Employee Bonuses

Gallden said:

Do you guys give these out? If so how does it work? Do your employees know how much money you've put towards framing walls i.e., and if they come in under time they get the bonus?

Very interested in hearing some ideas and other ways of rewarding employees besides raises.

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this topic came up on this forum a few months ago-so you may want to search for a more detailed discussion.

My company started down the bonus/profit sharing road a few years ago and since then I have worked to improve the situation each year.

This year-everybody got the same amount( in the past it has varied a bit in that regard)- on 12-16-13, each employee received profit sharing in an amount which would cover the down payment on a house.
I won't mention the specific amount, because what is a down payment here- might not fly where you are-and elsewhere it might buy an entire house. Who knows?
I have adjusted the formula I use to calculate the profit sharing for 2014- and it is my hope that the total payout exceeds 2013.

As far as wages go- our guys are paid more than they would earn/hour elsewhere. We were at a metal roofing training/demo session yesterday and I am quite confident that our guys were in the top tier of employees pay in that room.

all our employees have been covered by medical benefits for several years now and they also get limited vacation/holiday pay .

In the past employees have used their profit sharing to help their wife through grad. school.....

One is using his to pay towards his wedding this oct.........

One guy-just this week,in fact- has put an offer in on a short sale.----------------- Center hall colonial,4 bedrooms, detached garage, really nice neighborhood( in fact it is 2-1/2 blocks down the same street my wife grew up on, I know the neighborhood well), the best elementary school district in town. He is quite proud of himself because he qualified for the mortgage based on HIS earnings alone- his wifes job did not enter into it at all. Please keep in mind that this is a seasonal trade we work in-we only work 8 months a year------- he is buying a house and he won't be back to work for another week or so........, but he has the where-with-all to do so.

when you hire your guys- you hire the man- not the skill set. If you hire the right caliber of men you can teach them the skill set----- what you can't really teach is being a decent human being- the kind of guy who makes good choices, who wants to get married, who stays married, who raises his kids, who has a burning drive to PROVIDE for his dependants-who isn't afraid to take on dependants, the guy who would rather coach his kids ball team-than bike to Sturgis.

hire the right men and getting the work out of them won't be a problem.

Best wishes to you,
stephen

Gallden said:

It would be largely based on getting work done sooner than I have figured, like some others have said they should be paying us bonuses.

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Got to be real careful on paying bonuses on getting work done under the bid time. That can cause corner cutting that comes back and bites you in the rear real hard.

Had that happen back in 2000 on an apartment complex project.

The bonus was 60 bucks for doing a third furnace change out in a day. It was 3 guy, 2 mechs, and 1 helper. The mechs were getting 300 bucks each week, and the helper was getting 150 a week bonus(he earned it) for getting rid of all the trash from 2 mechs doing 6 furnace changes a day.

On 3 sets of building the furnaces were set up different. They couldn't do the air filters the way they were suppose to, and still get 3 furnaces each done. So they slopped them in.

A month later I get called on it. Took 3 guys a week to redo the returns the right way.

Lesson learned.

Thee is a company here that pays their employees mostly by bonus. The employees get paid high teens to low 20s. But make 80 grand a year. At the end of the year, the company pays them bonus on every job that comes in under, and has no warranty/call backs due to them. Its a refrigeration company. They do the 16 to 30 foot high walk in/drive in cooler/freezers.