[richywilts]

im forever changing my mind what i want to pay staff always coming up with new ideas how we can all benefit and keep them motivated and put in the hours without crippling myself in meantime

so anyone who has fair size business not just a cash in hand worker how do u pay staff to keep them motivated enough to do a good job, not skint thru the month where it affects there work etc im not a skin flint but also wont pay huge

[Helen]

The answers lies within the interview process and choice of employee not with changing payment terms (unless of course they are wrong)

[king marko]

Before I went on my own Richy, I worked for a local bloke full time self employed.
The rate was 50/50 - I used his van, water etc..
Basically, the more I did the more I earned - his problem tho was most of his work is underpriced.
He only took on blokes who were over 25 (for the insurance he claimed)
And tbh they all worked fairly hard most of the time because we all had financial commitments so needed to earn 

[Richard iSparkle]

The answers lies within the interview process and choice of employee not with changing payment terms (unless of course they are wrong)

exactly spot on here. 

its so easy to think every things about the money, but its not.  it is of course for some people...  but you weed those out in recruitment

[Richard iSparkle]

Before I went on my own Richy, I worked for a local bloke full time self employed.
The rate was 50/50 - I used his van, water etc..
Basically, the more I did the more I earned - his problem tho was most of his work is underpriced.
He only took on blokes who were over 25 (for the insurance he claimed)
And tbh they all worked fairly hard most of the time because we all had financial commitments so needed to earn 

If you were getting 50% you should have stayed self employed with him! 

you cant usually keep them self employed and be acting within the law, unless there on low hours and have another job (and various other factors).  but a 50-50 split is crazy.  should be more like 20-80 to the owner

[Banbury Window Cleaning]

IMO you have to look long term with new staff!! and peeps are right its not all about money!
Pay peanuts and u get monkeys!!
Maybe min wage whilst under going training/courses etc then a set hourly wage with a bonus structure so the more work they complete/targets hit or canvass the bigger the bonus.
Everybody knows its currently a employers market atm so make sure ur interviewing skills are good, find yourself a decent worker and invest in them.

[Dean Taberner]

Weekly and by Bacs. They love windows very very muchly.

[robertphil]

currently have 3 parttimers on board and theyre all on the books,paid daily

[William McCafferty]

Richy

figuring out the correct rate of pay for the quality of work you want is easy.

if you where going for a job, what rate of pay would you want which means that you will do a good job because you want to carry on working for your employer.

you have now found out the rate for the job, so stop trying to save money and pay it.

[Dean Taberner]

Richy

figuring out the correct rate of pay for the quality of work you want is easy.

if you where going for a job, what rate of pay would you want which means that you will do a good job because you want to carry on working for your employer.

you have now found out the rate for the job, so stop trying to save money and pay it.

If I paid people the type of money that I desire then my business would go bankrupt.

I'm officially unemployable. Its not because I'm good either. 

[richywilts]

basically i offered hours of 8am-7pm 5 days a week half hour unpaid dinner

window cleaning till work done then collecting till 7pm to increase cash flow

i offered the lad £400 a week which prob works out £7.60 ish

then they began moaning saying they dont wana be out every night till that time

so i though ok finish at 5.30- 6pm and collect on tues n thursday

this hasnt materialised either really

[Dean Taberner]

basically i offered hours of 8am-7pm 5 days a week half hour unpaid dinner

window cleaning till work done then collecting till 7pm to increase cash flow

i offered the lad £400 a week which prob works out £7.60 ish

then they began moaning saying they dont wana be out every night till that time

so i though ok finish at 5.30- 6pm and collect on tues n thursday

this hasnt materialised either really

There are plenty of jobs around on £6.08 if he doesn't fancy that Rich.

What people don't seem to accept on this forum is that window cleaning is viewed by people outside our trade as a bottom end of the market job. Now that the old days of lugging ladders around have gone it isn't really a hard or dangerous job either.

£7.60 ph seems a reasonable wage to me.

[William McCafferty]

Richy

you are walking in a minefield again, charles dickens would have written a book about you.

have you heard about the "working time directive" if not see the link, but in simple terms, you CANNOT force your staff to work more than 48 hours a week on average (over 17 weeks)

you also are kind to give your staff 30 minutes a day unpaid lunch break, is this away from the workplace, because if it is not then you are in the doodle again.

if any of you staff get it into their head to take you to a tribual, you will end up with serious finiancial penaltys that far outway your total wage bill.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029426

that other reason why I spent over £600 with a company that knows employment law

[Richard iSparkle]

basically i offered hours of 8am-7pm 5 days a week half hour unpaid dinner

window cleaning till work done then collecting till 7pm to increase cash flow

i offered the lad £400 a week which prob works out £7.60 ish

then they began moaning saying they dont wana be out every night till that time

so i though ok finish at 5.30- 6pm and collect on tues n thursday

this hasnt materialised either really

that's a really long day richy.

i pay mine for what i call a days work, and they can knock off once their done.  they usually work 8-3 ish

[Richard iSparkle]

Richy

you are walking in a minefield again, charles dickens would have written a book about you.

have you heard about the "working time directive" if not see the link, but in simple terms, you CANNOT force your staff to work more than 48 hours a week on average (over 17 weeks)

you also are kind to give your staff 30 minutes a day unpaid lunch break, is this away from the workplace, because if it is not then you are in the doodle again.

if any of you staff get it into their head to take you to a tribual, you will end up with serious finiancial penaltys that far outway your total wage bill.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029426

that other reason why I spent over £600 with a company that knows employment law

i understand people can opt out of the working time directive.  just get them to sign an opt out form when they start.

[William McCafferty]

They can opt out of the working time directive, but by the sound of it, riches workforce don't want to work these long hours, and I doubt if richly has a opt out form that they have signed

[andyM]

basically i offered hours of 8am-7pm 5 days a week half hour unpaid dinner

window cleaning till work done then collecting till 7pm to increase cash flow

i offered the lad £400 a week which prob works out £7.60 ish

then they began moaning saying they dont wana be out every night till that time

so i though ok finish at 5.30- 6pm and collect on tues n thursday

this hasnt materialised either really

It's up to you what you want to pay your staff.
But the figure of £7.60 ish you have posted there is flat rate (£400 / 52.5 hrs) and does not show that you pay your workers any overtime rate.

[Smudger]

Richy,

I think its good to set a fair amount of working hours say 35-40 if you want to increase cash flow with collecting, let the colelctor start a bit later that day say he work 11-7pm I think a happy team is a good productive team, its NOT all about the money, but working conditions, how you are treated/spoken to, its also about having realistic expectation on both sides.

You could deffo get someone to work the hours you want with the pay you are paying, but how good would their work be? What would the quality be like?

Is collecetion a big part of your business, can you try and convert them to other methods, this would remove the problem completley.

If I had guys working till 7pm, it would not be collecting it would be canvassing - However if its a must and you cannot/do not want to change your current hours, maybe tell the colelctor that they get a percentage of any moneys colelcted as a bonus.

[Dean Taberner]

I personally think that window cleaning should be minimum wage exempt and all staff 21 and over should have a wage cap of £5 an hour.

Employee's under the age of 21 should be paying their employers for the training that they receive, possibly by government funding. 

I'd also be keen to scrap holiday pay too because it is bang out of order.

Anyway,

I'm now off to watch the Vale hammer Barnet,

Cheers,

Dean.

[Richard iSparkle]

They can opt out of the working time directive, but by the sound of it, riches workforce don't want to work these long hours, and I doubt if richly has a opt out form that they have signed

 

True.  best to get them to opt out when the sign their contract, otherwise theyll whine, and or expect more money