Is business meant to be a constant fire fight?

neris

This is more of a rant but is running your business meant to be a constant fire fight trying to resolve multiple issues in multiple locations at the one time. Financially our business is doing well and we are inundated with enquiries to the point we could open another branch or 2 close to current locations but for the last few months all we seem to be doing is dealing with staff issues with current staff who cant take criticism or having small failings pointed out to them, constantly recruiting and then fighting with state agencies who seems to think our industry runs out of a manual they have thrown together which constantly throws up red tape and hinders the industry as a whole. Theres no enjoyment or pleasure in it just problem after problem and even at the end the financial rewards to us personally are meaningless

highgiant1985

My two cents. Feel free to ignore!

Firefighting is certainly a part of the role but it shouldn't always be firefighting. If it is take a look at why. Are you able to delegate / give control away to people in other areas to make the decisions required, are people afraid to make a decision without your input. Look at the pattern of why you're fire fighting and see is there a root cause.

1. Dealing with staff issues with current staff who cant take criticism or having small failings pointed out to them,
1A: Consider how the feedback is provided. How the feedback is given is a key factor in how well the employee takes on board the feedback. Put yourself in their shoes and consider how its being said to them. Is the feedback given one to one and privately. Consider their personality as well. Do you also provide positive feedback where its deserved as well. Where constructive feedback is given some people might be fine with blunt to the point feedback (I prefer that myself) where as others may be more sensitive and you need to be mindful of that.

2: Constantly recruiting
2A: Is this due to growth or because there is a staff turn over problem? If growth that's great and an existing challenge to have. We're nearly at full employment in the country though so getting good staff is hard right now. If its because of staff turn over then is that turn over higher than industry norms. If so consider the root cause of why that may be.

3: fighting with state agencies who seems to think our industry runs out of a manual they have thrown together which constantly throws up red tape and hinders the industry as a whole.
3A: Yep we face the same challenges when dealing with state agencies. Look at what's taking your time here and ask if there's any repeatable processes that could save time in the future.

neris

highgiant1985 wrote: »

1A: Consider how the feedback is provided. How the feedback is given is a key factor in how well the employee takes on board the feedback. Put yourself in their shoes and consider how its being said to them. Is the feedback given one to one and privately. Consider their personality as well. Do you also provide positive feedback where its deserved as well. Where constructive feedback is given some people might be fine with blunt to the point feedback (I prefer that myself) where as others may be more sensitive and you need to be mindful of that.


2A: Is this due to growth or because there is a staff turn over problem? If growth that's great and an existing challenge to have. We're nearly at full employment in the country though so getting good staff is hard right now. If its because of staff turn over then is that turn over higher than industry norms. If so consider the root cause of why that may be.


3A: Yep we face the same challenges when dealing with state agencies. Look at what's taking your time here and ask if there's any repeatable processes that could save time in the future.

The feedback isnt necessarily anything bad or serious, it can be as silly as asking them to tidy up the room they're working or even asking them about minor incidents that have occured. We had a minor incident a few weeks back where we had to ask the 2 staff members involved what happened and one of them got into a huff and handed in their resignation the next day. Another staff member had a huff when we had to talk to them about their breaks because another staff would go in to let them go and this staff kept running to the manager to check that the other person was letting them go.

Staff turnovers an industry wide problem not just us. Wages are low in the industry and qualified people are better off stacking shelves in a supermarket for the same money and less responsibility. Our industry is private but its a service I would call the equivalent of a social service so jacking prices up isnt really viable

The processes arent really repeatable. We have a lot of paperwork for one agancy that has to be done individually for each client lets say and any changes then have to reentered from scratch. With another state aganecy we deal with 3 different branches of them and their inspectors and what one inspector tells you can be different to what another inspector tells you. Although that particular agency seems to have a Nazi like complex and thinks they're above the state & law.

This is an industry my families been involved in for the last 25 years and its nearly at a stage where all of us involved wish in part we could just walk away

punisher5112

Sounds like very low staff morale and if pay is so bad is it not possible to pass on some profits through a bonus or things like tea/coffee provided etc.

Why not have a meeting once a week to voice concerns and maybe provide a little more training or refresher type meetings.

Tacklebox

neris wrote: »

This is more of a rant but is running your business meant to be a constant fire fight trying to resolve multiple issues in multiple locations at the one time. Financially our business is doing well and we are inundated with enquiries to the point we could open another branch or 2 close to current locations but for the last few months all we seem to be doing is dealing with staff issues with current staff who cant take criticism or having small failings pointed out to them, constantly recruiting and then fighting with state agencies who seems to think our industry runs out of a manual they have thrown together which constantly throws up red tape and hinders the industry as a whole. Theres no enjoyment or pleasure in it just problem after problem and even at the end the financial rewards to us personally are meaningless

Hire mature staff who are willing to work and appreciate having a job...

Or else recruit a new hr manager who's worked with IBEC they know every loophole and strategy where you'll get good workers and can wipe the floor with whingers.

Lumen

There are some businesses that are almost necessarily unpleasant, because margins are so low that people must be driven at uncomfortable work rates in order for the business to survive.

And those business aren't what you would normally think of as low-value and small margin. Look, for instance, at Tesla. Their working conditions are apparently brutal.

In these businesses (my own experience would be call centres in the 1990s) you really need to hire thick skinned managers who can slave drive with a smile on their face, and enough charm that the poor saps in the workforce don't actively hate them for doing it.

pedroeibar1

neris wrote: »

This is more of a rant but is running your business meant to be a constant fire fight trying to resolve multiple issues in multiple locations at the one time........................even at the end the financial rewards to us personally are meaningless

Business should not be a ‘constant’ firefight, but if there are few sparks and no flames it means that you are not driving it fully. My favorite definition of a manager is ‘someone who makes something happen’ and if nothing difficult is happening, management is lacking.

One problem you mention is staff ‘who cant take criticism or having small failings pointed out to them’. Criticism can be positive or negative, are you using it positively? If the failings are small, do they really need to be pointed out?

My work experience has been in the services sector in Ireland / international. A feature common to all markets is the widespread belief ‘the other market/sector/whatever is less regulated / more favoured than we are’. Generally that is inaccurate. Dealing with state agencies in every market is a nightmare because state employees have security of tenure and no grasp of the urgency of commercial reality. It is far easier for them to say ‘no’ or ask for more paperwork (the same thing!) than to risk taking a decision. That is not how they are rewarded. There is no easy way around this, but if you can identify a key person in your process and build a rapport it usually helps. Even if that person moves on, be positive with the replacement, ‘Mary was really helpful last time, I’m sure you can point me in the right direction now’.

High staff turnover is endemic in low paid jobs, particularly if they are monotonous. Every job has a value and level; when either of those ceilings are reached the person becomes either unhappy and bitches or they move on. Can you make the workplace a ‘nicer’ place to work in? More flexible hours? I would also look at the profile of those you are hiring – are they young? How mobile? Working with you just to get a bit of experience and then moving on? Is the fault your employment strategy? There is a danger of hiring a person just to fill a position (‘desperation hiring’) rather than taking the longer term view and realising that a stop-gap is just that and a new hire will be needed in a short while. If the new recruits need training, high t/o of staff is expensive in cost and time.

Where are you getting your employees? A friend of mine in the hospitality sector has taken a conscious decision to employ primarily non-nationals despite losing the ‘Irishness’ expected in that sector. He was simply fed up with locals not showing up (on the town the night before, unwilling/unable to get up to do a breakfast service) or being totally averse to oblige when an emergency occurred. He’s now on ‘second tier’ of ‘foreigner’ hires as when one moves on they will inevitably say ‘my cousin/brother/friend’ is interested in the job’ and that has worked well for all. I know of another company that now only employs Indians, having been burned too many times by accident claims from another nationality.

Are you micro-managing? Can you delegate more? Can you put a supervisory-type person between shopfloor and you as manager/owner? That should prevent too many calls on your time/involvement.
Sometimes high staff turnover is unavoidable – in one unit I managed (in the US) we needed graduates but our ‘product’ had a tiny margin and was very price sensitive in a competitive sector; we were hiring fresh grads, training them (+/- 4 months to reach efficiency) and lucky to hold them for 2-3 years at which time they left/were headhunted by a ‘cousin’ sector – we simply had to put up with it. We also had some older staff in that unit who worked part-time on their choice of hours (a few from home) and that acted as a buffer. They were local, had no or low travel costs and happy to get the few $$s without too much stress.

The other Pedro and I have rabbited on for ages about the sense of entitlement in the younger age cohort in Ireland and you need to factor that frequent sentiment into your management style. Being a slave driver as recommended in earlier posts does not work and is self-destructive, unless you are a psychopath!

The fact that the business is profitable is a very positive indicator of what you are doing - you just need to put the fun back into it. Your senior team should take a day away - off premises - to discuss this. Get every one of them to write down a few views beforehand and use them as the basis for an initial discussion and then move on with the positive ones.

meforever

No...... If it is then it has become a job. Who wants a job ! Better to work for someone else at that rate. You'll live longer.

Not meaning to be brash here. However, systems and processes must be put in place. In time delegating tasks will be necessary. Predictable results are never guaranteed, but working at your business must never be confused with working in your business.

neris

Thanks for all the replies taking some on board and going to try rejig a few things over next few months

punisher5112 wrote: »

Sounds like very low staff morale and if pay is so bad is it not possible to pass on some profits through a bonus or things like tea/coffee provided etc.

Tea & Coffee is provided and other things through the year like staff nights out and staff bbqs during summer. Going to look at passing on more money at one branch due to location its a bit out of the way so a travel expense may come into effect. Just waiting for our HR advisors to come back on that

Tacklebox wrote: »

Hire mature staff who are willing to work and appreciate having a job... Or else recruit a new hr manager who's worked with IBEC they know every loophole and strategy where you'll get good workers and can wipe the floor with whingers.

We do our own HR but have the back up of a HR advisory firm who help us do ass covering but we are probably a bit at fault on been a little soft on staff in fear theyd leave

Lumen wrote: »

There are some businesses that are almost necessarily unpleasant, because margins are so low that people must be driven at uncomfortable work rates in order for the business to survive.
And those business aren't what you would normally think of as low-value and small margin. Look, for instance, at Tesla. Their working conditions are apparently brutal. In these businesses (my own experience would be call centres in the 1990s) you really need to hire thick skinned managers who can slave drive with a smile on their face, and enough charm that the poor saps in the workforce don't actively hate them for doing it.

Slave driving isnt really an option and not our approach. Our staff are very interactive with customers due to the business and develop a closeness of sorts over years and weve had incidents of staff giving out to customers about there work and what they do

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Business should not be a ‘constant’ firefight, but if there are few sparks and no flames it means that you are not driving it fully. My favorite definition of a manager is ‘someone who makes something happen’ and if nothing difficult is happening, management is lacking.

One problem you mention is staff ‘who cant take criticism or having small failings pointed out to them’. Criticism can be positive or negative, are you using it positively? If the failings are small, do they really need to be pointed out?

My work experience has been in the services sector in Ireland / international. A feature common to all markets is the widespread belief ‘the other market/sector/whatever is less regulated / more favoured than we are’. Generally that is inaccurate. Dealing with state agencies in every market is a nightmare because state employees have security of tenure and no grasp of the urgency of commercial reality. It is far easier for them to say ‘no’ or ask for more paperwork (the same thing!) than to risk taking a decision. That is not how they are rewarded. There is no easy way around this, but if you can identify a key person in your process and build a rapport it usually helps. Even if that person moves on, be positive with the replacement, ‘Mary was really helpful last time, I’m sure you can point me in the right direction now’.

High staff turnover is endemic in low paid jobs, particularly if they are monotonous. Every job has a value and level; when either of those ceilings are reached the person becomes either unhappy and bitches or they move on. Can you make the workplace a ‘nicer’ place to work in? More flexible hours? I would also look at the profile of those you are hiring – are they young? How mobile? Working with you just to get a bit of experience and then moving on? Is the fault your employment strategy? There is a danger of hiring a person just to fill a position (‘desperation hiring’) rather than taking the longer term view and realising that a stop-gap is just that and a new hire will be needed in a short while. If the new recruits need training, high t/o of staff is expensive in cost and time.

Where are you getting your employees? A friend of mine in the hospitality sector has taken a conscious decision to employ primarily non-nationals despite losing the ‘Irishness’ expected in that sector. He was simply fed up with locals not showing up (on the town the night before, unwilling/unable to get up to do a breakfast service) or being totally averse to oblige when an emergency occurred. He’s now on ‘second tier’ of ‘foreigner’ hires as when one moves on they will inevitably say ‘my cousin/brother/friend’ is interested in the job’ and that has worked well for all. I know of another company that now only employs Indians, having been burned too many times by accident claims from another nationality.

Are you micro-managing? Can you delegate more? Can you put a supervisory-type person between shopfloor and you as manager/owner? That should prevent too many calls on your time/involvement.
Sometimes high staff turnover is unavoidable – in one unit I managed (in the US) we needed graduates but our ‘product’ had a tiny margin and was very price sensitive in a competitive sector; we were hiring fresh grads, training them (+/- 4 months to reach efficiency) and lucky to hold them for 2-3 years at which time they left/were headhunted by a ‘cousin’ sector – we simply had to put up with it. We also had some older staff in that unit who worked part-time on their choice of hours (a few from home) and that acted as a buffer. They were local, had no or low travel costs and happy to get the few $$s without too much stress.

The other Pedro and I have rabbited on for ages about the sense of entitlement in the younger age cohort in Ireland and you need to factor that frequent sentiment into your management style. Being a slave driver as recommended in earlier posts does not work and is self-destructive, unless you are a psychopath!

The fact that the business is profitable is a very positive indicator of what you are doing - you just need to put the fun back into it. Your senior team should take a day away - off premises - to discuss this. Get every one of them to write down a few views beforehand and use them as the basis for an initial discussion and then move on with the positive ones.

Employees are mix of foreign & Irish. Find that where they are from isnt really a problem its the individual and their attitudes.

Theres 2 of us managing from above with 3 branch managers below and sometimes its a baby sitting job to look after them so micro managing every one isnt going on

We get young staff in who gain good experience and work well within a good setup but then leave for more money elsewhere. However do hear back at times that they might have got more money but the new place wasnt as nice.

meforever wrote: »

but working at your business must never be confused with working in your business.

You sound like my dad Thats something he says

antoinolachtnai

I think you really need to look at your financials here. If your business is growing or if you are maintaining a good margin or increasing it, then you can expect it to be a bit of a firefight. Growth is just hard. If 'business-as-usual' is a firefight, then I am afraid you are doing something wrong, and you are probably either under-staffed or under-invested.

When you say the 'financial rewards are meaningless' do you mean they are not very big or that you are earning great money, but the work is so hard and grating that it is not worthwhile?

On the one hand you are telling us the business is doing well financially, but on the other hand, you can't seem to afford to pay a viable wage in comparison to what other employers offer for less responsibility.

If you really feel you can't increase prices in spite of increasing costs, then I am concerned. It's not surprising that your phone is ringing with new prospects if your service is dirt cheap and the economy is expanding.

You have problems with state agencies. This sounds like it is becoming a real extra cost for you if your business is expanding. You need to price this in somehow. There is nothing wrong with a bit of tension with regulators, but it sounds like this has gotten out of control. It may well be all the state agency's fault, but I just find it a little hard to believe. You really need to get help and to look at this. This will eventually drive you out of business if you don't get a grip of it.

I suspect your business is in some sort of health, care or allied sector? If it is, then stability is important. The state agencies are going to be very hard on you if they are not able to deal continuously with the same person. They don't want people dealt with in the midst of a firefight.

Recruitment and retaining people is just not like it used to be. The way you are going, you are (not by choice) recruiting the weakest candidates in the pool of jobseekers but it doesn't sound like you are doing enough to proactively develop and retain them. They will still leave after a few years. That's just the workplace.

If you want out of the business, then you should consider selling it whilst there is growth, and before it goes into decline.

beauf

This sounds like a care business. The wages in that are so low the staff are constantly moving around to get more money. They get paid though the HSE.

If I was in that business or similar low paid industry I'd try moving to go up market and target the premium end. Which I suppose is true of any industry.

joshkg

I think dealing with staff issues is a big part of running a business, bigger than we actually think. Most of the running a business is a fire fight, but it is in control to increase the motivation of your staff

drunkmonkey

There's an anominous online survey for mental health well being in the work place, I'll try and dig out the link later but get them all to fill it out. You'll see the problems then affecting morale. It's no harm see how there actually feeling. It's a useful exercise.

beauf

I've only seen these kind of issues (lots of minor trival issues) really impact a business where the staff are low paid.
This kind of noise tends to decrease the more people are paid and the more skilled educated they are.

You'd have to look at trying to filter out people who have these traits. Pay more. Change your filtering on interview etc.