Net=Zero

You know, I had an employee who openly stated,

"I want to be paid what I'm worth".

Well,... I paid him exactly what he was worth! He "netted" exactly "$0.00", over the course of a year of employment....Wow!.. I'm not kidding !! ...

...............He didn't cost me ... anything !

He is Fun to work with. :D

He is Knowledgeable. ;)

He is Smart. :cool:

He is Opinionated. :p

He is Obstinate. :mad:

He is a "Net=Zero". :rolleyes:

.............He is no longer my employee. :eek:


If one is to be employed, they must be worth more than their pay, otherwise what is the incentive for another to employ (him)?

Who will pay the guy that writes the paycheck?
Who will pay the guy that takes the risk?
Who will pay the guy that pays all the stupid bills?
then when it goes tits up!.... he's on the bricks.

..... The Fish....

This is the point.................

Who lays the golden egg???

Yes, it is the Owner of the business
The one who goes out to get the business
The one who gets the idea
The one who takes a risk and funds the enterprise

He is entitled to pay as much or as little he thinks fit

In an indian language an employee is called a " no ker"

Which roughly translates to, " Dont do it"

ie: If you dont like it, dont do it

Hmmm...if they were that bad, how come it took a whole year to get rid if him?

It seems to me that a 90 day probationary period could have sufficed in order to determine the employees' net worth, thus preventing you from wasting your time and money.

I look at it like this:

Money is the motivator. If there isn't enough monetary incentive for an employee to perform better then expected, then the employee may 'milk you dry' (as evidenced by your post), only being there for what they can get out of you.

A monetary incentive might be a small profit sharing or small bonus for doing a good job in a reasonable time. Bad job or taking too long = no bonus.

Good job in a reasonable amount time = bonus...both for them, and for the owner who can save money with less call backs, have more jobs accomplished in a given month, etc.

A Win-Win relationship yields the best results.

I had an employee that did a decent job most of the time, but would not listen. He kept repeating the same mistake over and over. I tried to help him, but could not. He was worth more than zero, but his callbacks added up. Then he overcharge another system, I had to pay for a compressor. In one year, his bills were about $1000 under his receipts. I have high school students that make me more money than that in a 3 month summer.
I tried to explain that to him and he gets mad. He knows dang good and well he is better than some snot nosed kid. I let him go. He is going to tell all these costumers all the bad things I have ever done to then and steal them away from me.
Some people.

Perhaps you could mail a letter to your customers stating that the employee no longer represents your company, and apologize for eny inconvenience that HE may have caused them?

That could ensure that if the ex-employee tried to misrepresent himself as an employee your company and intentionally (or negligently) damage something, then you wouldn't lose your good reputation. It would be the customer's risk after notification.

??? dunno..........

I had thought about that zolar, but considered it too negative. I try to keep a good relationship with my costumers. More than once, I have refused to make a big deal out of negative comments from other contractors. I explain details of the jobs at hand with the costumer and tell them "I am not running a political campaign. I get dirty on the job not slinging mud."
Most people make mistakes. I admit to mine rather than cover them up. I think I have a honest reputation, that will stand up to scrutiny. Many times when I have lost a costumer due to lower bids, they come back for superier service.

As far as "billy bob" goes, I beleive the costumer will remember which tech had the callbacks on their job. They will remember it was me that came over to apologized and make the job right. I might have asked for more money to finish that job right, but I told them I would finish for the price quoted. No strong arm tactics, just tell them "I am an honest man trying to make an honest living."