Mark has owned his own company for 14 years. He is a manufacturers sale rep, has 2 sales guys and 2 office ladies. Me, I do the bookkeeping and payroll. The company is successful, considering the location and territory covered. I am boasting here, the company sales are 14 million. Very considerably for a 6 person operation.
As you might imagine my husband and I talk quite a bit about company business. There are some concerns, but the real problem is the 2 sales guys. TF has been with the company for 2 1/2 years and was suppose to help relieve the workload for my husband. Suffice to say he hasn't. TF comes into the office at 9:30 every morning, takes an hour or so lunch, then leaves at 5-5:30 pm. When he is not on the road, which has been most of the time recently, he sits in his office pretending to work. He is a professional paper shuffler.
I checked his computer over the weekend and found that he has spent the better part of his days for the last two months researching boat loans, Disney vacation spots, some kind of money managing stuff, and just reading the news online. This kind of computer stuff he can do!! Ask for a spreadsheet, ha! good luck getting that from the turd.
My husband thinks TF is protesting in a way. TF asked for more money at the beginning of the year, he cried about how he just bought a new house, had a baby, and how his wife has not gotten use to his lower income compared to her first husband, and what her father always gave her to live on. Hubby told him to produce more sales and then he will earn more money. Not our problem regarding the new house, baby and wife issues.
MH, the other sales guy has been with the company 3 months. He has been in the business for 20 years at the distributor level, not as a manufacturers rep. He made 2 costly mistakes, that resulted in thousands of dollars in loss for our company. When my husband spoke to MH regarding the errors, MH told my husband that "he (MH) is to seasoned and old to take shit about a job." I am not sure how much longer MH will be employed.
TF and MH are paid very nicely. 50K a year is not a bad income. All business expenses are paid, car allowance, a company paid retirement plan, a bonus program, health benefits are 50% covered by the company, and a company laptop. Not bad.
We have no problems with the office ladies. They are a dream come true. Rarely sick, willing to work overtime, appreciate the bonus program, never take advantage of the company credit card ( they each have a $200.00 monthly spending limit for personal use) and kick the sales guys butts when the whining gets to be unbearable. They also have the retirement plan.
My husband is still working 12 hour days and weekends. The guys have not reduced his work load as planned. We have been through 8 sales reps in the last 5 years. Not one would work more then 8-5 and always wanted more money. The 2 sales guys we have now lost their jobs at big companies due to take overs by bigger companies. TF was unemployed 3 months before he was hired, and MH was unemployed a year. I am not sure what they are thinking.
Something has to give. It might be time to call the employment agencies and place ads.
Instant Pot Christmas Roast
8 years ago
3 comments:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people can let themselves slack off with work. I've always been such a hard worker - probably too hard. I'm equally amazed at how difficult is seems for so darn many people to take responsibility - admit they screwed up. I would think it takes more energy to hide your slacking or find ways to blame others, wouldn't it?
I had a boss once that said that our business processes (hiring, training, compensation) are always perfectly designed to get the results we get (not necessarily the ones we want). He always told me to focus o the processes first, and not blame the person...until you find that the person is violating a process that should / would work if they actually followed it.
His philosophy was that people are always doing their best. It may not be good enough, or it may not be what we need, but it is still their best. He said that de-personalized the situation and allows us to fix what's really broken (hiring practices, training, communication, etc.)
Once I did get him to admit that sometimes people are just a**holes and we don't see it right away! But he was quite a successful leader, so I have to say the results he got with his philosophy spoke for themselves.
My husband is more tolerant then I am. Possibly I am less because I see how hard he works and how many hours he puts in. My husband does not like to keep tabs on his employees, he works best by himself (that is why he does not work for anyone) and expects that everyone else will do the same. Unfortunately most do not. He has come to the realization that he will have to manage the sale reps as opposed to allowing them free reign. We came up with a plan that involves more of my time being put towards his company. Hopefully my daughter will be able to pick up my lost time at our store, and fill in for me. The plan is not long term so I think we can do it.
Hmmm... maybe it's time the office ladies get their chance at being a sales rep!
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