? for managers and supervisors

[Nubbs]

All right. I'm hoping ya'll can help me out here. I supervise a team of 4 low skilled hourly laborers (I feel they're overpaid for what they do) at my work. They're slow, they don't think, and they don't care. This frustrates me to no end.:mad: :mad: Working by myself, I can outproduce them 3:1, and I don't do the stuff every day. All they care about is getting hours. If they got a 2 hour job, they will fiddledick all day long so they can work overtime to finish. Can any of you with experience in this area help me out here? I don't know what to do. How can I get them to work faster? I really don't care about working smarter because I can tell them what to do.
Thanks
Nubbs

[jackpunx]

Create an MBO bonus program.. or some type of contest between them.. This may save you some money on overtime.. but you will get more done in a shorter time and pay less for the bonus..
Or fire one of them.. Bring some new blood in there.. if its low skill.. Keep them till the start to slack off.. and then let them go... Sounds like you have divide and conquer

[River Lynchmob]

How easy is it to hire replacements? this is what i do. if they are late, unproductive etc one warning then they get there check. if you manage 3 sit the 3 of them down tell them whats up what you expect etc write them all up have them sign the repremand put a copy in their job file then then next time they slack/act up fire them on the spot. if i was in your spot i'd keep the best one and fire the other 2 then the one that stays will know you mean business. i hope that helps.

[Jungle Boy]

I feel your pain. Try working in Ecuador with these guys here. Everyday is a brand new experience for them. I've been working here for 3 years and it blows my mind every day to see the extent of their stupidity. It's job security for me, but somedays it wears me out.
Back to your question; Some people are just born to be followers and others are leaders. Just enjoy knowing that you'll be enjoying a better life than they will ever imagine. As years go on, they will blame all their short commings on the big bad boss, but deep down, they'll know they are ****ed and did it to them selves. :mad:
I see some of the guys around that I started roughnecking with and they are still ****ing the dog on any rig that will hire them. They tell me of all the experience they have and how ****ed the boss is. I tell them they still have 1 year experience, just 25 times. :cool:

[superV]

Originally posted by Nubbs
All right. I'm hoping ya'll can help me out here. I supervise a team of 4 low skilled hourly laborers (I feel they're overpaid for what they do) at my work. They're slow, they don't think, and they don't care. This frustrates me to no end.:mad: :mad: Working by myself, I can outproduce them 3:1, and I don't do the stuff every day. All they care about is getting hours. If they got a 2 hour job, they will fiddledick all day long so they can work overtime to finish. Can any of you with experience in this area help me out here? I don't know what to do. How can I get them to work faster? I really don't care about working smarter because I can tell them what to do.
Thanks
Nubbs
The first thing I would do is get in there and show them how its done. Work side by side for a few jobs show them up and you will get there respect.Then introduce some kind of bonus plan. Let them know where they stand, and that for what you pay them they can be replaced with someone skilled and hungry.

[Scream]

Originally posted by Nubbs
All right. I'm hoping ya'll can help me out here. I supervise a team of 4 low skilled hourly laborers (I feel they're overpaid for what they do) at my work. They're slow, they don't think, and they don't care. This frustrates me to no end.:mad: :mad: Working by myself, I can outproduce them 3:1, and I don't do the stuff every day. All they care about is getting hours. If they got a 2 hour job, they will fiddledick all day long so they can work overtime to finish. Can any of you with experience in this area help me out here? I don't know what to do. How can I get them to work faster? I really don't care about working smarter because I can tell them what to do.
Thanks
Nubbs
You kinda answered your own questions at the end. Menial laborers are just that. Put yourself in thier position. Doing the same thing every day with no end in sight, hearing the crack of the whip behind you, knowing your boss hates your ass.
Until you empower your people to do the job with some "skills" and "pride" they will continue to act robotic knuckleheads. Pick out the leader, make him/her your second. Teach and coach, don't do for them. Make it a good place to work, not a drudge. Happy workers that take pride in what they do are less likely to care about thier wages and more likely to care about thier working environment. They work faster and make thier coworkers work faster. Make them feel they are your friends and not your employees. Treat them with the respect you would like to be treated with. When you accomplish that, you can "compete" with them to see who's the fastest...Now that thier happy and competeing, the attitude will carry them when you're not arround. As a bonus, happier workers file fewer work comp claims...
IMHO
Then again, you can can all of them and start over if need be, but what a waste of training and all.

[Nubbs]

Thanks for all the ideas. One thing I want to clear up is I honestly like these people. I try not to be an a$$ to them but sometimes I just get overly frustrated because they don't get it.

[bear down]

Originally posted by Nubbs
Thanks for all the ideas. One thing I want to clear up is I honestly like these people. I try not to be an a$$ to them but sometimes I just get overly frustrated because they don't get it.
One of the things I like to do is empower employee's. Buy a $25 or $50 gift certificate to a restaurant. Wait till an employee does something exceptional and give them the certificate and explain to them why they are getting it and to enjoy it with their family. This will let the employee know that you are appreciative and seeing the work they are doing. At times employees are not motivated to work harder/smarter because they receive no real recognition of what they do. Create an incentive program that pay them more to work less hours (production). Set up a clear program and explain it to them before it starts. I rather pay an employee $2 an hour more for work they can do in 6 hours rathen than 11 hours and 3 hours of it in overtime. Don't make the incentive program effect quality of the product. Good luck.

[BADBLOWN572]

In our company we bid a job for a certain period of time based off of what it should take the crew to get the job done. We are not nieve and say that it should take 2 hours because in a perfect situation, it would. Instead we bid it for 4 hours. We offer the crews insentive programs for beating bids. For ever hour they are faster than the bid time alloted, we award each person $5.00. Not a whole lot of money, but when they are making $8.00 an hour it is a big gain. Besides, we bid the project at $90.00 per hour so for ever hour they are early, we made $80.00 for doing nothing during that time.
We also have start competitions on who can make the most money. We post a printout sheet of who did the best and it becomes an internal competition for the crews. No one wants to be at the bottom of the list.
Little bonuses go a long way for motivation of low paid workers. Also works out best for the company because they don't waste good bill able time.

[AgentX85239]

I work alongside some guys like this, and I seem to be the only one who tries to get things done. One guy comes in an hour late 4 days a week, but will stay late when there is nothing to do and pick that extra hour back up. I seem to be the only person who won't settle for a half-assed job, so I just end up doing more work for other people in the long run. Our manager doesn't work out of our branch so when we see him once a month he has other stuff to deal with. The job search is on. :mad:

[Stupid Fast]

Boy ohhh boy can I relate......The thing that works best for me, but is the hardest and can put you in a bad spot as mentioned before is to fire one of them......
You said you like these people..........that can be VERY dangerous...it is very hard to maintain a frendship with people that work for you.
Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

[RJ Nordic]

Depending on the type of work you may want to go to a piece rate instead of an hourly rate. As long as it doesn't effect quality.
Incentive programs work well most of the time. Just as with everythng you have to explain it clearly and then revise it every 3 to 4 months.
If this fails to improve the situation then I would sit all down and explain my expectations, have it in writing, they sign it, back to work. First screw up, 1 gone, then sit the remainding employees down and remind them of the situation, sign it, back to work.

[91nordic29]

similar to what hs been stated above, give each job that comes in a value based on the hours it should take to complete. if they do it in under that time, good for them but they arent getting paid for anything over. if there are no jobs to work on, they go home to sluff off.
of course i dont know if this is possible in your situation.:confused:

[RIPPINGNOLEGSKROKER]

Make expectations clear
Dont let them get away with something once or they will press
Be firm,fair and frequent.
A boss is looked at as a boss not a friend, no matter what you think.
Offer encouragment after disipline
It takes years to build respect and seconds to destroy it when you become irrational and fly off the handle.
Offer incentive programs with cash, that way it is their money and nobody at home has to know about it.

[superdave013]

Originally posted by AgentX85239
I work alongside some guys like this, and I seem to be the only one who tries to get things done. One guy comes in an hour late 4 days a week, but will stay late when there is nothing to do and pick that extra hour back up. I seem to be the only person who won't settle for a half-assed job, so I just end up doing more work for other people in the long run. Our manager doesn't work out of our branch so when we see him once a month he has other stuff to deal with. The job search is on. :mad:
What type of wirk do you do?

[PlyaPlya22]

What I do is keep track of productivity. Everyone is responsible for a certain amount of production. If you fall underneath what is expected of you, you will get a warning. If your sub-par you get written up and if you let it happen three times your fired! You also need to set up a bonus program like a few people were saying. Give them some type of incentive. Maybe it could be monthly for the person that average the highest production for the month. Let them create a competition amongst them selves. I guarantee you, you will kick back and enjoy your day. Just my .02

[BiggusJimbus]

Really it's pretty simple.
You like these guys.
If they liked you and had any respect for you at all, they would act like it. As they are not, it's pretty obvious how they feel about you.
You got to walk that line between being a "nice guy" and being a hard ass to get results. You need results. Push it toward hard ass until you get what you need. If they don't respond, do what is necessary.
If there is a ringleader, you got to start by modifying his behavior or replacing him. Otherwise, you'll never get out of the loop.

[v-drive]

I know your pain, I thought I was about the only one that this happened to. Everytime I called a meeting and would tell my group we have an order we had to get out. The first words would be from this certain group is how much overtime is there and I finally decided to handle it like this. No more overtime was my first decission. After a week all of these people were complaining ,I laid off the best (that's right the best) one and blamed it on not meeting the deadlines . Prduction picked up 30% and I haven't and don't intend to work overtime again. I am a happy boss....:D :cool: v-drive

[Three Days Only]

Low payed hourly laborers, are just that. Unfournately, the more you do for them, the more they will expect. Nothing is ever enough, and they constantly want more. I firmly belive that as employers, we pay someone to complete a job task. If they can not complete that task in a resonable amount of time, and or lag to complete hours, you need to issue a warning and if the negative work ethics continues, you are forced to terminate their employment. A job is a luxury not a requirement, they were not forced to work for you, they applied and should be happy that you deemed the person well enough to hire. They agreed with the wage that was offered, and know the work load expected. They should complete that work as such or be terminated. Why pay someone a wage, and let them lag, and effect the business. Our shop is union, they have good hourly wages, full beni's, full medical for them and their entire family at 0 cost, pensions, etc. We pay them well, and I expect, them to pay us well in return. I am buy no means a slave driver, I just expect 40 hours work, for 40 hours pay. Fair is Fair. They do their part, I do mine.
On the other hand, if an employee is doing the job at a extremely accelerated rate compared to others doing the same position, that employee should recieve some sort of recognition for his or her work habits. I have worked almost every job in this palce, and now what can be accomplished and what can't. Bonuses always work far better then raises, raises are permenant. If sales slow and profitability is suffering, that money can not be taken away. Bonusing out a praticular employee will also promote accelerated work habits from other employees in the shop, although the same bonuses should apply to all employee's which could get fairly expensive. Production incentives based on profitability is a big mistake in my opinon. When sales are up, they get bonuses and work their asses off, When sales drop they slow down also, instead of pushing and working off the backlog, they slow down knowing there will not be a bonus and shoot for the overtime. We were spending a large amount of money on a profit sharing plan, big mistake on my part. Payed out quarterly, the money could have been better used if invested back into the company and or for outside endevors.
Sorry for the long response, this topic just gets me a little fired up. Everyday someone is bitchin about something. I have learned not to be a friend, and only be the boss. It sucks, as I have known many of these guys for years and they taught me all that I know.
Jeff

[riverbound]

Put them on comission. pay them for the work not the time. I pay all my employees on comission and they know that if they dont work they dont get paid. My installers are paid on comission and they get the work done, Its also done right the first time because if it comes back it is now costing them money.

[Mandelon]

Those are some great ideas.
I can tell you for sure one thing NOT to do. Whatever your incentive program is.......do not, I repeat DO NOT.......give them paint ball guns......:D :mad: :D