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Hire Smart, Delegate Before It’s Too Late
Finding quality, motivated employees is a common challenge for building business owners. At the same time, you know you cannot perform all of the administrative functions of your business and sell your services and produce a quality product — all while trying to envision the future for your company as CEO.
Therefore, if you have not figured out how to interview, hire, train and retain excellent employees, it’s essential that you learn something about human resources management now.
Only 10% of new businesses succeed. If you want to be that one in 10, you need a quality workforce. Having one will help you live a life that includes personal time, not just 100-hour work weeks as far as the eye can see.
Whether or not you have adequate help — or the right help — to run your business can mean the difference between a correctly estimated job or one that leaves you in the red; a project ahead of schedule or one that misses crucial deadlines; repeat business or a string of disgruntled customers. In short, staffing or no staffing may be the difference between success and failure.
Investing Your Employees Pays Off
Veteran remodeler Jud Motsenbocker, CGR, CAPS, of Muncie, Ind., offers examples of how an investment in employees — financial and otherwise — has paid off.
It was a member of his sales staff who noticed that repeat clients were literally dying off and that Jud Construction had to find new customers.
His top administrator helped create the team environment in which staff members feel that their suggestions are welcome and appreciated by encouraging “Thank You” as a routine office phrase.
Empowering production staff to determine how jobs will be staffed to meet deadlines has resulted in projects finishing ahead of schedule.
Of course, since one of the chief reasons entrepreneurs want their own business is to be “in control,” there is a tradeoff in learning the essential skill of delegating. Motsenbocker acknowledged, for example, that it was tough to give up hands-on production. But after he did, his employees got better at it.
Where Do You Find the Right Employee?
Building professionals recommend leaving no stone unturned in seeking qualified help, since not every hire will be a good hire and your best employees probably will move on, perhaps even start their own building business eventually.
One builder hires only former Job Corps trainees. Another business owner has had good experiences hiring veterans returning from the Iraq war. Some have found that, while risky, hiring former prisoners has been a good decision.
(Note: Until Jan. 1, 2006, when the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is set to expire, employers can reduce their federal income tax liability by as much as $2,400 if they hire an employee from a targeted group, which includes some veterans, reentering prisoners, people moving from welfare to work, some Hurricane Katrina victims and others receiving government benefits. For more information, follow this link.)
You can also find new employees through your competitors, construction inspectors, trade contractors, professional associations and other industries. One business owner noticed excellent customer service skills in a waitress who served him and, subsequently, hired her. Motsenbocker found a good hire through a source he didn’t expect — a state-run employment service that tracked him down through a classified ad he had placed in the newspaper.
State and Federally Funded Employment Services
In fact, state and federally funded employment services are under increasing pressure to offer employer-demand-driven services to help people find and retain jobs in high-skill, high-growth areas like home construction. So don’t overlook them as a source — not only for workers, but for training and other supportive services that may help you hire someone and keep them employed.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor has provided grants to the Katrina-affected states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to train workers for jobs critical to the economic recovery of the Gulf region, including construction. The public workforce investment system is supposed to use the $12 million provided to place trainees in jobs where there is a critical need for workers.
You can find state “One Stop” employment and training center Web sites that encourage employers to post jobs. Just click on your state at the following link.
Once you have a candidate in mind, there are a number of approaches — beyond interviewing them — to determine whether they have the skills you are seeking.
One builder requires candidates to demonstrate competencies in a 10-by-10-foot room where they hang crown molding, install stairs and perform other similar tasks. Another escorts candidates to their trucks so he can assess how well their vehicles are organized.
Ongoing Training
After they are hired, all candidates need training at the outset and on an ongoing basis. The training may be helping employees adapt their skills to the new work situation (helping the waitress learn building customer requirements, for example, or having an expert in remodeling act as mentor to someone whose previous experience was framing new construction). Or it may be learning an entirely new skill, such as how to interact with high-end clients.
Some may even need basic skills tutoring in reading and writing, which is offered through local volunteer organizations, state-certified training programs, high schools or community colleges.
Positive Reinforcement
Besides training, employees also need rewards to keep them motivated — and these aren’t always monetary. Positive reinforcement should be ongoing — two positives for every negative is a good rule of thumb in discussing a problem with a team member.
And, for the sake of your business as well as your employee, never criticize one of your workers in front of a client. Instead, have a private discussion with the employee to discuss perceived shortcomings.
"It's really a team approach," says Lucy Katz, of Katz Builders, an Austin, Texas-based custom homes builder and high-end remodeler. At weekly staff meetings, employees brainstorm solutions to problems "so nobody feels like they're the Lone Ranger out there. We cover for each other.
"It's not, 'Are you going to mess up?' It's, 'When are you going to mess up?'" she says. The point is not to assign blame for mistakes, but to make sure they are caught and corrected expeditiously.
"Hopefully, if we've hired the right people, they're conscientious, they understand it's all about a team," including trade contractors. In exchange, she says, team members get flexible hours, "autonomy and the freedom and space to do their job."
Tangible rewards besides money for a job well done or as tokens of appreciation for showing up every day are important as well, building professionals say. These may include tickets to sporting events, employee outings and celebrations, incorporating breaks — and food — into the work day as part of contracts with clients and closing down for hunting "holidays."
When Things Don’t Work Out
Despite all of your efforts to build a productive, happy team, not every hire is a “good hire.” Motsenbocker recalls having to let an employee go even though his skills were good and he had a great work ethic. The reason? He couldn’t work with others on the crew.
The results of his decision to terminate affirmed that it was the right one. After the employee left, production actually increased even though, according to the organizational chart, the team was short one crew member.
Besides exercising the difficult option to fire an employee, though, it’s incumbent on you to answer the question of “why” a particular hire did not work out. Was the person truly a slacker or was there a personality conflict with another member of the team?
You can’t always judge the strength of one employee on the word of another. There could be an individual personality conflict. For example, the new clerical staff member whose work style clashes with your longtime administrator may do fine once the senior staff member has moved on.
Resources
For more information, e-mail Natalie Holmes at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8461.
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