DTF Chat Thread v. "The Aristocrats!"

[King Postwhore]

Morning.

[BlobVanDam]

Morning, king. What's up?

[King Postwhore]

Work.  Got 3 interviews coming in today.

[BlobVanDam]

Good luck with the latest batch of deadbeats.

[ReaperKK]

Morning, at work, so happy it's friday

[King Postwhore]

Good luck with the latest batch of deadbeats.

No shit man. 

[Chino]

Work.  Got 3 interviews coming in today.

King, can I ask what the pay is for the guys that constantly no show and/or quit really early on?

[King Postwhore]

It's low paying general labor.  Unemployment in N.H. is 2.9%  the lowest in the country.  That spells doom for a shitty paying job.  $12/$13/$15.  There are guys here making good money.  They've been here for a while.

[Chino]

It's low paying general labor.  Unemployment in N.H. is 2.9%  the lowest in the country.  That spells doom for a shitty paying job.  $12/$13/$15.  There are guys here making good money.  They've been here for a while.

I wonder how much money you lose from constantly having shifts that are short staffed and having to train new hires far more often than you should. I wonder if starting those jobs at $16 or $17 would make a difference.

[King Postwhore]

That's not feasible.

You have to look at the market and what they are willing to pay for our product which is pallets.  We've already done research on the average in a 100 mile radius for the pay scale for what we do.  I've already went up from $11 to $12, $12, to $13.  The added labor cost goes to the customer when we charge more for pallets.  They will look elsewhere.

[BlobVanDam]

The problem is basically that people are shitheads. That goes for everything.

Do your workers get some kind of long service bonus if they stick around for more than a month?

[cramx3]

An incentive to stay around may be a good idea.  It works well in the tech world, vesting stock options.  Obviously that's not what palleting should offer, but maybe a small cash bonus would motivate some to stick around.

[King Postwhore]

We have a safety bonus every month.  Safety food every month. You can get health, dental & eye insurance 1 month in.  Not 3 months like other jobs.  We have 401k and long term disability the company pays after 6 months.  Paid holidays.  pay out on PTO not usedyou refer an employee and they stay 6 months you get $100.  A boot program where you get $60 to $90 dollars a year for steel toe boot and you don't use it, it rolls over.

I give gas cards for those who drive others in.  Bonus for safety ideas.  Shall I go on?

[cramx3]

  that's pretty solid, but not cash though.  I think giving money speaks more for that type of job than all the rest of your listed benefits (although they seem VERY good for that type of job) since most people just want cash at the end of the day.  Something like $500 if you make it a full year, $1000 if you make it three years with 4% raises every year.  I'm not knocking what you give, that's very good, just throwing ideas out there.

[King Postwhore]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

[BlobVanDam]

At the end of the day, being a deadbeat will override any incentives.

[Chino]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

Idk, man. I get that it's labor and some of these guys just leave for selfish reasons, but if you're losing them to other labor-based employment, competition is competition. I see it in my industry all the time. Showing up and doing your job is all there is really, so companies offer things like bonuses to retain their talent (ability to stick with a menial labor job).

Edit: just saw the list of perks they get. Nevermind. Most of that is better than a bonus. I didn't think they got that kind of stuff (or at least that much).

[mikeyd23]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

This. I'm totally with you on this king. Those benefits you listed for a manual labor job are really solid. You guys have to remember these aren't software engineers making 75k or something. For what the positions seem to be, it sounds like they offer pretty solid safety incentives (which is critical in that type of job) and solid benefits.

[mikeyd23]

Idk, man. I get that it's labor and some of these guys just leave for selfish reasons, but if you're losing them to other labor-based employment, competition is competition. I see it in my industry all the time. Showing up and doing your job is all there is really, so companies offer things like bonuses to retain their talent (ability to stick with a menial labor job).

Not to speak for king, but I was under the impression that these guys are allergic to work, so he wasn't losing them because they were leaving to work somewhere else. He was losing them because they wouldn't keep showing up.

[cramx3]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

This. I'm totally with you on this king. Those benefits you listed for a manual labor job are really solid. You guys have to remember these aren't software engineers making 75k or something. For what the positions seem to be, it sounds like they offer pretty solid safety incentives (which is critical in that type of job) and solid benefits.

Those are really great incentives, but it's clearly not working on keeping people.  Either from competition or because they just don't care.  I just think people in that sort of labor pool put more value on cash than the benefits offered.

[Chino]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

This. I'm totally with you on this king. Those benefits you listed for a manual labor job are really solid. You guys have to remember these aren't software engineers making 75k or something. For what the positions seem to be, it sounds like they offer pretty solid safety incentives (which is critical in that type of job) and solid benefits.

I kind of don't like this argument. Hard work is hard work, and the value you add to a company doesn't need to be based on some college provided skill that's difficult to find. I say all the time, I wouldn't work at a McDonalds if I got offered $5 more an hour to do so. While their work might not require college or much intelligence, they have to work their asses off while receiving a non-stop onslaught from the oh so polite public. Just because those people aren't making $30 an hour doesn't mean they aren't bringing a serious amount of necessary value to the company.

[cramx3]

If McDonals offered me the same cash as my current job (and a career path to make more and move up), I'd consider it  Flipping burgers and dealing with customers I don't care about is much easier than having the pressure on you during a network outage to get it fixed asap.  I worked in fast food before, it's not the worst thing out there, just the pay sucks to live off of.

[mikeyd23]

Those are really great incentives, but it's clearly not working on keeping people.  Either from competition or because they just don't care. I just think people in that sort of labor pool put more value on cash than the benefits offered.

I tend to agree, I'm just saying those are actually pretty solid benefits for that type of position. But you're right - people don't get cash in their pockets for having medical insurance.

I kind of don't like this argument. Hard work is hard work, and the value you add to a company doesn't need to be based on some college provided skill that's difficult to find. I say all the time, I wouldn't work at a McDonalds if I got offered $5 more an hour to do so. While their work might not require college or much intelligence, they have to work their asses off while receiving a non-stop onslaught from the oh so polite public. Just because those people aren't making $30 an hour doesn't mean they aren't bringing a serious amount of necessary value to the company.

I wasn't intending to say they weren't working hard or that they weren't valuable. Obviously, in order for this business to operate they are extremely valuable. All I was saying is that typically these sorts of positions don't demand as many bonuses and incentives because companies tend to look at these positions as easier to replace where as a company who has a really good software engineer might view that person differently. Not saying that's right, just saying.

[JayOctavarium]

Joe what's the minimum wage out there?

[jingle.boy]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

I bonus for showing up is called a higher hourly wage. 

I'm with King on this as well.  There are a lot of variable factors affecting his ability to keep employees... offering a bonus isn't as straight forward as it might seem to solving this issue.

[millahh]

That's tough. What's the reason for all the lay offs?

Early 2014, new CEO, restructuring & 30% layoff
Mid 2015, merger, synergies
Early 2016, another merger, synergies
Mid 2016, site closure
Now, restructuring ("right-sizing") after a huge merger fell through last year

[King Postwhore]

This is manual labor guys.  You have to start somewhere if you have no skills.  If you show up and stay you get a good raise.  A bonus for just showing up is never a good idea.

I bonus for showing up is called a higher hourly wage. 

I'm with King on this as well.  There are a lot of variable factors affecting his ability to keep employees... offering a bonus isn't as straight forward as it might seem to solving this issue.

Exactly.  You show up and do a good job you get a great review and you get a great raise.  Everybody does not understands the value of longevity and moving up the ladder at a job.  That's how you build your career and resume. 

[JayOctavarium]

Good Morning

[King Postwhore]

Morning.   Coffee time. Break it down....

[BlobVanDam]

Morning, king.
What are the cake plans this weekend?

[King Postwhore]

No cake.

Hope you don't split your head open from fainting.

[TAC]

No cake.

I knew there was a reason DTF went Temporarily Unavailable.

[ReaperKK]

Morning guys

[BlobVanDam]

No cake.

Hope you don't split your head open from fainting.

That's disappointing.

[King Postwhore]

No celebrations. 

Though one week until vacation.