Implement This So That Employees Know Exactly What Is Required Of Them for a Raise
Oh no! One of your employees just asked for a raise. Yes, you got to give them more money, at least that’s what they are expecting.
I am Ron Ramsden, I am a DYB coach, also a painting contractor here in Massachusetts.
If you have employees, crew members, team players, whatever you call them; they are expecting a raise.
You know, being on the job long enough, you know the tail science.
You get a text about it, you get a… when you are on a job, “hey, can I talk to you for a moment?” Or you get that phone call when you are giving them directions or you are giving them something else.
“Oh, I wanted to ask you something, do you have a minute?” They are not asking if you have any extra sandpaper, they are asking if you will give them more money.
And if you say no, what happens? Is the person going to work at 75% because they think they are getting over-worked, they are over-producing?
They saw you drive up in a new truck so they think that they are paying for that new truck? Of course, they do.
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But, one way to keep everything on the same page so they know when they expect to get a raise is magic two words, called “Job Description”.
Every job in your company should have a job description, and this should be shared with your employees, in fact, they should be in your employee manual, and you can update them as you see because technology and other things change, responsibilities change.
You might change a job that includes two jobs, or some responsibilities from one job.
And you take something like the apprentice, you have the job description of an apprentice, whatever it may be, and then it will have certain points for them to hit.
When they hit these certain points and they have been working, they can accomplish these tasks, well, they are up for a raise.
Maybe 6 months, maybe a year, and then we also get some employees who enjoy just being that employee and maybe they are just a painter, we want to keep that.
If they are not willing to touch all those new points in their job description, or maybe they just want to be a painter.
But give these people a chance to grow, learn new tasks, and then accelerate and be with the company.
There is really no timeframe for us for an employee, if we have a person who has been an apprentice for 6 months or a year, they don’t automatically get a raise.
They have to reach different areas in their job description and complete it, work at full capacity for so long, and then they are considered for a new job description.
But I will tell you something, it does nothing more to motivate someone, to bring them into a coffee meeting, or whatever you are having, they are reviewed and say, okay, listen, you have been working great, you’ve hit every point in your job description and it is time for you to take on a new role.
If they decide they don’t want to take on a new role, that’s fine too. I have painters who don’t want the responsibility of being a crew leader, that is perfectly fine, but there is also a pay rate, we have a range of pay in every job description.
Of course, over time you have to adjust those pay rate changes as the economy changes, but we will have overlap between the apprentice and the painter and then the painter and the crew leader, we have overlaps in pay.
Someone could actually max out, a painter could max out, we are going to say $20 an hour is the max for a painter.
They could be stuck at $20 an hour for quite some time, and unless that pay range goes up, they could be stuck at $20, the only way for them to get extra money is to take on more responsibility, which then leads into the next job description.
Also, if there is a question on a job or something didn’t get done, we could actually go back to the job description and say whose responsibility was that?
If the crew leader, or team leader or whatever you call the leader of the band of painters is not doing their job, you have to come back and say, listen you have to sit down and either reprimand them or just go over the inadequacies of the job, the project.
And if they say it’s not me, you could actually take out their job description and say, this is part of your job.
So, it kind of gets rid of a lot of arguments, it allows people to know who’s in charge, it allows people on the job know who’s responsible for that, and just because they are a paint crew leader doesn’t mean they are not responsible for sanding.
As their jobs go up, they are still responsible for all those things below them.
But, it also takes that argument and that surprise, texts or the phone call, as they pull you aside, when you are on a job and they ask that raise, “hey I need a $2 an hour raise”, you know, “hey, I got an offer for a job somewhere else at $2 an hour extra”, you know.
Unfortunately we have to hold our ground in most cases, and bring up the job description and say well, you know, your range is $15 to $20 an hour, you are at $19 right now, you are doing 90% of the things, maybe you can’t squeeze out that dollar for them or that 50 cents.
What I would also say is, maybe change your raise increments to percentages.
Many of my friends, colleagues who are outside the painter’s field… an average, excellent rating on raise is about 3%.
You look at that as at a $20 an hour, raise would be 60 cents, that might not be painter’s industry standards, but the outside world, it is done by percentages, not dollar amounts like the painters are.
Anyways, if you are struggling, giving raises, you are getting hit left and right about, ….I want a raise, I want a raise, I want a raise… one way to curb all that is have job descriptions, we have many job descriptions we would love to share.
If you need a job description, just send me a message, or put a comment here.
I am more than happy to touch base with you and see how we can help you with some job descriptions.
I hope this helped a little bit, I am Ron Ramsden, I am a DYB coach, also a painting contractor, helping you get through the world of painting business, I hope you have a great day, bye.
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