See you in court.

 

i dont think so, a bonus is just a gift above and beyond what you expect to make.

But like i said i will look into it in depth.

 

I remember a reading about a guy on lawnsite who did something similar. As I recall, at the start of the season, each worker got like $1000 put into their "fund" each time they damaged something, the cost would come out of their respective "fund." Whatever was left over out of the $1000 at the end of the season they got to keep.

 

Hey that idea would work to.

I read about a HUGE excavating company that gives weekly bonuses but theirs was based on employee production, deadlines being met and damages to equipment. Each worker was punished or rewarded the same so if Joe broke the wind shield everyone paid for it. They said it turned them from workers into managers over night, production went up and the whole attitude changed. I will try to find the article.....

 

I just dont want to get into employee production, that means quality will slide and i dont want my guys cutting corners. All i want is for workers to have a sense of responsibility for their actions.

 

The only way that would work is if you put every employee in brand new equipment. If something gets broke or damaged, and they are the only person that equipment is assigned to, then you know who to blame. If they are driving something today, that someone else drove yesterday, then you are going to have huge arguments, and fights on your hands. It will just plain get ugly. Maybe the Procut suggested would be the smarter way to go.

 

The concept is perfect but putting it in action and having it work correctly seems undoable for the above mentioned reasons," Not me" ," I duno", "the warriors did it" the list goes on and on and then they will try to take you to small claims for the stash o cash.

 

You cant expect your employees to take responsibility for your equiptment on their own dime. If you implement this i see you having to look for a new crew. I know i wouldnt work for anyone that operated that way. Its your business and your risk. You might as well just fire anyone that breaks anything because as soon as you cut his paycheck hes gonna quit. Keep working on a game plan. I think you can do better.

 

I like the concept and what your're trying to accomplish...just uncertain if its the right way to go about it.

 

Maybe you guys are thinking that anytime something breaks they have to pay. Not so. If a whip dies for not explained reason, so be it. If a whip gets run over because joe forgot to put it in the trailer then he has to pay. They pay for sheer stupid not typical wear and tear. Rip a cloth bag for the mower because you were paking leaves in super tight.....no big deal. Yes you shouldn't be doing that but you were working and using your head. Tear the mower bag because you were doing wheelies on the mower you pay. Get the idea?

 

just so I get this right...you are suggesting that particular employee will have both a maximum and a minimum wage and they will only get their maximum wage iff they dont have any stupid at fault breakdowns or mishaps...

I'm assuming all minimums would be equal but the maximums would be dependant on skill level, position, responsibility etc... if you tied in a performance bonus structure it could be a good formula for rewarding accountable, safe, productive and happy employees.

IMO for this to work...you should reward them for excellence.

 

I'm not sure how many guys you have but it sounds like a lot of work and it leaves the potential for many disgruntled employees. Sometimes things break and your kind of going to be playing god with the money.

 

IMO for this to work...you should reward them for excellence.

Ditto.

With the bonus it needs to equal more than 14 an hour otherwise it really isn't a bonus. Joe can just go somewhere else and make his $14 an hour.

 

A reward over and above their wage, as mentioned above will keep everyone in line and force them to police themselves. I think its funny if someone else goofs off, but if they goof off and it has effect on my bonus I'm going to say something.

The proposed 'work for minimum wage and if nothing is broken you get a fair wage' scheme is garbage. Anybody that takes that deal isn't intelligent enough to negotiate their own wages properly so they aren't intelligent enough to work for me.

This summer I had a $25/hr employee have a brainfart. He set down my stihl quick cut after cutting rebar, Got in a bobcat to pick up the rebar, and backed over the saw. It was stupid and 100% his fault. However, I went to work that day with the opportunity to make $4000 if everything went well, It didn't, I bought a new $1000 saw and made $3000. Dave had the opportunity to make $200. In his position I would not work a job with thousands of dollars equipment, me being liable for it, for $200/day it makes no sense. He has a good attitude and offered to pay, but its simply not his responsibility. Clear as that. If he continued to cost me money I'd simply fire him. Consider accounting for mistakes in your pricing, Repeat offenders get fired, not changed into good workers.

 

A reward over and above their wage, as mentioned above will keep everyone in line and force them to police themselves. I think its funny if someone else goofs off, but if they goof off and it has effect on my bonus I'm going to say something.

The proposed 'work for minimum wage and if nothing is broken you get a fair wage' scheme is garbage. Anybody that takes that deal isn't intelligent enough to negotiate their own wages properly so they aren't intelligent enough to work for me.

This summer I had a $25/hr employee have a brainfart. He set down my stihl quick cut after cutting rebar, Got in a bobcat to pick up the rebar, and backed over the saw. It was stupid and 100% his fault. However, I went to work that day with the opportunity to make $4000 if everything went well, It didn't, I bought a new $1000 saw and made $3000. Dave had the opportunity to make $200. In his position I would not work a job with thousands of dollars equipment, me being liable for it, for $200/day it makes no sense. He has a good attitude and offered to pay, but its simply not his responsibility. Clear as that. If he continued to cost me money I'd simply fire him. Consider accounting for mistakes in your pricing, Repeat offenders get fired, not changed into good workers.

i 100% agree. ***** happens we have all goofed at one point or another. but not repeatedly. One employee could goof his one and only time and be really penalized when he/ she has bills to pay but shine in another situation and make you a ton of money and just get his/ her normal wage? these are the costs of doing business.

 

what you could do is this tell your employees if they get any extra work you will give them a piece of the contract at a given percentage. they will be more inclined not to be so harsh on the equipment as they will need it to do the account that they got also.

 

I think he's trying to make them waitresses and they have to work for their tips each week.

 

I think he's trying to make them waitresses and they have to work for their tips each week.

at a bar in calgary the bar buys the waitress fake jugs after 3 months of work as an incentive for clients and the girls. do you think a similar offer stands in this situation?

 

Another thing I thought about doing was paying everyone as normal, maybe a dollar less then average but setting aside a 1,000 dollar bonus twice a year. Once at the end of the green season once at the end of plow season. If you make it through the season without any stupid mistakes you get your bonus if you back into a light pole you don't get it. I'm really looking for a incentive and a way to recoup some of the money when a worker messes up and he is fired.

If someone ran over a 1,000 dollar saw of mine your done working for me. I have higher expectations and that kind of sheer neglect is not acceptable whatsoever. You do that and your fired and you don't get your bonus. Seems fair to me.

 

Another thing I thought about doing was paying everyone as normal, maybe a dollar less then average but setting aside a 1,000 dollar bonus twice a year. Once at the end of the green season once at the end of plow season. If you make it through the season without any stupid mistakes you get your bonus if you back into a light pole you don't get it. I'm really looking for a incentive and a way to recoup some of the money when a worker messes up and he is fired.

If someone ran over a 1,000 dollar saw of mine your done working for me. I have higher expectations and that kind of sheer neglect is not acceptable whatsoever. You do that and your fired and you don't get your bonus. Seems fair to me.

The incentive idea works awesome I know a guy who takes the whole crew out a couple times a year on specific dates. He bases it on how the season is going. If the jobs have gone really smoothly and the workers haven't f'd up, I don't work for him, but he includes me in his crew as I am present on all of his jobsites for the first 2 days. It is a hell of a positive incentive for everyone involved. Like him though, you have to lay out the possibility of an incentive ahead of time so they know that its up to them. Basic psychology,"Eat all your food and don't pull your sister's hair you get ice cream." The original proposal was kind of like "if you pull your sister's hair, you get half a piece of stale bread and a half a glass of water for dinner"

The guy that backed over my saw had worked for me for several years and made me a lot of money, very hard worker. I bought him a brand new one, and then had everybody I know call him to ask him if he was nearby because they needed to borrow my quick cut. I got 1000 worth of laughter out of it. and new Stihls are awesome!

 

I'm really looking for a incentive and a way to recoup some of the money when a worker messes up and he is fired.

.

This part I think is illegal. If your working in a gas station and someone bolts without paying you can't make the employee pay for it or if they gave out to much change,or a waitress who drops a stack of dishes and breaks them,

 

Another thing I thought about doing was paying everyone as normal, maybe a dollar less then average but setting aside a 1,000 dollar bonus twice a year. Once at the end of the green season once at the end of plow season. If you make it through the season without any stupid mistakes you get your bonus if you back into a light pole you don't get it. I'm really looking for a incentive and a way to recoup some of the money when a worker messes up and he is fired.

If someone ran over a 1,000 dollar saw of mine your done working for me. I have higher expectations and that kind of sheer neglect is not acceptable whatsoever. You do that and your fired and you don't get your bonus. Seems fair to me.

Were all human. I hate stuff getting wrecked but even I make mistakes. If my lead guy backs over a saw one day but has been great for a few years I'd look pretty stupid firing him. The more anal you are with thx guys the more on edge they'll be and the more crap will happen. JMO

 

Were all human. I hate stuff getting wrecked but even I make mistakes. JMO

Didn't someone drive a truck into a culvert?

 

This part I think is illegal. If your working in a gas station and someone bolts without paying you can't make the employee pay for it or if they gave out to much change,or a waitress who drops a stack of dishes and breaks them,

This is totally different.

 

A lot of good points in this thread. We use an incentive bonus at the end of the season. They get a fair wage to begin with, and are rewarded with a bonus if they don't have any "preventable accidents". The bonus is a fixed amount per hour worked throughout the winter season, and is all spelled out in the employment contract at the beginning of the season. All legal according to my attorney. But again, it's a bonus, and they're getting a fair wage to begin with, not minimum wage. One of my guys backed into a frozen pile last year and bent the guard on the snowex, no big deal, the whole bonus was paid at the end of the year. This year a guy backed into a parked car, a pole (completely separate incident), showed up over 20 minutes late several times, and I had to give him a wake-up call on one occasion as well as he slept right through his alarm. He won't be getting his bonus this year. There's always equipment that breaks, accidents that happen, etc. it's part of the business, and we don't get into taking away bonuses unless it's something preventable such as backing into a parked vehicle.