employees suck

Yep today was fun! After slacking off from time to time n not following directions, also multi. warnings! The last straw was a no show! How much I wish that cloning myself was a option. Finding qaulity workers is very hard. I have been through 8 people in 2 years. I very close to picking up day labor, they work harder for cheaper. The only down side is that I have speak spanish, but I don't know how to. That means taking a class to learn how, whn am I going to find time to do that!

If anybody thinks they have a solution to this proplem let me know please!

It aleast saves me $1500-$2000 a month

send them to learn english

sometimes, I think I do this all day long. when dealing with people in general. Don't worry it does it get better. I just can't tell you when.

That"s why I work alone,everytime I show someone a few things they mess some thing up or don't show up. Then I have to do twice the work. I will take my chanes alone.

I h@te no shows We have been discussing hiring someone for years...but this is one of the reasons why we haven't!

The thing that hurts me is that I'm trying to grow this business, so it can run by it self! So i can start my next venture, but this is just part of this life sometime you just have to start over and kick out the bad to hopefully bring in the better! Business all ways grows and employees will fall every time!

Thats why you find someone trust worthy, which I know can be hard for I am in the same boat at times but it will all boil down to money. If your employee is well paid it should show in his work ethic and responsibilities. If he is happy then he will be a good employee, if he is not happy then you dont want him around.

I agree with that statement.You pay for what you get.It is hard to find someone with the same work ethics as you.It is your bussiness and you are trying to make it grow. Trying to find someone that has that same frame of mind is hard to find.(washboy) what is your next venture?

I have alot of ideas, but the two I'm working on right now are a shopping cart cleaning biz, tint, and custom molded ear plugs!

o to have a shop run itself! I had one for 9 years and had some good guys, but when I left town---
I know a couple of solid absentee owned shops, so it's possible.
good luck.

[quote=kats2112,Feb 16 2006, 08:22 PM]
o to have a shop run itself! I had one for 9 years and had some good guys, but when I left town---
I know a couple of solid absentee owned shops, so it's possible.
good luck.


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Employees are always the number one problem in every detailing business I have ever seen. I just had a kid that has worked for me for almost a year tell me Saturday at 3:00 pm that he is starting a new job Monday morning - no notice, no nothing. This is after asking 2 weeks earlier for full time employment for the summer and guaranteeing that he will be able to work while I am away in March. His response was that he didn't want to give notice that he may have another job or I might find someone else to replace him and if the other job didn't work out then he would be screwed. Better that the business gets screwed right because we make all the money in the world and can afford all the problems this causes.

Everyone will be your friend untill money+power come into play. They allways try to get the upper hand on you just when your not looking.
Yes, it's alot of work detailing a car, but it can easily be done if your are trained right. Now it's just coming up with a way to make people last.
People h@te too work hard these days

That's right.But they want that paycheck.

that all that goes through there head for the most part. I love when they ask for a raise cuse they work hard for a couple days, but as soon as you tell them keep up the good work and than I will see about bumping you up, the that when the lazyness comes to play

I call that blowing smoke up your butt .But they think we don't see it.

wash you say they will always try to get the upper hand on you well it has been my experience and probably many others including yourself that the boss has tried to get one over on you too. It is not just the employees that do the screwing, the owners do it probably just as much.

Well, I brought on a new guy today, but I'm going at it with a new direction. This guy is fully trained, with many years of experince, has an old client base that he can re-open at any time due to knowing the people who run the current operation(car lots, delearships, auto body shops), He will get paid 25% of the sale, and if he shows that good work ethics I will bump him up .05 in 90days. lets hope it works out!!!!

Not trying t ojinx ya..but he sounds like a great guy who needs t otake a bit of a time out ..the nwill want to go out on his own again with all those positive assets and keep what he used t omake at one time

If the point gets made across, if we work like a team and grow like a team we all should make more money in the long run together! But, you are right keep my eyes peeled for something that could hurt the business

What i do is 1st of all pay my workers well . That keeps them coming back in every morning. 2 make them pay for wasted film mistake and so on . Then you will see them take there time more and not rush things. 3 make them buy there own tools so there not left all over the shop and tell them ant tools found at closing your keeping and thats it. As far as training goes . Even if your training a ***** just remember your time is worth just as much as $$$ So pay him well and let him or her get a taste of whats to come that will always keep them. And then you will seperate the hungry from the lazy. And that is inportant. Then when your trainy is taking off you will see your time and money was well worth it. Then you can relax

I don't think there is such thing as a long term employee in the detailing business. You can only pay them so much and eventually it won't be enough. Most people want to advance in their career and there just isn't much room for it in our field. The best workers I've ever had were Mexican! Hands down! They always showed up on time, listened to what I taught them, always asked questions when they were unsure on how to do something, and they took pride in there work. Pay the workers well, offer bonuses when goals are reached. Detailing is a lot of work and most kids these days are not willing to do that...they would rather sit at a register asking if you want fries with that even though they make way less money. When I got to the point where I wanted more money my boss offered to lease me a stall and let me go on my own. I was free to pick up new accounts and bring in what ever work I chose. Days that I was slow he would let me take some of his cars with a $5 commission for using his accounts. Anyway...good luck with your search!

I have been thinking of pick them up from home depot many times, but the only things is my spanish sucks! I need to take a class because this is the only way I could see it working with employees!

All you need 2 know is "mucho trebajo"= alot of work-----poquito deniro----little money!

I love mucho...I all ready work alot, so I should be there soon

Hello First time poster.

I was wondering if you can have your employee sign a "non-Compete" contract?

Copied/Pasted
"What are some examples of an employer's legitimate business interest?

An employer has a legitimate interest in preventing an employee from taking advantage of relationships or information acquired as a result of his or her employment. If an employer gives a new employee its customer list, for example, the employer can enforce an agreement that prevents the employee from contacting those customers on behalf of a competing business.

As another example, an employer can protect its investment in training an employee by preventing the employee from taking the knowledge acquired on the job to compete against the employer."

Maybe start with paying a bit more to attract quality help

Ok... caught the part where you tried something new in the middle there..

my bad.....

u have only been through 8 we have been threw like 15 in a year they make me crazy

ditto...

I read the whole thread and was starting to wonder if anyone was going to mention that maybe THAT is half the problem. if I was getting $1500 a MONTH, I wouldn't be displaying much enthusiasm or loyalty either. They can get that at Wendy's and swipe food too.

not to belittle your issues of poor help (which is a legitimate concern), but that could be a good start. Is that hourly? salary, commission? Pay them commission and just make it your job to get out there and hustle up some cars for them to be working on. They get dirty, you get the bulk of the shop income.

base with hourly pay, then performance for so many cars pushed out in a week with no returns and inspected before they leave. that gets them working and not taking alot of breaks,

We go threw new people constantly yea we dont pay all that much for the new people but the guys that have been here for a while we take care of pay tickets, tip em for washin our cars, get em out of dui's help em get cars. and even they end up screwin us eventually.

how do u guys pay em i pay em daily plus tips just curious what works the best

does this look like a group of bank robber's no it's a detail department

I do it all myself. Why pay someone else when 90% of the time you either have to be watching over someone else's work, or have to re-do it.