Hiring and firing, cant find the right tech

[carrcomp]

It also depends on how much time you have to train someone.

I'd rather look for someone that has both qualities. I can train in more technical knowledge, but from scratch is way too much of a time investment if it doesn't work out.

I guess it helps I live close to 2 colleges that tech IT courses.

 

[joydivision]

No experience at all in hiring and firing but have studied it at quite some depth. The problem really is not finding the right tech but finding the right wage. No decent tech is going to work for minimum wage. You also need to find out what they are a good at, it might be they are extremely good at virus removal and desktop repairs but so good on laptops (like myself).

My big issue of performance related pay on a piece rate is quality control. If an employee is getting paid a bonus to fix say six PCs a day they are more likely to cut corners to get things done.

 

[tom11011]

No experience at all in hiring and firing but have studied it at quite some depth. The problem really is not finding the right tech but finding the right wage. No decent tech is going to work for minimum wage. You also need to find out what they are a good at, it might be they are extremely good at virus removal and desktop repairs but so good on laptops (like myself).

My big issue of performance related pay on a piece rate is quality control. If an employee is getting paid a bonus to fix say six PCs a day they are more likely to cut corners to get things done.

A good tech is going to move up the ladder very quickly, likely move into IT for a corporation. A good bet might be trying to find a retired person who wants the extra money.

 

[carrcomp]

Even that's dangerous.

A good retired IT person will generally not want to troubleshoot the kind of issues that comes into a shop.

 

[tom11011]

Even that's dangerous.

A good retired IT person will generally not want to troubleshoot the kind of issues that comes into a shop.

I would do it part time once I retire if I need the extra money.

Let's say I've been working in corporate IT and just retired. If there was a pc shop down the road, I might apply if I wanted some extra spending cash, if I could come in only a few days per week. I would have a wealth of experience, especially if I worked in the corporations help desk. Extra spending cash, get out of the house a few days per week, get away from the wife (lol).

Could be a win-win scenario.

 

[carrcomp]

Could be.....

When I last worked in Corporate IT, we didn't touch the physical computers.

We sent them back to the OEM for repair because they were under lease.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't look into this venue, I'm just pointing out that not every retired corporate IT pro is suited for the bench.

 

[acesdeals]

Very late reply extremely busy with everything

The main issue with my techs is they dont do the job perfectly. I go above and beyond and make sure everything is top notch and ready for the customer. I am basically anal when it comes to repairs. My techs call me a perfectionist.

We are using PCRT for our repairs and i have created videos showing how to use and check in, check out etc; I cover every single point. Yet there are times when tickets are not done properly. Notes are misspelled.

With the actual repair, there may be a screw missing, a cable loose, a program disabled for repair and then not re enabled. The list goes on.

Regarding the military, i was in the AF and i feel that made me who i am. I pay attention to detail etc; I hired a few people from the military because i felt they would have this same attention to detail but in these particular individuals that was not the case.

I would literally notice a missing screw from say 20 yards and i didnt even work on the laptop. The tech who starred at it for the past 30 mins would miss that little thing.

When i worked from home i had all 5 star reviews. Since moving to a store and hiring techs were are around 3 stars on average.

Out of all the techs i hired, i had a single guy from Bulgaria who was better than me. He would notice more than i would and would organize better than me. Unfortunately he left for college 3 hrs away, but he was the ONLY technician i have had that i had nothing but praise for.

The rest i must remind over and over again. I am promised results many times, and then there are delays and the excuses arise.

I am the type of person that simply looks for solutions and does not make excuses. If something was not done, or not done right, its my fault and i did not do my best.

I have been gearing our company into a new direction. Since we primarily work with electronics, i have made some new procedures and regulations. We are not going to target medical offices, dental, government etc;

My goal is to work on X ray machines, satellites etc; I have the know how, i just need to turn our company into a facility that shows this.

I have created a UNIFORM for all techs, lab coats, gloves, masks and goggles must be worn at all times. We deal with chemicals and heat so this is a safety concern. I would say 50% of the time i catch the techs missing either the gloves or the goggles. Their excuse is, its UNCOMFORTABLE. I have procured lab environment signs ie; http://www.compliancesigns.com/chemicalbiohazard.shtml to place in appropriate locations. I am basically creating a lab environment for repairs.

The other task i am working on is manufacturing. This is something that is actually going QUITE WELL for the company. I create the autocad designs, send them off to different companies and get bids. While the drawings take time, this is the least stressful part of the job, as i dont have to rely on techs or admins.

Since i have focused my time in this area i feel much better. I may end up selling the REPAIR company to rent out the store to the techs. This way i can focus on manufacturing and not have to worry about the repair side of things.

While i truly do enjoy repairs and it got me to where i am now, its just too difficult for me at this point to manage. I am sure i am part of the problem in certain situations but moving from a single man repair shop to a full store with employees was more difficult than imagined.

 

[acesdeals]

No experience at all in hiring and firing but have studied it at quite some depth. The problem really is not finding the right tech but finding the right wage. No decent tech is going to work for minimum wage. You also need to find out what they are a good at, it might be they are extremely good at virus removal and desktop repairs but so good on laptops (like myself).

My big issue of performance related pay on a piece rate is quality control. If an employee is getting paid a bonus to fix say six PCs a day they are more likely to cut corners to get things done.

I suspected wages to be part of the issue so i created a new structure. You would start at $12 and if you fixed xx amount of units you would reach $20. This had an adverse affect where the tech RUSHED to get to $20 and 20% of his repairs came back.

I recently had 2 interns come in to work, they were college graduates in the engineering field and their resumes were quite impressive. Their work performance was slooooooooooooooow. They apparently were making 60k at their previous jobs. I was hoping bringing them in i would take a loan to pay them and then do more marketing to make up for it, but after a few wks i let them both go. Motivation was not the issue, they came in on time every time and worked. Many times they felt embarrassed that i would work better than them having no college degree or certifications, this lowered their morale.

This a vid i created a while back when i worked from home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s38vQxXv0GE
I have received quite a many consultation inquiries from it. Basically companies would pay me $250 for a few hrs to help them. Several individuals also say they learned quite a bit from this video.

HOWEVER, when i have my techs and i SHOW them 2 times how to perform the procedure and then tell them to watch the video until they get it, they simply can not. So people from all over the world learn from my video, but technicians that are right in front of me cant do the same thing.

 

[acesdeals]

Thanks for the responses btw, im doing quite a bit ALL THE TIME so i may not come off as thankful but i am

 

[Mr.Mike]

I forgot to mention that if you want a really good tech you also have to put in the time to train him or her. Everyone here talks about paying to much for a good tech but i have worked with people that knew little and after i gave them pointers here and their i got them up to my level of expertise. It wasn't easy but we get a long and we work together on some contract work now.

After all, why not be willing to do this? It may sound like more work to you but, they will begin to learn your standards and maybe they can take ownership of working for your company. Treat them fair and treat them as you want to be treated and watch your business grow.

 

[acesdeals]

In regards to that, i put in time i teach and train them. I had 2 techs stay with me for 6+ because that was my plan to have them kind of take over so i can start a new store. But even after all that time, many mistakes are still being made. Yes they have improved and do better but they constantly need to be watched. I simply have never felt that i could leave my store for a wk and expect things to go smoothly, which is why 2+ yrs i have yet to take a vacation.

 

[aweston]

I went through the same thing as you acesdeals. Seemingly (at the time anyways) no matter what I did I could not find a tech who was as skilled as I was or as passionate about the work.

If it's any help, what I found is first and foremost it wasn't that they aren't out there, it's that I didn't know how to attract them, look for them or recognize them. First thing you'll want to do is take a hard, honest look at yourself and find out why it is you're not attracting the right people into your life. Then take a look what's missing in your day to day actions and example so that they're not bringing excellence. If they're not, you can pretty safely bet you're not either.

The next thing I found out is reputation means everything. There's a guy who works out of his home and has been trying to hire someone for a year. Nobody wants to work for him. For one he doesn't know what he's talking about, he's not a computer geek. For another he works out of his home and finally he's not well known.

What do good employees want? Ultimately they want a pleasant environment with job security. There's nothing about working out of someone's house that says job security. What I found was that the longer I've been open, the more I build my reputation and the more well known I've become the quality of the applicants has gone up dramatically. I've also done a whole ton of personal work which goes a long way to attracting the right people into my life and helping me be in tune to looking for the right people.

Now we have an incredible team that brings a lot of value, both to our clients and to the business. They've built an amazing ecosystem all their own and most importantly they're not micromanaged and they've been allowed and empowered to flourish and make decisions. They've also worked hard to bring the highest standards and honestly I'm very proud of them.

It's a process that starts with developing yourself and your leadership. Don't lose faith, it takes time. Hopefully for you less time (and a lot less money) than it took me.

 

[untoldtech]

I've had the same struggles, I've even had a technician that was taking money under the table and not telling me about customer service experiences people were having. She would over promise and under deliver, wouldn't generate invoices. She had me fooled, It was unbelievable.

I'm too nice sometimes and I believe it's important for your employees to respect you so you can't get too comfortable with them or they lose the fear that you could fire them. I don't like to rule by force but it's necessary to maintain order and accountability. If the employee thinks they're your buddy they don't respect you and will slack off more.

I have 4 employees now but I'm staying very hands on (not too controlling though, IMO). I'd like to let them get 'skin' the game and have toyed with the idea of giving them a percentage of sales, like 2% - 5% of things they complete, but not sure if that would work.

 

[tom11011]

I've had the same struggles, I've even had a technician that was taking money under the table and not telling me about customer service experiences people were having. She would over promise and under deliver, wouldn't generate invoices. She had me fooled, It was unbelievable.

I'm too nice sometimes and I believe it's important for your employees to respect you so you can't get too comfortable with them or they lose the fear that you could fire them. I don't like to rule by force but it's necessary to maintain order and accountability. If the employee thinks they're your buddy they don't respect you and will slack off more.

I have 4 employees now but I'm staying very hands on (not too controlling though, IMO). I'd like to let them get 'skin' the game and have toyed with the idea of giving them a percentage of sales, like 2% - 5% of things they complete, but not sure if that would work.

That's a major problem and that employee should probably not be let off easy. At a minimum the employee should re-reimburse you and be fired, or let law enforcement deal with it.

 

[untoldtech]

employee was fired and strangely didn't even ask why, was a very odd individual, probably knew I figured it out but didn't have enough proof to make a big case. I had customers bringing back computers for 'warranty work' and they didn't even have POs generated in quickbooks, did see some homemade receipts which I never authorized her to use. I then found computers missing and she was taking computers home to work on them?? Prior to this she was a model employee. In the one month before I figured this all out, where I let her run things and I was mostly not available due to offsite work, in 1 month my revenue drops by almost 30% and I notice way too many low credit card receipt days with computers in the ticketing application being opened and closed.

employee knew I have a primary job that I run while running this business and could get me in trouble (probably not fired) so I let it burn as a lesson. My new employees just think I'm doing other work etc. now so no extortion.

 

[tom11011]

employee was fired and strangely didn't even ask why, was a very odd individual, probably knew I figured it out but didn't have enough proof to make a big case. I had customers bringing back computers for 'warranty work' and they didn't even have POs generated in quickbooks, did see some homemade receipts which I never authorized her to use. I then found computers missing and she was taking computers home to work on them?? Prior to this she was a model employee. In the one month before I figured this all out, where I let her run things and I was mostly not available due to offsite work, in 1 month my revenue drops by almost 30% and I notice way too many low credit card receipt days with computers in the ticketing application being opened and closed.

employee knew I have a primary job that I run while running this business and could get me in trouble (probably not fired) so I let it burn as a lesson. My new employees just think I'm doing other work etc. now so no extortion.

Amazing what some people will do right under your nose if given even the slightest opportunity to rip you off.

 

[brandonkick]

You need to get rid of those people.

There are millions of people looking for new opportunities. I assure you there are a few quality people in that group.... what you have just isn't going to work out for you.

You've given them the tools, the training, and a good wage. You've done everything you can do. They either make the grade or they don't. And if they don't measure up, then they need to be replaced.

It's hurting you and your business.

As far as not wanting to wear their PPE because of it being "uncomfortable", ask them how wearing the stuff would feel in comparison to standing in the unemployment line.