I have always found one of the best ways is to provide better
benifits/perks. As others have said 401k match is a good one, but if
that's not something most your employees would be interested in. Fully
paid health insurance can be one, also send them to training or a
tradeshow. Even welders like to go to a tradeshow and gawk at all the
new equipment...
One of the best I found was catered lunches. We would have a day or two
a week we would bring in food from a good restaurant or order some good
steaks and grill them. It was also good as it got everyone together.
Another thing is give them a budget to go and buy whatever
tools/equipment/etc that you can write off and let them keep it
personally. Works great for labor workers and IT staff. The more
mechanical inclined typically went out and buy nice tools and the others
typically would get a laptop, or build a gaming rig.
On 1/28/24 12:16 PM, Chuck McCown via AF wrote:
My latest pivot a couple of years ago to microtrenching blades, adding
grout machines, then microtrenching saw attachments and now to a
specialized type of vacuum excavator has gone extremely well. Almost
no software involved. Just a little in a motion control PCB in the
grout machine to control the hydrostatic transmission. This is by far
my most profitable season I have ever had in 50 years of running some
kind of hustle. And those years of the stinger and other related
antennas and hardware were not bad at all. I am a bit more confident
that these new “durable products” have more legs than the antennas
that were radio specific.
But having been through wax and wane of business, economy and product
cycles for many decades, I am always reticent to ratchet up pay. I do
give bonuses. I will always live in fear of not meeting payroll.
Only happened once about 30 years ago, but that is a bad deal. And
actually nobody was unpaid but I had to layoff everyone. But I digress.
What would y’all suggest as a way to reward employees when things are
going well? I give COLA plus modest merit increases every 6 months.
I could give substantial merit increases but that plays into my phobia
of things getting tight again. Maybe that is totally unfounded. I
know when things started going well for Henry Ford he doubled pay and
things got even better for him.
I would like to do bonuses based on my bottom line income (I think),
but how to distribute that evenly? Should everyone get the same
amount? And how to relate that the size of the bonus is tied directly
to how well the company is doing? Or should I just give really nice
raises this go around? Or both? I guess if things slow down we can
always trim staff or let attrition do it for us. I think you all can
understand the reluctance to give raises as it is a one way street.
You really cannot cut pay.
I want employees to prosper and do better personally. I wonder if my
fears are justified. I know some of you have worked for large
companies at certain points in your life, how did they accomplish
this. I know some of you have really prospered with your WISP/ISP,
curious how you approached the whole sharing the wealth thing.
Chuck McCown
McCown Technology Corporation
8401 N Commerce Dr
Lake Point, Utah 84074
801-250-9503
435-830-4306 cell
www.mccowntech.com
www.microtrench-blades.com
www.terabitnetworks.com
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