That's scandalous. I have never experienced anything like that.
I wasn't against unions until I was a young adult....and in principle
I'm still not "against unions", I'm against how far they seem to be
reaching.
In 1999 I was doing tech support for $8.50/hour. I think I had 50%
medical coverage. I think in 2001 or 2002 Verizon's linemen went on
strike. The big deal was that they currently had 100% of their health
insurance paid for by the company, and management wanted to make it 80%.
Any line work during the strike was done by managers or contractors.
I had difficulty sympathizing with people who already had it way better
than normal and it wasn't enough. I heard things later that made me
straight up angry: Some of the linesmen on strike (allegedly) committed
acts of sabotage just to create problems that there wasn't enough labor
to solve. I heard from a local field tech that she was told by the
union to only complete x number of work orders per day (I think it was
2), and to deliberately waste time if they were in danger of
accomplishing too much.
....meanwhile I'm busting my ass for 1/3 of the money and half the
bennies they get. It's really colored my opinion. To me union == lazy
crybabies. I understand that unions were largely responsible for
raising the standard of living in the USA, but I feel like now they've
got it made and it's still not enough for them.
------ Original Message ------
From: ch...@wbmfg.com
To: af@afmug.com
Sent: 4/28/2017 11:30:19 AM
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
I was kinda almost union once. Worked for UPS as a seasonal sorter
truck loader in their PDX hub. Couple of teamsters came in the truck I
was loading. Threatened me that if I did not join the union I would
find working there difficult, extracted some cash from me to fund the
united way and then left. That was my last day last shift. And I have
NEVER given to united way since.
From:Jerry Head
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2017 8:27 AM
To:af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] installer hire / training process.
You clearly are non-union.
On 4/24/2017 8:57 AM, Chuck McCown 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
