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Better pay = better employees?

7/7/21       
Joel

Just thought I would ask this tough question. I see the staffing agencies constantly begging for carpenter and laborers. Paying up to 20 for lab up to 30 for carp. I imagine they go through 5 to find one worth keeping.

7/7/21       #2: Better pay = better employees? ...
rich c.

20 for lab up to 30 for carp What does carp mean?

7/8/21       #3: Better pay = better employees? ...
Dave Edgerton  Member

Carp = carpenter

7/8/21       #4: Better pay = better employees? ...
james e mcgrew  Member

Website: mcgrewwoodwork.com

Actually No in many cases. I have tried this with some youngerguys, More money simply means more things, not more in the bank, basically the inability to basically be willing to learn has padded over many heads. Sad But true. now luring in the experienced can make some difference.

7/8/21       #5: Better pay = better employees? ...
MarkB

Sadly Im with James,.. been hiring for a lot of years, fun environment, no screaming, no berating, endless teaching/sharing of knowledge, constant willingness to entertain ideas and give individuals the latitude to explore and learn... But arbitrarily dispensing more cash compensation has never proven to be a rock solid fertilizer for production. To the contrary the Lean philosophy of controlling your employees every movement, efficiency in movement, and making them into pretty much an automaton seems to be the better recipe for profitability. At that point you have a staff that has zero self responsibility other than to follow protocol and are incentivized to stay with you for progressive pay increases. You just have to land on individuals that are satisfied coming into work every day as a line worker.

In my area both the line worker and the creative thinker are very tough to come by.

7/8/21       #6: Better pay = better employees? ...
Matt

Better advertised wages only potentially increases the chances of finding someone decent, it's by no means a sure bet.

In my experience and local talent pool, you seem better off finding teachable inexperienced people at modest wages, weeding out those who aren't really dedicated/dependable, and finding a decent core. Take VERY good care of your core. Might mean better wages, or more vacation time, or some other benefit. But people who will show up reliably, think clearly, and get along well with others is worth a lot more than some excuse-driven "experienced" carpenter.

7/11/21       #7: Better pay = better employees? ...
Derrek

Paying a $15 an hour $25 an hour won’t change them to a great employee.
Great employees already have jobs and are making good money. They aren’t going to switch jobs for less or the same, so yes you have to pay more to get great employees. My top installers are making over $30 an hour with benefits and a substantial weekly bonus on top of that and we are a great place to work. They aren’t leaving for places offering $25 an hour.
On the other hand the guy we fired last month, applied for a job with us again, proving our point he ain’t that smart. He was an $18 hour guy who we gave lots of opportunities

7/12/21       #8: Better pay = better employees? ...
d conti

Better pay does not neccessary mean better employee. Sorry to inform you guys but wages have increased, and increased a LOT. How can you you really expect to get a "skilled" employee for what they are paying for unskilled labor. Go to the grocery store , home depot, etc everything has gone up in price. Good shop help now starts at $18 an hour, experienced help up to $25. Now a good installer starts at $30 per hour, installing is a lot harder then shop work and requires more experience. Most installers are subs with their own tools as well.

The problem today is that most young people expect top pay, and do not have the experience and dedication to deserve it. They come in with the attitude that it is all about them, not the business. We make an aggreement you gave me an hour of your time and I pay you a certain amount of money. That means stay off your phone, you do not have to answer every call or text message, you can actually work and talk at the same time, you can wait to smoke that cigarette, that is what "break" time is for.

I remember way back when there was more workers than jobs, I had a wife and small child to support and I had to compete for a position and I had to work to keep my job because there was 5 guys that would love to have it and were trying to get it. I had bills to pay, rent, food, etc for my family and they were depending on me. I worked hard and stayed at it all day long. They keep me around because I was a good employee, made the company money, not because they could not find anyone else to fill my position. Believe me these days of not being able to find someone to work will come to an end and people will be looking for jobs will out number the number of jobs out there
It will take a while, but believe me we can not sustain the way we are going now, the longer we continue the harder the fall will be. Just my opinion but I have been around a long time and seen alot

7/13/21       #9: Better pay = better employees? ...
Oggie  Member

Nothing has changed, but the numbers on the paychecks, which are anyway just numbers in mathematical sense. The real value of the paycheck is the same as before, when averaged over some reasonable long period; now one gets paid $20/hour vs $15/hour some time ago, but for $15 he can now buy more or less the same amount of real goods as for $10 some time ago.
What is a "reasonably long" period depends on many factors, could be as short as one day, or long as few months.
I've been through this before, but not in this country. Back there, when you got your salary and didn't spend it the very same day to buy real goods or exchange it for some more stable foreign currency on the black market, next day it was worthless (prices doubled every 16 hours).

The critical points are "catch-up" periods. Make sure you increase the price of your services at the same time or before you start paying more for the labor and materials, and not after.


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