On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 9:20:44 PM UTC-5, -MIKE- wrote:

He's not assuming anything.
He said he's had employees steal from him and gave examples.

Yep. That's all it was. Seemed like some folks (perhaps reflectively) took it personally.

Yes, it's a two way street. You do the work required and go home with a
paycheck.

That's all I ever got where I worked before going back to self employment. You do X, and you get paid X. I never had an employer that embraced me, got to know me as a human being, and shared the joys, triumphs and sorrows of my life with me. I worked, worked hard (to get promoted and more money) and got paid for my efforts.

What if the employer is cheating you of the time you worked? You'd be
singing a different story. Geez, you sound like a millennial.

You can always tell the difference in attitude of someone who writes the checks from their own pocket, takes on the responsibility for work on a scale that one lawsuit can ruin them, puts their name on legal and binding contracts, someone that has been sued (been sued twice myself, once the judge actually laughed at the plaintiff, the other was found to be without merit), and carries all the responsibility on their own back. Every bit. Personally, I am not complaining about it, it's a lifestyle.

But a lifestyle entirely different from someone that simply manages projects, manages employees and manages themselves. It is easy to spot comments from folks that have not sat in front of their State labor department while they decide how to determine your future as an employer based on the actions of not only yourself, but your employees. You have little or no say as the State labor boards are set up to protect the employees from unfair employment practices, so they make certain assumptions before your hearing even starts.

That being said, I guess it has made me a real dick. I pay about 20% more than the prevailing wage to get the guys I want to work for me. They hate that, of course. I am paying a guy that has some rough times every single day, not once a week. A PITA, no doubt.

Today, one of the guys that has been with me for a while was on the verge of a breakdown. Going through a nasty divorce and probably getting lesser custody of his kids, he is in awful shape. So I paid him $20 an hour to drive me around on my rounds today, bought him a great lunch at a favorite Mexican food joint, filled his truck up, and when his battery was dying at the end of the day (he was too embarrassed to tell me something else was wrong) I had him pull into Walmart on the way back to the shop and I bought him a battery.

I can't tell you the animosity that starts with employees. I can do that now because I only have him, no one else to use the nine year old voice and say to me "Mike gets to do that, and I can't. That's not fair".

It is foolish and shows tremendous lack of responsible managerial skill to think you can sit and judge each employee according to your own set set of rules and metrics of achievement. Again, folks that say that haven't sat in front of an board of inquiry from by the State to to determine why some employees get preferential treatment. Go ahead and try to explain how you like one worker better than another using any criteria.

In 35 years of employing people, I got serious about following the exact rules of the State when I had my one and only grievance filed with the State. That was in the mid 80s. I went to every single class on employee management the State offered, and took paid classes in Human Resource Management as well as writing employee handbooks. So one grievance FILED since the mid 80s.

My model employee is this guy, and I have a few (not a lot!): We start at 8, so he shows up 10 minutes early, says his hellos to the guys, and gets his tools out and goes to work at8 or shortly after. Works independently, and I know if he is stopped he is just taking a breath or getting some water or Gatorade. Stop time about 10 minutes, usually around mid morning. Stops for lunch, repeats the morning schedule. If not working with them, I will bring them something cold to drink in the afternoon and get a handle on progress and any material needs. Repeat the next day.

If we finish a job a day or two early, I usually buy everyone lunch.

I don't know how old the folks here are that responded are, but their chest thumping about me caring when they **** is pure baloney. It does have the stench of a sensitive young man's hyperbole, though.

Maybe it is an age difference thing. My jobs are pretty happy places and the guys get along great. The age factor though... no youngsters. The youngest guy I have working for me right now (the aforementioned future divorcee) is 39. The rest that I have from time to time are anywhere from mid 50s to mid 60s. I guess maybe a bit old school, they don't expect any special consideration, just a fair shake. Still, if I don't watch them, the tend to round their time cards up a bit if they can. Strangely, that's OK, but not so much for me if I round their time in my favor.

That's the way of it. I will continue to work to find the best guys that I can and treat them as fairly as possible. But like MIKE said, it has to be a two way street.

Robert