George Just Quit! Now What?

In last week's blog George Glazier quit. You, as his supervisor, or owner, have to decide whether to accept George's resignation, or try to keep him as an employee. You made your list of pluses and minuses, and it is a draw. Nothing clear cut; let's look at a couple of issues, and the great decider: DOLLAR$.

If George quits saying he has a job with a higher rate of pay, what are the options. If you grant a small increase, you have opened the flood gates through your entire company. Don't believe, even for a second, that this will be kept confidential. I promise you George has told his buddy, and Buddy told six people. If you give in to George, five out of the six will be in your office within a week or two.

If George's offer is for real, does the other company offer the same total package that you do? $20 a week can be a lot, but if George is losing a 401K, or a better sick day policy, or education pay-back, then you should remind George of this. (You should make it a point to learn the programs of your friendly competitors. If you tell them yours, will they tell you theirs? Most will!) If you have better programs, and George didn't understand, maybe you will salvage him without paying more.

A short interruption---most employees of just about every company, don't fully understand their benefits. In my consulting, one of the first things I do when meeting employees is to have them tell me about their benefits package. It is always a shock to ownership that they pay for benefits and the employees don't use or know about them. Since you are paying for the benefits, make sure to teach your employees how to use them. Most employees who are new to the US workforce don't know how to use medical insurance, or what a 401K is. Here is a Paul Promise--teach your employees how to use your benefits, and what the value of these benefits are, and you will have happier employees at no increase in costs.

If George still thinks the $20 a week is more important, do you want to give him the raise, while you look for his replacement? Is it better to keep him working? My opinion--Don't do it. The morale of the rest of the company will go down, you will be inundated with the same request, and just after you do give the raise to everyone, three months later, it will start all over again!

Let's look at unemployment costs. If George doesn't get the raise, and quits, you must fight his unemployment. (What--his other job didn't come through???). If you wait a month, find his replacement and let him go on your terms, then you will be paying the unemployment, and paying, and paying.

What if you tell George you were planning to give him a raise, and you will move the date up to now? Even if this is true, you will hurt the company by using this. Every one will be in the next day asking about the raise, and are they getting one? This is just about the worst answer to give.

George isn't stupid...he has come to you just after someone retires, or has an injury, or has quit to open his own business. George feels he has you over a barrel. In this case, clearly, let him move on to his greener pastures. Yes, you will be out of sorts for a couple of weeks, but in the long-run, it is worth it.

If George tries to get you to bump him up, and you do, don't be surprised if he still goes. George will probably go back to his job offer, tell them you met his demand, and will they continue bidding to keep him. It is much easier for them to change his starting salary then for you to issue a company disruptive raise. George is playing both sides, and you will always lose if you play this game with him.

There are many more variations of this gamble. If George is a good employee, instead of just granting a raise, give him extra responsibilities or extra hours so he earns more. Give George a goal, like getting a CDL, or learning how to cut heavy glass, and give him a raise after he meets this goal. If George comes to you asking how he can earn more, find a way to do this. If George says pay me more for the same amount of work, say "Goodnight George."

George Glazier Just Quit Working For You--Now What Do You Do?

George, one of your glazing crew just walked in and gave you two weeks notice; so, what do you do? First thank him for his courtesy, second, ask him why he is leaving and where he is going, and lastly to wait outside your office for five minutes. Take this time to organize your thoughts. You want to plan what to say, what actions to take, rather than react on pure emotions.

On a pad, layout the pluses and minuses of George's resignation. Ask yourself:

1. Are you and your company better of with or without this person?
2. Is he as good on his job as you hoped he would be when you hired or promoted him?
3. Is he reliable?
4. Do you think he is trying to bluff you to work a counter-offer to stay at a higher rate of pay?
5. Does he care about the company's best interests? Or does he only care about what's in it for him?
6. How is his safety record?
7. How does he get along with customers? Co-workers? Management?
8. Do you have a person in mind who has asked about employment at your company?
9. Is the reason he told you a valid reason for leaving your company?
10. Is there a problem that you are trying to fix and if he knew about your efforts to fix it, would he stay?
    

This is a lot to think about in five short minutes. Here's my take on these questions:

1. Are you better off? This is the biggest of four key questions. 'With', then keep going. 'Without', then don't waste any more time. Accept his resignation and move on to the next important issue of running a glass business.

2. Is he as good? 'Yes' here; keep going. 'No' here; again, don't waste any more time.

3. Reliable? A 'yes' here is a plus. A 'no' here is a deal-breaker---let him go.

4. The counter-offer bluff? 'No'--keep writing. 'Yes', let him go now. Even if you think he is underpaid, if he didn't come up to you earlier and ask about a raise, or ask if he could work O/T, or ask if he could learn more to earn more, then he is not serious about working for you. You will only encourage this type of blackmail with other employees if you give in to this action.

The next six questions are not as absolute, but any one may be absolute to you. Consider these as parts of the puzzle. Three or more negative answers should tell you to accept the resignation.

5. Does he care? 'Yes', he cares about the company is a plus. 'No', he only cares about himself earns a minus sign.

6. Safety? A 'good' safety record is required, and is a neutral answer. A 'weak' or 'poor' safety record is negative.

7. Working with people? If he gets along 'well' with all three groups, it is a plus. Any group that he doesn't get along with gives a negative rating to the whole question.

8. Replacement? A 'yes', you do have a person in mind who would be an equal or possibly better than the current, is minus on trying to keep the person. A 'no' is neutral, only meaning you have to look at other characteristics.

9. Valid reason? A 'yes', means you should listen to him and see what his concerns are, and maybe you should talk in depth to see if these are serious, if they can be resolved, and if it would be a benefit to the company to have them resolved. Even if they are valid reasons, if they have not been brought up before, and the first complaint you are hearing is the resignation, something isn't quite correct. If you don't feel comfortable, or just wrote a 'no', place a minus on the score sheet.

10. Fixing a problem? A 'yes' says, tell him about the problem from your point-of-view, and what you think will be the solution. There may be parts of the solution you can't discuss, like you are planning to replace his supervisor. All you can do is tell him you are working on something, and you hope he gives you the time to act. If you can't tell the solution, ask if will stop in after you implement your changes, and see about a rehire. If he is not interested in listening, give him a minus.

OK, your five minutes are up. You ask him to come back in, and what do you do? We'll talk about various options next week; and how to tip the scales in your favor.

You Can't Get A Good Bagel in Western New Hampshire, And Other Problems Of Life

It is just one complaint after another…it’s too hot, it’s too cold, the glass is warped, the other guy is ten cents a foot cheaper.

When I ran Floral Glass, we had customers who complained about everything, and those who found a way to make lemonade when life rained Sunkist. Everyone has problems, and the last thing anyone wants to know is that you are having one of those days. Here are some thoughts on how to keep your face smiling, rather than frowning.

• Set realistic goals. Two weeks ago, I had a lot of flying to do. Some people had a goal of landing exactly on time, and if we were ten minutes late, they would be upset. Many upset people on that day. I set my goal as being able to walk off the plane after landing. As long as there was no crash, I had a good flight. I knew up front that every leg of the flight could have been delayed. I scheduled enough time between flights to allow for this. I could have been home an hour earlier, and the cost would have been being under tension for the whole day. Not worth it.

• Order glass from your supplier with enough lead-time for them to do a good job. When your tempered shower doors are a rush, there may not be enough time for proper inspection, or to polish a slight chip. If you quote every job as rush, you will be disappointed way too often. If your customer insists on a rush, explain to them the difficulties and extra costs involved. If they still want a rush, get paid extra for it, and the extra dollars will cover your grief.

• Understand that Murphy’s law (If it can go wrong, it will; and only at the least desirable time) runs your business, and the lives of your employees. With about 240 work days, someone will take a sick day just when you have an important job. The average employee will take five or six sick days per year, or will have an ‘obligation on the first day of hunting season’ and you can’t control it. How to remain calm? Expect that this will happen, and have a good program of cross-training in your company, so that pinch-hitters can step up when needed. They may not be as good as the starting team, but you will get the job finished.

• Accept the fact that you will have to replace people in your company. Moreover, it will always be someone that you think is irreplaceable, but he comes in late, hung over, and can’t read a tape measure until 10:00am. When you finally make this replacement, the rest of your employees will cheer. It is not a problem to replace this guy; it is an opportunity to improve your company!
  

• “The check is in the mail.” Yes, this is a rough one. How can you turn this happy? Most people call their customers at sixty days and hope to be paid by ninety. Call your customers on the thirty-first day, politely reminding them of your good work, and the terms that were agreed to. It seems that no contractors pay their bills without thirty days of heartburn. If you start at thirty, you will be paid at sixty, and that falls into the “I am still happy time period.”

• You're upset when your trusted vendor is undercut by a new fabricator from across town. Remember what you tell your customers when you get beat on a price--"If you buy from that guy, you will be calling me in three weeks to correct his work. He cuts too many corners to satisfy you!" When you call up screaming that your first vendor is overcharging you, be sure to compare qualities, and, probably, you will still be smiling. Yes, sometimes you will find a new, less expensive source, but do the experimenting on an easy job, and not the critical job for a fussy customer.

All That Glass In The Airport

Last week I was in airports in Kentucky, New Hampshire, Georgia, Arkansas and Michigan. They were all fairly new, kept very well, and the most common building material is (you guessed it) GLASS. It is everywhere. Daylight flooding in, people staring out at the planes on takeoff and landing, and surprisingly cool and quiet.

What a wonderful product we work with. But there is not enough WE in airport work. Only large, usually union-affiliated glaziers get to work on these projects. Let's see how every other glass shop can get work from airports.

First, don't be afraid to tackle work at an airport. Sounds easy...it can be...Call your local airport and ask to speak to purchasing. Ask what their set-asides are for small business. Ask what % of their purchases must be from a local source. Get the definition of local...5 miles from the airport, 10 miles, or maybe just the city or town the airport is in. You are not going to get the tower windows, those are a specialty to themselves, but you should be able to get on the bid list for other structural work. Sometimes it is union only, or prevailing wage. Make your own decision if you want to open up that box. But, (yes, the famous 'but') there is more work on the interior than in the structural envelope. This is where every local glass shop can get a lot of work.

Check with the airport management if you need a license to work on airport property. Let them check you out, visit you, or whatever it takes to get this license. Look at all the rest rooms in the airport. Look at all the hand rails, the smoke baffles and decorative displays. All use glass, and a major union glazier can't be competitive going in to replace one piece of mirror in the rest room.

The mother-lode is all of the retail stores. Every one has fixtures made of glass. Whether a sneeze guard at the fast food, or the display cubes at the clothing store. Here's how to get this business:

Walk through the entire airport writing down the name of every merchant, big and small. The Cincinnati airport, for example, has over 200 merchants, according to their info desk. Small airports will have a news stand, three types of restaurants and a book store. Whatever the count, give the names to the person in your office who answers the phone. When the phone is not ringing in, have her/him call each and every store and ask how you can get on the bid list for their local glass work. If the store is putting up a new front, there are glass shops that come in a specialize in that on a national basis, but the replacement of one lite is almost always the responsibility of the local manager. After the phone contact, follow up with a letter and whatever you give away that has your name and phone number.

Follow up twice a year with a note describing your services, emphasizing your willingness to repair or replace even one lite, and mentioning you are cleared to work in the airport, and you will work at odd hours, which is usually required, just like at shopping malls.

Raise your service charge to cover two extra hours of time, just to get in and get out of the airport. This may be expensive, but the stores are used to paying this. They know it is part of their cost to be in the airport. Make sure your employees are clean, neat and have their picture ID's. Have a work order from the store and a manifest of what is on your truck for a security stop.

Shopping malls can have one or two recognized glaziers who are the only ones allowed to do work in their location. This is usually based on a financial arrangement. But airports are always owned by governmental authority and can't grant that type of restrictive work arrangement. Whatever size your shop is, if you want to go after this market, you can do it.