staffing and training in our EE

[sudsurfer]

My husband and I built an EE about three years ago and like most mom and pops we did pretty much everything ourselves.

Now three years later we would like to hire a manager or assistant manager to help with the workload. We are open 90 to 95 hours per week depending on the season.

We currentlu have 9 employees most of whom are highschoolers and college kids.

I can see from driving around other car washes in the area that we are NOT the only ones experiencing a general lack of get up and go in our wash attendants.

Do you utilize the same staff for rainy day clean up, pit cleaning, etc?

Still trying to figure it all out. I think if you have ever seen the restaurant rescue shows or undercover boss shows it is the same thing we are feeling. We are so busy putting out the fires and fixing and maintaining every little thing that we don't have time to put be present in the supervision of each member of our staff on a daily basis.

Can anyone share how they transitioned to a more harmonious balance?

 

[Earl Weiss]

No simple answer.

Develop a checklist of things you do.

Train employees how to handle items on the list.

Make them accountable.

 

[sudsurfer]

No simple answer.

Develop a checklist of things you do.

Train employees how to handle items on the list.

Make them accountable.

Thanks Earl. We have made more senior staffers accountable for the juniors on their shift but there is quite a bit of reluctance to follow this plan.

The checklist of things to do has recently been getting signed off on, but it is bogus because nothing has really gotten done.

Incentive and penalties mean nothing to this staff. Tried docking time and giving rewards.

I take responsibility for my part but there is a certain entitlement in our area. The only reason these kids are working is because their parents told them to get off the couch. For most of them they are 18 year old seniors and this is their first job.

There has to be some good qualities to look for .

 

[buda]

Sudsurfer:

What do you pay per hour?

You cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear."

If you are focusing on hiring young people they do not have a maturity to understand what you are trying to achieve.

You need a management level person to be there when you are not. You won't find that person for minimum wage or even $10 an hour.

If you are paying more than that and do not have a the right person you are hiring incorrectly.

You can send me a private message and I can get in touch with you and we can talk in more detail.

Regards
Bud Abraham

 

[sudsurfer]

Sudsurfer:

What do you pay per hour?

You cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear."

If you are focusing on hiring young people they do not have a maturity to understand what you are trying to achieve.

You need a management level person to be there when you are not. You won't find that person for minimum wage or even $10 an hour.

If you are paying more than that and do not have a the right person you are hiring incorrectly.

You can send me a private message and I can get in touch with you and we can talk in more detail.

Regards
Bud Abraham

Thanks Bud I will do that.

I appreciate the comments.

 

[JeffM]

One thing I have learned is that the employee culture at your wash is VERY important. As a leader, it is your responsibility to set the tone for the type of operation you wish to run. Just over a year ago I came to the realization that the crew I had wasn't meeting expectations, was lacking in motivation, and despite my hardest efforts to get things done. Similar to your situation, the hiring area I work with was from a more affluent area and the quality of the new hires was getting worse each year.

My solution? As hard as it was, I had to get rid of the individuals whom were putting up resistance and causing problems. If you have someone who will not follow policy or makes up their own they are effectively leading a mutiny against you. I'm not saying you need to fire your entire staff, but if 1 or 2 are the problem, you may need to set a precident.

As for hiring, I have gone away from traditional (newspaper/signs) and currently only put ads on free online classified sites. (Kijiji/Craigslist) I would suggest having very specific instructions on how you want them to apply and only contact those who follow those instructions for an interview. This will make sure the person a) really wants the job, and b) can follow instructions. Hire for personality and avoid those whom are "just hard workers" or "trainable". You will have much more success with someone who wants to be there and will work as a team.

It was a very long process (as I have a staff of about 85-90) but we have increased our wash volumes, reduced the # of major customer complaints by 50%, and have a more cohesive team.

Bud makes a very good point (as he always does ) in regards to wages. My minimum wage is $10.25/hr and I don't have anyone who is in a upper management role like you are looking for making anything under $14/hr. Good people are worth the investment and will deliver a much higher ROI than anyone making minimum or just over.

 

[sudsurfer]

JeffM Thanks for your input. I totally agree with you on one person bringing down an otherwise good staff and have had to let some people go in order to right the ship. I believe we may still have a "bad apple" in our basket but that can easily be managed.

I agree with you on personality as well. I have one guy who moved to our area that was trained at Bill's carwash in Orlando. Bill must be doing something right because customers LOVE this guy. He smiles, recognizes the customers and loves washing cars. I don't know how much of that is his innate personality and how much is Bill's carwash culture.

Your payroll figures are staggering! We tried the you get what you pay for angle once. It may need to be revisited. We found we got more of the same that was more expensive. I believe our problem is, we invest so much time and energy in to training new hires that we want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will get it so we don't have to start over. Sometimes you just have to start over. And it may be after only one day!

It sounds like we need to shift our money allocation from one area and into payroll and then hold a hard line on who we hire and what we need them to achieve.

I thank you for your input!

 

[AppleExpress]

A key point if you decide to hire a manager, ensure they are completely on page with how everything is done. When i was hired as a manager for the carwash i am at, i had 2 employees who had been here over a year each and it was a rough transition for them because there was no one to train me in the tunnel. Most of my training came from the employees, and when i found places for improvements, it was hard for them to adjust because i was changing things they had been doing for over a year. One thing that seems to work well for me as a manager, whether you can do it or not, is that i am salaried, however i recieve bonuses off the gross profit made everyweek. Now we are a below average wash as we only run around 4000 cars a month, but the bonuses still account for 1/3 of my pay a week.

As far as hiring the right employees, much like you all my employees are under 21. and for many its their first job. I prefer to have employees with "salesman" personalities as we have an unlimited program and constantly try to upsell the programs. A key training tool is role playing. I tell the potential employee about the program, and give them an example of how to sell. I then reverse the role of me being the customer and have them try to sell me the pass. I listen to voice tone, speeds, watch facial reactions. i start my employees out at 7.50-8.00 and hour, with a .50 raise after a 90 probationary period.

 

[chadrpalmer]

Sent you a pm, my goal some day (another 10 yrs.) is to consult in this business...would glad to come over and give free (you get what you pay for) advice.

 

[DavidM]

If you solve this issue, everything else in car washing is easy. Aggressive hiring (and sometimes firing) is important. If there are question marks about motivation, I won't hire. One of the questions we ask is "Why do you want to work here?" Answers suggesting that their parents are pushing them to work will not lead to a job offer.
There is a book called Hire Tough, Manage Easy by Mel Kleiman that has some good advice.

Also, based on what you said, I would recommend Sonny's Car Wash College and their management course. It has a lot of good information on hiring, training and running a wash. (I am not affiliated with Sonny's in anyway, I was actually somewhat skeptical about their courses but was pleasantly surprised when I went)

David

 

[JeffM]

One of the questions we ask is "Why do you want to work here?" Answers suggesting that their parents are pushing them to work will not lead to a job offer.

That is the 2nd question I ask all applicants, their answer (or lack there of) usually is a key indicator on my hiring decision.