How to get good staff?

[Omega]

But do you actually think you'd find people with the right attitude if you didn't give the right incentive. Chicken and the egg scenario I suppose.

Personally still wouldn't employ, if my area had a need for window cleaners, currently the trad guys charge £7 for 3 bed semis, I would look at the franchise route rather than have the stress of employment 

Yes. There is countless great people in supermarkets and retail and other industries who are absolutely fantastic and simply want to earn a reasonable amount in return for a relatively stress free work where they are valued and treated with respect.

Most people who have worked with me have said they hated crappy managers and surprised that you treat them like a person.

while window cleaning is a hard job in some ways, in others, if the staff can do the job well it’s relatively relaxed for them and they have room to get in and work with minimal supervision.

compared to a job where someone is breathing down their neck all the time it could be a rare find.

so yes. Just have to look. Likelihood is that the first few times you employ you’ll fail and get people that are not right but in the long run you’ll get it right and achieve leverage. 
 

I’ll give you a good tip I used to do since before Window Cleaning. Just look out for great retail and other customer service and when you find someone good, ask for their contact info because you’re impressed with their service. 9 times out of 10 they’ve never been complimented on it.

even if you’re not hiring just get in touch or take them for coffee and find out about them and then you have a small supply of confidantes who genuinely give good service without knowing they were being rated. 
 

I got a great guy in Tesco the other day. Told me he was on zero hours.

 

[johnny bravo]

£70 is a good days wage for  a lad who is not experienced to be left alone.   After a 3 month trial   tell him his daily wage will rise if he can show he wants to carry on.    id hate to employ someone  and have to pay them if we are not working,  bad weather and winter conditions  going to creep in.

Money is very tight for young people atm.     maybe advertise on gumtree or Fb page.    earn while you learn.

Maybe offer driving lessons as a great incentive for a loyal worker.   Most dont  have help.   it must be great if you want to take time off and have someone you can trust to do the work.

Most jobs in North East are around £8+ / £10+   even skilled workers.

 

[Cleanco]

£70 is a good days wage for  a lad who is not experienced to be left alone.   After a 3 month trial   tell him his daily wage will rise if he can show he wants to carry on.    id hate to employ someone  and have to pay them if we are not working,  bad weather and winter conditions  going to creep in.

Money is very tight for young people atm.     maybe advertise on gumtree or Fb page.    earn while you learn.

Maybe offer driving lessons as a great incentive for a loyal worker.   Most dont  have help.   it must be great if you want to take time off and have someone you can trust to do the work.

Most jobs in North East are around £8+ / £10+   even skilled workers.

Yes I agree. My father in law has just got a job working for a TA driving heavy goods and workin on the motorways. I wouldnt say it’s a truly unskilled job but still he’s only on £15 an hour and that’s workin nights. Once you factor in all the benefits like hols, sick pay pensions etc it’s not a bad crack. I bet there’s lads on here turning £20-£25 per hour that would be better off as an employee on them sorts of wages with benefits and without the stress of taking your job home. There’s an old post up top by Dave Shaw and he makes some very good points as does green pro. 

 

[Davy G]

Yes. There is countless great people in supermarkets and retail and other industries who are absolutely fantastic and simply want to earn a reasonable amount in return for a relatively stress free work where they are valued and treated with respect.

Most people who have worked with me have said they hated crappy managers and surprised that you treat them like a person.

while window cleaning is a hard job in some ways, in others, if the staff can do the job well it’s relatively relaxed for them and they have room to get in and work with minimal supervision.

compared to a job where someone is breathing down their neck all the time it could be a rare find.

so yes. Just have to look. Likelihood is that the first few times you employ you’ll fail and get people that are not right but in the long run you’ll get it right and achieve leverage. 
 

I’ll give you a good tip I used to do since before Window Cleaning. Just look out for great retail and other customer service and when you find someone good, ask for their contact info because you’re impressed with their service. 9 times out of 10 they’ve never been complimented on it.

even if you’re not hiring just get in touch or take them for coffee and find out about them and then you have a small supply of confidantes who genuinely give good service without knowing they were being rated. 
 

I got a great guy in Tesco the other day. Told me he was on zero hours.

That's a good post. I agree entirely. I came across a young lad stacking shelves in Asda about four years ago when I was working on my own and looking for someone good to work with me. I was looking for something and I asked him to point me in the right direction. He didn't know and he asked a colleague who was stacking shelves in the same isle. She didn't know and wasn't interested. I said no problem, I'll go and have another look, (I could see he was very busy) .  He said it's alright, I'll find it, and took off like a rabbit and got it sorted for me. Now, my observation when I was looking for someone to ask : his colleague was bored looking and working at a steady pace, befitting the modest wage. He was very pleasant and was stacking shelves with real professional speed, using both hands, which were a blur, just natural zest and enthusiasm.

When I got home I mentioned it to my wife and told her that I'd wished I had a business card with me to give to him to see if he would have been interested in working with me. We went back the next evening and on a couple of occasions after but I couldn't see him and of course, I didn't know his name so couldn't ask his colleagues.

I think he'd have enjoyed my way of working and his pay would have been better for shorter hours. My son, who was driving for Tesco and took a bit of convincing to join me, now works in equal partnership with me and my wife and is thriving. A four way split. A quarter to each of the three of us and a quarter back into the business. There are good people out there, finding them and they having the courage is the difficulty.

 

[Davy G]

Yep done all of that had 2 guys for 10 yrs now they think taxi driving is the anwser,, ? offered them part time work aswell.. I was paying £100 a day for the both as was very experienced then they decide to leave me right in the _ _ _T.. But i will survive ?

Not everyone is prepared to do physical work, day in, day out, especially in our climate. That what saves our trade but leaves taxi drivers sitting on their ...es waiting for customers or delivering takeaways for a pittance.  If there wasn't the physical effort involved we would be in deep trouble with too many windys chasing work and driving down prices.

 

[johnny bravo]

in the north east theres always newbies trying to undercut even the lowest priced jobs.   ive sold a full days work earlier this year,       it just got too much work load  to keep a regular monthly clean.      still cannot keep up.    ive often thought about getting daily help when needed.       some windys might want to do xtra days work while starting up.may put the feelers out on gumtree etc.      dont want to commit to employment route.     seems a headache .   too many laws if anything goes wrong and they take the pxxs   getting lazy etc   

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Not everyone is prepared to do physical work, day in, day out, especially in our climate. That what saves our trade but leaves taxi drivers sitting on their ...es waiting for customers or delivering takeaways for a pittance.  If there wasn't the physical effort involved we would be in deep trouble with too many windys chasing work and driving down prices.

Aye, that's the good thing about this game it's all the physical effort. Not many young folk want to come into this game but the wfp makes all the difference. I've got everything set in place now so I regard it as effortless with the hot water and extreme pole. The only thing I dislike about this game is the boredom and that's why I'm always talking to my customers. I think ear buds could be the answer and I would listen to the radio all morning. I'm still getting PW jobs to do and could turnout to be a 9 month season because I started my first on February this year.

 

[Cleanco]

That's a good post. I agree entirely. I came across a young lad stacking shelves in Asda about four years ago when I was working on my own and looking for someone good to work with me. I was looking for something and I asked him to point me in the right direction. He didn't know and he asked a colleague who was stacking shelves in the same isle. She didn't know and wasn't interested. I said no problem, I'll go and have another look, (I could see he was very busy) .  He said it's alright, I'll find it, and took off like a rabbit and got it sorted for me. Now, my observation when I was looking for someone to ask : his colleague was bored looking and working at a steady pace, befitting the modest wage. He was very pleasant and was stacking shelves with real professional speed, using both hands, which were a blur, just natural zest and enthusiasm.

When I got home I mentioned it to my wife and told her that I'd wished I had a business card with me to give to him to see if he would have been interested in working with me. We went back the next evening and on a couple of occasions after but I couldn't see him and of course, I didn't know his name so couldn't ask his colleagues.

I think he'd have enjoyed my way of working and his pay would have been better for shorter hours. My son, who was driving for Tesco and took a bit of convincing to join me, now works in equal partnership with me and my wife and is thriving. A four way split. A quarter to each of the three of us and a quarter back into the business. There are good people out there, finding them and they having the courage is the difficulty.

That’s a good idea. I like your thinking outside the box. One question for you, noticing that your business provides 3 wages you must be vat reg. Did you go that way from the beginning or register when you hit the threshold?

 

[Davy G]

That’s a good idea. I like your thinking outside the box. One question for you, noticing that your business provides 3 wages you must be vat reg. Did you go that way from the beginning or register when you hit the threshold?

We're skating just below the VAT freshhold. What we do is work shorter, quicker days and take some time off to make sure. We don't want the added hassle and complications.

 

[Cleanco]

We're skating just below the VAT freshhold. What we do is work shorter, quicker days and take some time off to make sure. We don't want the added hassle and complications.

Same as me apart from an employee rather than a partner. Pita that vat threshold. It should be made clearer to new business start ups between the differences of going down each route as once you have set your business up to run without it it’s quite hard to jump across it once you reach it. Think I’m just gonna stay below. I’m doing alright and I ain’t greedy. Think I’m just gonna concentrated on workin shorter hours such as your good self.?

 

[Part Timer]

We're skating just below the VAT freshhold. What we do is work shorter, quicker days and take some time off to make sure. We don't want the added hassle and complications.

Same as me apart from an employee rather than a partner. Pita that vat threshold. It should be made clearer to new business start ups between the differences of going down each route as once you have set your business up to run without it it’s quite hard to jump across it once you reach it. Think I’m just gonna stay below. I’m doing alright and I ain’t greedy. Think I’m just gonna concentrated on workin shorter hours such as your good self.?

Just remember the VAT threshold is based on a rolling 12 months, not a calendar year or your business year if Ltd.

 

[Davy G]

Thanks PT. I certainly didn't know that. Wife and accountant's department. I'll mention it to the Wife right now.

Thanks again. ?

 

[Davy G]

She's looking it up this minute. ?

 

[Part Timer]

She's looking it up this minute. ?

It's correct because I got fined because I didn't know and registered 2 months late.

 

[Davy G]

It's correct because I got fined because I didn't know and registered 2 months late.

I never doubted you were correct. We're just trying to get our heads around it. ??

 

[Omega]

Vat threshold is not too bad. When you earn over 85k in rolling 12 months but below 150k before vat you will be on simplified rate which is 12%.

its to help ease you in.

even being fully vatable isn’t that bad as you’ll claim back on everything such as fuel, marketing and equipment so you’re never actually losing 20% as such.

Buying new vans is super easy as you can just vat as deposit and then claim it back so it’s like no real down payment.

ive found a lot of companies take you more seriously being vatable as they associate it with a more serious enterprise. Not always true but it tends to be how a lot of larger businesses view others. 

 

[Part Timer]

simplified rate which is 12%.

The fixed rate scheme, if the rate is 12% nowadays it's actually more as its 12% of your turnover including VAT which equates to nearly 14.5%

 

[mike007]

People assume the best thing to do is employ to grow their business because they are snowed under with work, but I agree it's not the answer for everyone and it's better to re-evaluate a business and take a real hard look as to the best way to progress a business and maximize turnover and profit. 

And stay contented and happy....if not why become self employed.

 

[Iron Giant]

And stay contented and happy....if not why become self employed.

Quoted from 2 years ago but still true, I agree with you also no point working your fingers to the bone and been miserable 

 

[adamangler]

Vat threshold is not too bad. When you earn over 85k in rolling 12 months but below 150k before vat you will be on simplified rate which is 12%.

its to help ease you in.

even being fully vatable isn’t that bad as you’ll claim back on everything such as fuel, marketing and equipment so you’re never actually losing 20% as such.

Buying new vans is super easy as you can just vat as deposit and then claim it back so it’s like no real down payment.

ive found a lot of companies take you more seriously being vatable as they associate it with a more serious enterprise. Not always true but it tends to be how a lot of larger businesses view others. 

Can us window cleaners use the flat rate of 12% ?

I always thought we had to go on the full 20% rate

If so that would make a difference to deciding whether or not to breach the threshold

 

[Part Timer]

Can us window cleaners use the flat rate of 12% ?

I always thought we had to go on the full 20% rate

If so that would make a difference to deciding whether or not to breach the threshold

The 12% relates to the fixed rate scheme, you have to charge your customers 20% but pay the VAT man turnover + 12% on your VAT return. On this scheme you can only claim the VAT back on items over £2k, I believe, so cant claim the VAT back on your diesel etc.