The Good Helper
If a helper can adjust to a varied schedule, great. The next thing you’ll need is reliability. If a person can’t win the battle with the snooze button, it’s a sure sign of failing as an installer. I’ve stood at a helper’s front door and heard the alarm clock go off inside as the person slept through the buzzer. Comical, to be sure, but not the way to start the inevitably stressful day.
It’s common sense that an employee needs to be ready to go at a scheduled time, but some people just didn’t get that memo. Have a policy in place that deals with tardiness, put it in writing, and give it to the helper (or any employee, for that matter). If someone quickly gets near the point of termination, odds are they won’t make it long-term.
People can teach themselves to change their behavior, but if you sense no desire to change, make sure you have a policy in place. If you really want to test someone, schedule an install early enough to require an extra effort to get there. If they’re unable to accomplish that, start thinking about another helper.
Reliability also means being in a condition to work when you pick up your employee. Several times I’ve gone to pick up helpers, only to find they were still intoxicated from their previous night of partying. Not only is this unprofessional – it’s unsafe and potentially costly. A drunken guy dropping his end of a countertop run will more than likely eat all of your profit from the job.
If you’re smart, you’ll leave the person home in their stupor and move on to Plan B. If the person’s lucky, you’ve got a long-enough trip to the jobsite that time and some coffee can make for a clearer head.
Speaking of Plan B: It’s always smart to have a back-up plan in place for a no-show or that dreaded phone call the night before saying, “I’m not going to be able to work tomorrow because….” This is where your neighbors and friends can be a real asset.
Most of the time, I lucked out and found someone between jobs who was more than happy to have a day’s work. I’ve also called on fellow granite countertop companies to see if they had a spare person available. Just because we competed for customers didn’t mean we weren’t on friendly terms and helped each other out.
In a real pinch I have, on occasion, used temps. I never had a disaster with one, but the install always seemed a little awkward. It’s hard to look professional when you need to explain every little detail to your helper, because it’s the first time on a stone jobsite.
On one occasion we almost wore out a 50-year-old guy as he helped me haul shower panels up two flights of stairs. He was asleep within 30 seconds of hitting the install truck on the ride home.
Both of the other times went something like this: The guy was fresh out of prison, but he found Jesus during his incarceration, so now everything was all right and he was looking for permanent employment. I’m good with the “personal savior”’ thing, but I don’t want to hear the literal chapter-and-verse from the Book of Whatever on the way to install a $5,000 kitchen. Which leads to the next test of a good helper.