiana
James L said:
Sounds like you do need them. When you need them more than they need you, it's an employees' market. When they need you more than you need them, it's an employers' market.

Can you tell us what type of work you do? It might help.

For instance, if you do service work, schedule a day off for one of your heathens, without him knowing. When he comes/calls in for his assignment, tell him you assumed he wanted the day off so you didn't schedule him. Then it's time for a heart to heart

That's not gonna work if he's on a build job, though. Hence the question of what kind of work you do
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You are ABSOLUTELY right! The work in question now is new construction. It sounds like you are confirming what I already have seen and felt is that, I am kind of trapped. Unless you know a way to at least psychologically make them think differently.
 
G

gene6

Senior Member
Location
NY
Occupation
Electrician
When I switched jobs I could tell I was moving into a solid company work wise but much like what you describe, several key employees whom do the new build side are related to the owner and this was for sure going on:
Benton said:
they can (have) take advantage of my need for them to show up to work. Even one of my lead guys who’s worked for me for years and runs a truck will miss from time to time and now the truck that he has is at his home or something to that effect.
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I suggested to run the company like a military base, have everybody report at 6 am, implement rules discipline. But the owner felt the guys would just quit and get work elsewhere. He brought in a HR consultant whom interviewed all of us and just as promptly had everybody pee tested (including the bosses wife and the bookkeeper both run the office). Then the consultant had a fancy lawyer draw up some employment agreements we had to sign, and we had to do some team building training, safety training, implement a more professional dress code...
And the most hilarious part is the consultant barred the boss from talking religion and politics at work, just like the political talk ban on these forums. He had a very large banner on the shop that indicated his voting choice for president which came down. Turns out he was alienating the younger generation.
Also there is some type of complex bonus system for being on time.

So there you go, I just saved you 14 grand on HR consultants.
 
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S

Sparkschaser

Member
Location
Michigan
Occupation
Electrician
I am with petersonra......the first question is why......figure that out first. After that, the heart to heart is easier as you will be discussing relevant information.
 
F

farmantenna

Senior Member
Location
mass
petersonra said:
If your employees do not want to come to work, who is at fault?

You might want to look at why that might be.
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they're probably still drunk from the previous night or they were playing video games all night. That's why they don't want to come to work. They are losers! lazy losers. end of explanation. see it all the time. These type of workers are of no value.
 
H

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
I was fixing an air compressor for a grading contractor (second compressor I had to fix today, motor this time) and the owner was complaining about how random his guys would show up for work. They wouldn’t call, give an excuse or anything.
 
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