It’s interesting reading responses, definitely two different
cultures. I was raised in the midst of both really, luckily I stuck
to the former, not the current, and therefor to me hustle makes
sense. It’s about having a sense of pride for yourself and your
work. I can definitely see the division amongst my team though, as
I have young and old, from all different backgrounds. I have a team
of 6 installers, with an 7th that is my senior employee that I’ve
recently transitioned to ‘Lead Tech’. He’s a bit of a facilitator,
someone I can rely on to train new hires, audit installs, fix major
issues, etc. I’ve dealt with most issues mentioned, I’ve got the
guys that fly through jobs, can do 7 a day, but the quality lacks.
Then I’ve got the guys that might take 4 or 5 hours, but their
installs are impeccable. The main reason I started the ‘Lead Tech’
role, was to find a happy medium to all the different methods, so
that at the end of the day, the customer is satisfied for many years
to come. I think that’s my major takeaway, is regardless of how
long it takes, aside from obvious economics, as long as the job is a
quality job and the customer is satisfied, it’s a job well done.
As far as training new hires. We have always done that through
osmosis. We spend the first few days in the classroom, giving a
basic orientation of who we are, and what are system is like. I
give some RF training, so they understand it’s not magic, it’s not a
laser, there is science behind the actual physical structure of RF.
Then I pair them up with a senior tech, now the Lead Tech, and send
them on their way. They spend the first 30-60 days of their 90 days
with that tech, learning efficient ways to install, and slowly
taking on tasks as the Lead tech assigns. Eventually, working into
a role of doing the whole job while the Lead follows. During this
time frame we have break out sessions as needed. Early on I do a
break out session on tower safety, and we do follow up meetings with
them and the Lead tech to see how they are progressing, and I tweak
their training as needed to address concerns or short comings.
Usually, by 40 days or so, they are ready to do jobs, but no later
than 60 days, and then we turn them lose to try it on their own.
You will always have call ins for help, expect that, and they will
be slow on their own at first, but I find the key is empowering them
to make decisions. Most of my slower guys are slow because they
second, or triple, guess their work, instead of just making a
decision and moving on. I had one guy that was told to test 5
different tours by dispatch to ‘find a signal’, he thought that
meant test all of them, even though he found a signal on the first
one he tested, so I had to explain the goal is to get a signal,
period, it’s inefficient to test all towers, Dispatch was just
telling you that you have 5 options.
If you have an employee that is just too slow and not catching on,
it’s time to let them go, I’ve had to do that also. Some people
just are not cut out for this type of work, as it is a unique job of
physical labor, mixed with a level of intelligence when it comes to
the technical side of things. Military guys are GREAT installer
hires, some of my best employees are former military. Everything can
be trained, but hiring someone that has the will power and
determination to work hard, and is respectful, is a huge advantage
to that process. I didn’t really see where you discussed the exact
findings that was causing your employee to be slow, but I’m sure
once you start to identify them, focusing some attention on those
areas will quickly teach you on if they can adapt, or need to be let
go.
Thank you,
Ben Royer, Operations Manager
Royell Communications, Inc.
217-965-3699 www.royell.net <wlmailhtml:www.royell.net>
*From:* Chuck McCown
*Sent:* Monday, April 24, 2017 9:31 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
Not saying to rush for the sake of rushing, saying to go fast. Do
things perfectly in the least amount of time possible. That means
hustle. Why would you chose to slowly drag your ass between the
truck and the house? There is absolutely no justification for not
jogging back and forth. Not saying to sprint or full on run. Just
jog, show some hustle. Economy of movements. That includes tool and
supply organization.
At the end of the day it is now many perfect installs you do a day.
If you get more than the other guy and you drag your ass, I would
not can you, probably give you a raise.
But if you were dragging your ass, leaving the shop late, BSing
instead of working I would tell you to ‘hustle” one time...
*From:* Josh Reynolds
*Sent:* Monday, April 24, 2017 8:24 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
To tell the truth, I'd be telling you to fuck off as well.
Having an employee run is a liability for several reasons. Rushing
leads to forgotten things and shoddy work, and tying installs to pay
with cause you to end up with the install quality that DirecTV
subcontractors do, as they get paid per room/job as well. It's
absolutely shit work that looks bad and often has problems you will
have to roll a truck for.
Slow and smooth, measured work, thought out in advance with no
wasted efficiency. THAT will be fast and quality work.
"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
In the end, it's your business. I'm just some guy.
- Josh
On Apr 24, 2017 8:57 AM, "Chuck McCown" <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote:
Well then you would not be working for me. Or UPS or FedEX or
Les Schwab or Tunex or ......
Treating someone like crap is a far different thing than
treating them like an adult. You own their work output when
they are on the clock and they need to work efficiently.
It is not unreasonable at all to expect some hustle. I don’t
pay anyone to take their time.
*From:* Timothy Steele
*Sent:* Monday, April 24, 2017 7:53 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
If you treat your employees like crap like that there going to
start looking for a new boss I know if I was walking to the
house and you told me to run I would quit on the spot if that's
what you want then go for it
On Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 9:43 AM Chuck McCown <ch...@wbmfg.com> wrote:
You cannot expect a younger person to run for any reason
until they decide that it might benefit them, and even them
real hustle will be rare.
I would put them on piece rate or daily rate and tell them
they have to do at least 3 per day to keep their job. Once
they are doing 3, then up it to 4 or keep them on piece rate.
Have you actually said “RUN!” when they were walking from
truck to house? Have them watch the first half of full
metal jacket and give them a bit of drill sergeant treatment.
I believe in “management by telling” you actually have to
tell them, in simple and clear terms exactly what you want.
*From:* Brandon Yuchasz
*Sent:* Sunday, April 23, 2017 5:37 PM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
I was going to type a long PC type post about this (which I
did anyway sorry) . But instead I am going to just ask how
you guys go about trying to teach / train a new installer to
work faster?
We have a guy right now that was hired to be an installer
with other duties as assigned. He is good at the other
duties and has a good understanding of networking, computers
and even RF. The problem is that he is very slow on installs
and the primary job he was hired to do.
I spent quite a bit of time with him last week trying to
figure out where the speed issues were coming from. So I
took him on site surveys ahead of time with me and we laid
out the entire installs during the survey. Install here,
wire down here, across here in through wall here and
terminate. You could see the tower from these sites so
hanging and tuning the radio was a breeze.
I sent him out on two installs the day after that. First one
I considered a hard install. The second one easy. They took
him over 10 hours not counting drive time.
I spent the next morning doing site checks on them with the
customers permission. Both customers were happy with him and
his install and not a single thing on the install was done
incorrectly I took another installer with me and asked him
to run the time frame in his head. He came up to 3 hours for
each install. So had I but we are both experienced.
So I talked really briefly with the new guy about getting
faster and then took him to an install I had surveyed
myself. Ran him through the entire install. Radio here, wire
down here….. in and terminate. Install router. I left the
more experienced guy with him to answer questions but told
him to not physically help and explained to the new guy that
if he had questions to ask because the other guy is there to
help him figure out a faster process and would be talking
with me after the install about ways to speed up the process
so we can help him. I should mention the experienced guy is
a supervisor so no hard feelings should be had here. I left
him at 9:00
I was thinking that maybe I was being unrealistic in my time
frames on installs since normally I have a helper on my
installs and we knock out three to four a day. I felt like I
got my installs done in 3 hours max when I was alone but
never really timed them. So when I left the new guy I drove
a half hour to what I considered a hard install and did it
alone. Was done at 12:30 and driving back to check on the
new guy. When I got there he was just about done with the
install but the truck was spread around the driveway ( not
throwing stones I have been known to do this). So he was
going past hour 4 at this point with paperwork and packing
the truck he was going to be at 5 for sure. I stepped in
did the paperwork and quietly asked the other guy to pack up
the truck some. This was done for selfish reasons ( its
Friday and I have a family) and also because we had a
between 1 and 3 to hit for the final install of the day.
Grabbed subway. Scoffed it down. I bought and we headed to
the last job.
I had the supervisor guy in my truck and we have worked
together a lot 100s of installs together. So on the way to
the install which he had never seen I prep him on it. Big
ladder ( 32”) up on the gable on the back of the house. Take
the little giant around to the deck so I can access the
roof. And it’s a tripod install. So when we pull into the
drive I point to the back of the house “that’s the back” he
says okay and I go to ring the doorbell and say hello. He
has the new guy with him so he told him to help with the
ladder and then instructed him to start an rj45 on a wire.
When I walked out the ladder was up and the supervisor was
at the top screwing down the tripod. I grabbed the mast,
mounted the antenna and put the wireless unit on it to tune
and scurried up the small ladder and up the roof. Ill make
this short. We hung the gear and tuned and marked the tripod
and I went down and he had just finished the RJ45. In his
defense he had put one on a 3 foot scrap piece that he had
confused with the rest of the wire in the box( I don’t
know) so this was his second end. Anyway we just ran the job
and he stayed out of the way. This was a hard roof, tall and
not LOS and we were done in the truck heading home in just
under two hours. But that was two guys and we ran.
Ok so this is getting long sorry about that but I just am at
a loss with this guy. I did realize on that last job I run
on job sites. I always run to the truck back from the truck
and I think ahead. This guy defiantly does not run and
nothing is done with any sense of urgency. He is certainly
smart and I hate to let him go because he has other values
but I don’t know what I can do to help him. He was hired to
take the load off of me and I realize at the beginning new
guys are work but its been over two months now he just
recently took on jobs alone and he is not taking the load
off. He is adding to it.
Thoughts?
Is to wrong to say, your slow I don’t know why but I am
going to fire you if you don’t get fast. I wish I could tell
you how to get fast but Its lots of little things. Start
with running everywhere you go and see if that helps?
Seriously…. I do want to know from those of you that have
hired lots of guys what are your thoughts? Should I not be
running one man crews with the expectation of two installs
in an 8 hour day with an hour of drive time in there?
Thanks,
Brandon
