Small Business Ownership Sucks (Sometimes)

[DanGarion]

So my wife has been have a number of issues with our two employees lately. For those of you not keeping score we own a dog grooming shop that we purchased from her former employer in 2007, one employee came with the business while we hired another after the purchase.

We pay our employees based on the amount of work they bring in, basically they get 50% of what they bring in (and 90% for poodles). That's the standard business practice for just about any groomer.

The problem we have had is with other duties outside the realm of just pure grooming. Such as general cleaning of the shop, which includes cages, taking care of the basics that make everyone's job easier throughout the day. My wife tends to be a bit of a pushover when it comes to telling them what to do and then enforcing it after they start to slack off.

We've also had issues with them turning down dogs when they still could be grooming later into the day (sometimes leaving as early as 1 PM). Grooming is sort of a weird business because the dogs come in the morning, and usually once you get around 12 PM you can't take more dogs in because of the length of time a dog can take to be washed, groomed, and dry.

I've given my wife a lot of advice and suggestions and we've done of number of them, things improve for a month and then typically go back to the way they were.

I'm contemplating creating a bit of an employee handbook that explains their job duties and responsibilities are (as well as our responsibilities as their employer) and having them sign a sheet that says they acknowledge they have received and read said handbook. Then working on enforcement of the handbook with some progressive discipline if things don't start improving. And if all else fails getting in new employees that will do their job the way it's supposed to be done.

Anyway, I guess my point is two main things venting, and looking for some feedback on what we should do. You guys are all a smart bunch and I like the collective groupthink that we have here.

Any help is appreciated.

[JediKooter]

Sell everything and go to Aspen...



Seriously though, I don't know other than maybe have a meeting with them and explain what is expected of each employee. That hand book doesn't sound like a bad idea though. Be careful you don't paint yourself in any legal corners though with it.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Sell everything and go to Aspen...



Seriously though, I don't know other than maybe have a meeting with them and explain what is expected of each employee. That hand book doesn't sound like a bad idea though. Be careful you don't paint yourself in any legal corners though with it.

Yeah that's the last thing I want to do. Included with the "handbook" since it really would be a very small handbook would be a document they would sign that would state they received it and have read it and expressing that the handbook and form are not a contract nor do they guarantee employment. Or maybe we will just create a job description and have them sign that (included on the job description would be "Other duties as assigned." That seems to work for my employer!

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Yeah that's the last thing I want to do. Included with the "handbook" since it really would be a very small handbook would be a document they would sign that would state they received it and have read it and expressing that the handbook and form are not a contract nor do they guarantee employment. Or maybe we will just create a job description and have them sign that (included on the job description would be "Other duties as assigned." That seems to work for my employer!

Oh, I like the job description and them signing it much better. Other than the lack of being diligent on the janitorial duties, are they good employees?

You do have the bonus of California being a 'at will' state, so if worse comes to worse, you can always give them the boot.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Oh, I like the job description and them signing it much better. Other than the lack of being diligent on the janitorial duties, are they good employees?

You do have the bonus of California being a 'at will' state, so if worse comes to worse, you can always give them the boot.

I know sometimes she wishes they would take more dogs, but sometimes the business isn't there, so we can't do much about that most the time. She really needs to take sole ownership of managing their number of dogs and I think that problem would be resolved, but she tries to be too nice sometimes in situations when she should just give them the dog and not turn away a customer. But I think for the most part they are good employees.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

My wife tends to be a bit of a pushover when it comes to telling them what to do and then enforcing it after they start to slack off.

For me, this is issue number one.

You could have them sign paperwork in blood, but if you and your wife are not on the same page, doing the same enforcement, all the handbooks, paperwork or signs in the world won't make sure your employees do what you want. They are like kids knowing that Dad won't stand for it, but Mom is a little bit of a pushover.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mustang

For me, this is issue number one.

You could have them sign paperwork in blood, but if you and your wife are not on the same page, doing the same enforcement, all the handbooks, paperwork or signs in the world won't make sure your employees do what you want. They are like kids knowing that Dad won't stand for it, but Mom is a little bit of a pushover.

I know, and I've had talks with her about this. She can't expect them to do things, when she stops enforcing what she told them to do in the first place. I'm much more of a silent partner in the business since I have my day job and only visit the shop every couple weeks, the business is her baby, she is there every day, managing the business and grooming dogs.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I know sometimes she wishes they would take more dogs, but sometimes the business isn't there, so we can't do much about that most the time. She really needs to take sole ownership of managing their number of dogs and I think that problem would be resolved, but she tries to be too nice sometimes in situations when she should just give them the dog and not turn away a customer. But I think for the most part they are good employees.

I'm sure it's a fine balance, but, I don't think it would kill them if a dog or two were to keep them a little longer during the day every now and then. Or do you not want to have to deal with over time and stuff like that?

It sounds like your wife and you are fairly flexible with the work hours and everything, so, I don't think you guys would be hard asses because you want your employees to do more with clean up.

Since your wife isn't the strictest of bosses (not always a bad thing), have you tried a rotational schedule for clean up? Mondays and Wednesdays, employee A does it. Tuesdays and Thursdays, employee B does it and on Fridays, the boss does it. Something along those lines. That way, there's no: "I thought so and so was doing it, so that's why I didn't do it".

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I'm sure it's a fine balance, but, I don't think it would kill them if a dog or two were to keep them a little longer during the day every now and then. Or do you not want to have to deal with over time and stuff like that?

It sounds like your wife and you are fairly flexible with the work hours and everything, so, I don't think you guys would be hard asses because you want your employees to do more with clean up.

Since your wife isn't the strictest of bosses (not always a bad thing), have you tried a rotational schedule for clean up? Mondays and Wednesdays, employee A does it. Tuesdays and Thursdays, employee B does it and on Fridays, the boss does it. Something along those lines.

Agreed, I mean the way the pay structure works, the more dogs you groom the more you make, sure you might have to sit around and wait, but I'd want to get in as many dogs as I can if I was getting paid on each one. There really isn't any form of overtime since there is no set "wage". That's one of the things that sort of gets us though, since they aren't getting paid "hourly" once they are done for the day they just leave, without doing the cleanup work that is needed to get done. Sometimes it is because someone is working on a dog, or because dogs are in the cages that they were assigned to clean, etc. She did try that rotation, where everyone did certain cages each day (she made sure to do the most difficult ones personally) it worked out for about a month and then they started slacking again.

My wife tends to groom dogs the latest, and part of that is that she closes the shop 4 out of 5 days a week (one of the employees closes for us on Saturdays and gets paid hourly for any hours he is there after he finishes grooming).

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Agreed, I mean the way the pay structure works, the more dogs you groom the more you make, sure you might have to sit around and wait, but I'd want to get in as many dogs as I can if I was getting paid on each one. There really isn't any form of overtime since there is no set "wage". That's one of the things that sort of gets us though, since they aren't getting paid "hourly" once they are done for the day they just leave, without doing the cleanup work that is needed to get done. Sometimes it is because someone is working on a dog, or because dogs are in the cages that they were assigned to clean, etc. She did try that rotation, where everyone did certain cages each day (she made sure to do the most difficult ones personally) it worked out for about a month and then they started slacking again.

My wife tends to groom dogs the latest, and part of that is that she closes the shop 4 out of 5 days a week (one of the employees closes for us on Saturdays and gets paid hourly for any hours he is there after he finishes grooming).

Ok, so definitely Mrs. DG has to be more firm with the employees then. I think Mustang said it, if she doesn't commit to it, then it's just going to go back to square one.

Sounds like it's not a bad a place to work to me. I'm not into grooming dogs, but, if I was, I'd probably want to work there. Maybe switching to paying them hourly for the hours they are cleaning up? However, I don't know how much that would hurt your bottom line though. I can't imagine the expenses/profit ratio being that big, unless you cater to a higher end clientele?

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Ok, so definitely Mrs. DG has to be more firm with the employees then. I think Mustang said it, if she doesn't commit to it, then it's just going to go back to square one.

Sounds like it's not a bad a place to work to me. I'm not into grooming dogs, but, if I was, I'd probably want to work there. Maybe switching to paying them hourly for the hours they are cleaning up? However, I don't know how much that would hurt your bottom line though. I can't imagine the expenses/profit ratio being that big, unless you cater to a higher end clientele?

Wrong on the first sentence. It won't go back to square one, it will go worse. Once you put together a handbook and signed documents, they need to be followed to the letter. If they aren't, an employee who you do end up letting go someday can come back and say the firing was unfair because the employees were treated differently. (and "at will" only works some of the time in defending this)

There are a number of websites that help small business and have sample handbooks by the way.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Ok, so definitely Mrs. DG has to be more firm with the employees then. I think Mustang said it, if she doesn't commit to it, then it's just going to go back to square one.

Sounds like it's not a bad a place to work to me. I'm not into grooming dogs, but, if I was, I'd probably want to work there. Maybe switching to paying them hourly for the hours they are cleaning up? However, I don't know how much that would hurt your bottom line though. I can't imagine the expenses/profit ratio being that big, unless you cater to a higher end clientele?

Yeah I have thought about paying them for the cleaning part of their job, it would be a bit of an impact, probably $200-300 a month or so. It might be worth the reduced stress for her.

[Logan]

Don't give it to them freely though. If it was part of their job description before, and they just weren't doing it, you shouldn't all of a sudden start paying them for it. So instead of getting 50%, you get 45% (or whatever it works out to), but now you'll be paid for those extra cleaning hours when you're not bringing in dogs. That may re-motivate them to keep on grooming.

[DaddyTorgo]

Sounds like it just needs to be stated what the expectation of "finishing a grooming job" is, and that has to include the complete cleaning up process. No cleaning up=no completed grooming job=not getting paid for that job.

[DanGarion]

Thank you very much guys, everything you are giving me is helping a lot with figuring out my plan of attack. Please keep it coming!

[RainMaker]

So are your employees actual employees or independent contractors? That's a big difference in what you can demand out of them.

If they are employees, I don't see why you can't be more strict on your policies and what you expect out of them. They work for you and you pay them for that time. You should get what you want.

If they are independent contractors (which I'm guessing they are if they are being paid straight commission), that's a little more tricky. In that case you're best bet is to lay down a set of store policies. Basically rules that independent contractors have to abide by to groom in the store (cleaning up, etc). But again, it's tricky and you may have to do some more research on it. I'm pretty sure you can't demand certain hours out of a contractor.

The IRS has a nice section on the differences and should give you some insight into what you can and can't demand out of each one.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...=99921,00.html

[RainMaker]

And I own a small business too. In fact, one of our sites is a designer dog store (sells beds, clothes, etc). And in the web world, we use independent contractors a lot for writing, programming, and web design.

[fantom1979]

Fire them. If you cannot do it now, start building up documentation to get them fired. If they have been breaking the rules without consequence for a long period of time, its going to be very difficult to now enforce the rules. Without personally knowing these people, I would say it would be near impossible to change their long term behavior without either firing at least one of them, or changing the management (your wife) at the shop. Personally, I would rather fire the employees, and start over with the correct rules in place, then fire my wife

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

Fire them. If you cannot do it now, start building up documentation to get them fired. If they have been breaking the rules without consequence for a long period of time, its going to be very difficult to now enforce the rules. Without personally knowing these people, I would say it would be near impossible to change their long term behavior without either firing at least one of them, or changing the management (your wife) at the shop. Personally, I would rather fire the employees, and start over with the correct rules in place, then fire my wife

In most other businesses I'd say yes, but in this it might be a little trickier. Dog grooming is a bit like hair styling, and people become loyal to particular ones. Knowing a lot of dog owners in my area, they all have "their groomer" that they know they can trust and know the dog has bonded with.

So firing one of the people may sound like a good idea, but it may also mean that groomer takes with them a bunch of good customers.

[fantom1979]

Good point. I have years of retail management experience, in which customer usually shop prices, customer service, and brand names, not personal relationships. I often had to weed out problem employees and managers. Dog grooming is probably an entirely different animal (sorry for the pun) compared to big box retail.

[RainMaker]

I might be completely wrong though, so I'll wait to see what Dan has to say. But I know my GF travels over an hour to the suburbs for a hair stylist who moved a couple years ago. With how crazy people are about their dogs, it's not far fetched that someone would do the same.

[CU Tiger]

We have a division of my company where I pay "piece rate" essentially the same thing you are doing. We had an issue with employees doing what they saw as their "core" job and then leaving the details undone. (To be specific we do a very small number of security system installs, part of the challenge of keeping my monitoring rate low is reducing false alarms. The number 1 contributor here is customer training after installation. The two guys I had would do a fantastic job installing the systems and then half ass or skip out all together on the customer training portion.)

Our solution was to sit down and have a meeting and explain the importance of the duties, explain that no one enjoys doing them but explain why they are necessary. (In your case general hygiene and cleanliness I suppose) Explain that the work MUST be done and offer a couple solutions. 1) We continue on with pay as current but assign a value to the cleaning service and if it is not done that portion of the pay is deducted and paid to the person who does the cleaning, be it your wife or the other groomer. 2) We all hate the cleaning so we will hire another person just to clean up for 3 hours per day or whatever it works out to be, and we will split their pay equally, or base upon work load or whatever is fair.

My preference to this type of solution is that first it establishes that the work must be completed, and it "empowers" the employees to be part of the solution. Ultimately it doesn't empower shit because if they don't comply you can fire their ass, but it makes them feel like they developed the solution and were not heavy handed into a decision.

*To be fair this type of management is totally against my nature. By nature I am more of a do it or else mind set, but I have found great success in both getting my way and keeping employees and keeping them happier in this style.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

So are your employees actual employees or independent contractors? That's a big difference in what you can demand out of them.


http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...=99921,00.html

They are employees, they get W-2s at the end of the year, etc.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

In most other businesses I'd say yes, but in this it might be a little trickier. Dog grooming is a bit like hair styling, and people become loyal to particular ones. Knowing a lot of dog owners in my area, they all have "their groomer" that they know they can trust and know the dog has bonded with.

So firing one of the people may sound like a good idea, but it may also mean that groomer takes with them a bunch of good customers.

Fortunately for the most part "their groomer" is my wife, she's the owner of the business and the person the customers primarily interact with, they know she owns the business. But the customers do know who grooms their dogs specifically.

[Swaggs]

I like CU Tiger's solution. Sit down and have a meeting where you point out what hasn't been done to satisfaction and if it is something they will absolutely not do, then offer to slice their percentage so that you can hire someone to clean up at the end of the day (so they can focus on the grooming part of their job).

That pretty much gives them the feeling of having ownership in the decision and makes them choose between between earning more money or having someone else earn the money for doing the undesirable portion of their job.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

We have a division of my company where I pay "piece rate" essentially the same thing you are doing. We had an issue with employees doing what they saw as their "core" job and then leaving the details undone. (To be specific we do a very small number of security system installs, part of the challenge of keeping my monitoring rate low is reducing false alarms. The number 1 contributor here is customer training after installation. The two guys I had would do a fantastic job installing the systems and then half ass or skip out all together on the customer training portion.)

Our solution was to sit down and have a meeting and explain the importance of the duties, explain that no one enjoys doing them but explain why they are necessary. (In your case general hygiene and cleanliness I suppose) Explain that the work MUST be done and offer a couple solutions. 1) We continue on with pay as current but assign a value to the cleaning service and if it is not done that portion of the pay is deducted and paid to the person who does the cleaning, be it your wife or the other groomer. 2) We all hate the cleaning so we will hire another person just to clean up for 3 hours per day or whatever it works out to be, and we will split their pay equally, or base upon work load or whatever is fair.

My preference to this type of solution is that first it establishes that the work must be completed, and it "empowers" the employees to be part of the solution. Ultimately it doesn't empower shit because if they don't comply you can fire their ass, but it makes them feel like they developed the solution and were not heavy handed into a decision.

*To be fair this type of management is totally against my nature. By nature I am more of a do it or else mind set, but I have found great success in both getting my way and keeping employees and keeping them happier in this style.

This is a great solution!

[stevew]

W-2s seems like the worst possible way to do a job like this. It would seem to make more sense to have them all be contractors and pay them a slightly higher wage vs paying all manner of social security tax, etc. But if it's working(other than this cleaning BS), then it's all good.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by stevew

W-2s seems like the worst possible way to do a job like this. It would seem to make more sense to have them all be contractors and pay them a slightly higher wage vs paying all manner of social security tax, etc. But if it's working(other than this cleaning BS), then it's all good.

The problem is 1099'ing for a small business is a major headache. If they only do work for one company, and only as instructed by that company it can be very difficult to justify them as sub contractors. Plus iff you do call them sub contraactors, you can not penalize them for no shows, lates etc. except to pull the contract. then there is the whole nany state tax for not employing people and not being treated fairly on taxes by what you pay to sub contractors. Grrr....i went this route for a while and it is advantageous to have them as Subs, but damn tough to prove...and its not as clear a win as most think