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You're Fired!©

Are you allowed to say that? Didn't Trump want to get it copyrighted?

Originally posted by i_got_ideas
We hired a good one.....put an ad out, he was the first to apply....I couldn't have been easier. He has no HVAC experience but used to work on appliances so he has a good idea about stuff. It has only been 9 days and he has impressed everyone....

AND ok.....what do you do in this situation....our lead installer.....does AWSOME work. He can make a damn furnace look like a work of art and run just as good as it looks. Problem is the short day thing too. Sometimes comes in 9:30 or so, then leaves at 3 or 4:00. Not all the time but a lot. We don't want to lose him but how the hell do you get a guy to change his ways, he hasn't always been like this. I have to say that he does make sure everything is done before he calls it a day though, I appreciate that...It's just annoying to hear him bitch about small checks when he works so many short days. Any ideas?

[Edited by i_got_ideas on 04-23-2004 at 02:15 AM]

I've seen a lot of these guys also. You need to sit down with him and tell him what you see and ask him what he's thinking. I'll bet he'll say that in that amount of time he gets the same amount done as some of your other guys. He's measuring himself against others mistakes rather than being the best he can be. A leading indicator of a companies success is billable hours. Of course non-billable time is a drain but won't kill you if the billable hours are enough. When a guy is not putting in at least 40 does the insurances, truck payment, office rent, administrative salaries, etc. go away or get reduced? Hell no it doesn't. The more hours billed the less the bite of overhead.

Been there, done that. You want to believe that the guy will come around. Part of it is you don't want to admit to yourself that you made a mistake in hiring the person. We have so much paperwork that has to be done to hire someone that I don't want to waste or repeat that time investment. The fact remains though that what you see out of a person the first 30 days is probably the best you can expect. This guy had no work ethic. Everything else was more important than this job. He was simply too busy to have a job. Firing someone no matter the circumstances is no fun. You start to think not only about that person but their families and/or children that rely on that paycheck. The fact remains though that you have a business to run, it's not a charity. I fired someone last month and another yesterday. Again, it's no fun but they had it coming.

I am suprised that you kept him for four weeks.

Doesn't that piecework systems work against a quality install? I know if I'm paid $100 to install something I'll be slapping in 3 or 4 a day.

Dow
Piecework : I pay you $100.00 per house to install a system

its up to you how many you install , if you want a decent check on friday, you will get as many done as possible

i_got_ideas= tell the experienced tech you like, even admire his work,BUT-short days equal small checks(no funny-no money)

Sounds a lot like people I work (ed) with. I know one guy we just couldn't believe the company wouldn't fire. Seemed like every time the sky would be cloudy, he'd call in and say, "It looks like it's cloudin' up, I better head to the house." Same guy would cuss, rant and rave about there not being enough work. Customers would bar him from their establishments because of his language and attitude. One customer even called the shop to angrily complain that the guy was outside sleeping in his van. Still they kept him on payroll. He cost the company several accounts but he
was never dismissed. He would cuss supervisors out in public and used off-color language around the ladies in the
office.

They did finally let him go when he was cussin', rantin' and raving in front of the president of a large chain store account. The guy wasn't twenty-seven though; he was in his eary sixties and had worked for years in the HVAC biz
(maybe someone should have checked his work history a little better!).

Originally posted by i_got_ideas

AND ok.....what do you do in this situation....our lead installer.....does AWSOME work. He can make a damn furnace look like a work of art and run just as good as it looks. Problem is the short day thing too. Sometimes comes in 9:30 or so, then leaves at 3 or 4:00. Not all the time but a lot. We don't want to lose him but how the hell do you get a guy to change his ways, he hasn't always been like this. I have to say that he does make sure everything is done before he calls it a day though, I appreciate that...It's just annoying to hear him bitch about small checks when he works so many short days. Any ideas?

[Edited by i_got_ideas on 04-23-2004 at 02:15 AM]

If he is as good as you say he is,and is obviously making you money.....

put him on salary and quit worrying about his hours

What is peice work. Can tyou explain how that works. Just very curious.

Originally posted by infwsdm

Originally posted by actnowhvac
You are a liberal and let this situation go on too long.

Well, he told me his Grandmother died, in week two, so I had to cut him some slack.

We've had a couple of guys whose grandmothers have died serveral times.

sounds like his name was john

Originally posted by i_got_ideas
We hired a good one.....put an ad out, he was the first to apply....I couldn't have been easier. He has no HVAC experience but used to work on appliances so he has a good idea about stuff. It has only been 9 days and he has impressed everyone....

AND ok.....what do you do in this situation....our lead installer.....does AWSOME work. He can make a damn furnace look like a work of art and run just as good as it looks. Problem is the short day thing too. Sometimes comes in 9:30 or so, then leaves at 3 or 4:00. Not all the time but a lot. We don't want to lose him but how the hell do you get a guy to change his ways, he hasn't always been like this. I have to say that he does make sure everything is done before he calls it a day though, I appreciate that...It's just annoying to hear him bitch about small checks when he works so many short days. Any ideas?

[Edited by i_got_ideas on 04-23-2004 at 02:15 AM]

I knew a logger who did 8 hours worth of work in only 6, every day.
They paid him for eight and the work got done ... like clock work!

If you found a man who does his job and checks it twice, pay him for his forty and you can laugh all the way to the bank. Cause a guy like that dont come along too often. No matter how may hours he takes. A guy who does what your installer does is a rare find indeed!
And you should pay him in order to keep him.


Unless of course, you want him to begin working like a lot of guys do, stretch out the job so he gets paid for his eight and maybe needs a service man to do the actual final hookups and start ups.

Pay the man and smile.

Switch to piece work, we did, we increased production 30% and the guys increased their money the same, profits went up also.

6-7 hours of this stuff is enough for anybody.
Especially installing. If he gets it done right and makes you money...well......

Originally posted by i_got_ideas
We hired a good one.....put an ad out, he was the first to apply....I couldn't have been easier. He has no HVAC experience but used to work on appliances so he has a good idea about stuff. It has only been 9 days and he has impressed everyone....

AND ok.....what do you do in this situation....our lead installer.....does AWSOME work. He can make a damn furnace look like a work of art and run just as good as it looks. Problem is the short day thing too. Sometimes comes in 9:30 or so, then leaves at 3 or 4:00. Not all the time but a lot. We don't want to lose him but how the hell do you get a guy to change his ways, he hasn't always been like this. I have to say that he does make sure everything is done before he calls it a day though, I appreciate that...It's just annoying to hear him bitch about small checks when he works so many short days. Any ideas?


I had 2 of that kind in the past 4 yrs. Because they were good at what they did and that kind of help is fewer and fewer I didn't stop that self appointed levity. Yes they bitched about short checks too even when I reminded them they were the ones that clocked out or didn't come in. I'll tell you it won't get better cause they are calling to many of the shots at this point. Nothing but bad will finally come of it. Had a party when the both of them finally didn't work here anymore. One of the guys was my lead man for a lot of yrs. Who ever is suppose to be making policy better stand up to the plate. I called my lead man on the rug a few weeks ago for much of the same thing and it's been a whole lot better since.
[Edited by i_got_ideas on 04-23-2004 at 02:15 AM]

it's all about expectations

When a man is hired a list of expectations must be reveiwed. Before I hire They are to read our company handbook and deem it acceptable. If not they're not hired. The first day we sit down and go through my expectations, the time we start. how a time card is filled out, breaks,tools required, travel pay etc. I monitor the new hire to make sure our expectations are understood. This does away with the "gee I did'nt know" problem. With an existing situation it is best to address the problems to the entere company in general. This way one person does'nt feel singled out. If this does'nt help then this one person must be singled out in private.

The short day problem. Can tomorrows job be preped and loaded? Sheetmetal fabbed out for jobs in advance. It's challenging to fill in a half hour.

[Edited by tinman on 04-23-2004 at 06:05 AM]

We hired a good one.....put an ad out, he was the first to apply....I couldn't have been easier. He has no HVAC experience but used to work on appliances so he has a good idea about stuff. It has only been 9 days and he has impressed everyone....

AND ok.....what do you do in this situation....our lead installer.....does AWSOME work. He can make a damn furnace look like a work of art and run just as good as it looks. Problem is the short day thing too. Sometimes comes in 9:30 or so, then leaves at 3 or 4:00. Not all the time but a lot. We don't want to lose him but how the hell do you get a guy to change his ways, he hasn't always been like this. I have to say that he does make sure everything is done before he calls it a day though, I appreciate that...It's just annoying to hear him bitch about small checks when he works so many short days. Any ideas?

[Edited by i_got_ideas on 04-23-2004 at 02:15 AM]

A guy clever as that would make a good foreman. Try promoting him and maybe later bringing him into your family in some compacity.

Glad to see you get rid of the dead weight. Next time you go to McDonalds ask him for extra fries These people are not professionals and give our profession a bad name.