Don't Pay Your Employees!

It occurred to me while I was posting "Simple Math for Getting Started" to my "In-Between Swing Sets" blog, that we, as employers, might need to provide our employees with some basic "daily living" or "survival" tips, inserted into the envelope containing their pay check; or simply posted on a bulletin board in the employee area. Ah, I don't need to get involved - their life is none of my business - it would be a waste of paper. Really?

A piece of paper is less than a penny, well, a copied page might be 3 cents. Is 3 cents too much to spend on someone that you hire to grow your investment? If occasionally, you communicated some sort of advice for every day living, you may actually hit a home run with something.

Believe it or not, you are VERY involved in your employees' lives. Hand-in-hand, their success depends on your success, and your success depends on their success. Educating your employees on more than how to service a vehicle will build trust, respect, confidence and more in your employer/employee relationship.

I am not referring to matters of a spiritual nature here. You do what you want. As a business owner, you must have done something right to get where you are today. Consider your own "school of hard knocks" and pass along some of that wisdom to your employees. Wouldn't it be great if one of those 24 year olds became responsible for a fleet of 100 vehicles 5 to 10 years from now?

Did you know that 80%+ of generation Y (currently 18-28), send thousands of text messages each month and belong to online social networks? If THEY don't like you, chances are, at least TWO HUNDRED people know it.

So, quit paying your employees, and start compensating them. You have value that you can add to the normal "paycheck" routine. "The best potential customer is a customer you already have", well, "The best potential customer is an X-EMPLOYEE (and their friends)".