Piece of the action

One of the major ongoing problems about employing engineers is that you can never find a guy with the same level of motivation that you have, no one else will ever make that little bit of extra effort or take that bit of extra time to get it right, or more to the point stay on that extra hour till the job is completed. It's a perennial problem that is suffered by almost every small installer trying to build up his company and it's a headache that makes many of them lose heart and stop expanding.

This is, perhaps, one of the biggest crimes in our industry. Here we have guys that have worked hard, they have got their heads round the management side of the business, they take on their first employee and they are positively shocked when the employee downs tools at 5pm and goes home when the job could be completed in less than an hour.

It's all down to motivation. The company owner will stay all night to finish a job because he knows he is building his business and his future. He will work all day and do surveys in the evening. He will work all Sunday afternoon to get his paperwork caught up with. He does it because he will eventually (we hope) come out of it with a successful company that can be sold for a retirement pension (or a villa in Spain and all the vino he can drink).

On the scrap heap
The employee, on the other hand can expect to work all his life for someone else and end up thrown on the scrap heap at 65 with a meagre pension. He will watch the company grow; he will watch the boss change his Mondeo for a BMW, his two-up/two-down terrace house for a five bedroom detached, and his weekends in the office for a new set of golf clubs ... and we wonder why the employee shows little or no interest in the company's success. Is it any wonder that when someone says, "Will you do me a job on the cheap?" he grabs it and puts the money in his pocket. Or when another company says, "Have a pay rise and a better car", he is off as fast as his legs will carry him? Like I said earlier it's a perennial problem that is rife within our industry ... so what can we do?

The answer has got to be by reward. If the employee feels that they are a part of the team, that they are wanted, respected and financially rewarded then perhaps we may get the kind of service, loyalty and dedication that you expect from yourself. But even then is it enough when it's a situation of "Boss and employee"? I have seen situations where the employees have been earning more than the boss and working fewer hours, and they still kick the job into touch at the first better offer, and we sit and wonder why. There must be thousands of very competent lads out there with valuable skills who just need that right kind of motivation to get them up and running.

Here are the basics of an idea that has been buzzing around in my head for some time, I still need to work out the exact figures but I think the system could work. Lets look at the facts, there are a good many competent engineers out there that are just plain unhappy. They see someone else making what appears to be good money and paying them peanuts. Many of them take the plunge and set up on their own with varying degrees of success. A hell of a lot more would like to but lack the basic knowledge or the courage of their own convictions to take the plunge. In fact I have a suspicion that there are vast numbers out there that would give their right arm for the chance to have their own business but they have worked out the odds and decided that the risk is too great, especially if there is a wife and kids in the background.

Company within a company
The answer may well be to give them a part of the action. Effectively, this means making them a partner or giving them their own little "company within a company". Here's the idea: The boss starts his company - Ajax Alarms, (purely fictitious name and not to be taken as a reflection on any company that may be called Ajax!).

Ajax is successful and is soon looking for an employee. Eventually the right person is found. He is competent, intelligent and loyal and gets on well with the customers. The problem now is how to keep him because sooner or later this guy will move on or start up on his own and take a lot of customers with him, Quite often this shift of customers is not an outright intention, it's just that the customers have got used to seeing the same familiar face of the man who solves their problems so it is quite natural for them to want that to continue. So, as soon as they find out, off they go with him. This will be a familiar problem to many readers.

So why not forestall this by setting him up with his own business within the main organisation and give him the opportunity and incentive to go out and work for himself?

If the parent company is Ajax Alarms then the new company could be Ajax Alarms (next town). The engineer becomes self-employed; he does his own surveys, installs his own systems and does his own maintenance and repairs. The parent company would supply the name, the materials and the management and book keeping. The night calls could be shared as normal and if there were no work the engineer would sub-contract himself to the parent company until work came in.

The advantage for the engineer is the chance to set up and work for himself without the great risk that normally comes with "the plunge". There is a ready-made name and reputation so finding new work is much easier and every job he does he gets a share of the profits. When he sells a maintenance contract he gets to keep most of the money. The bottom line is of course that the harder he works and the better his installations the more money he makes.

Time for training
Let's look at some other advantages: He has the back-up of the parent company for advice, help and emergency cover. By dealing collectively the parent company should be able to get better deals when buying stock. Time can be taken for training and education to further his skills ready for when the new standards come in. In short, he can have most (if not all) the benefits of owning his own company without the dreadful risks of setting up and without the downside drudgery of the book keeping and accountancy that goes with the business.

Effectively this means making them a partner or giving them their own little ‘company within a company’

There is a downside of course ... Someone else is taking a small slice out of your profits and has a major say in the final running of the company (don't forget, if the engineer starts cutting corners or upsetting the customers then he is messing with the reputation of the parent company), and when it comes to selling up then the sale price has to be shared with the parent company. But you can't have it both ways and the parent company will probably just buy out your share anyway.

The real score is that as his section of the company grows he will have more money and an easier life, maintenances and maintenance income will go up but the need to fit new systems will decrease and he can set his own levels of business. He will never be short of work because he can subcontract to the parent company and pass any excess work their way for a commission. In short he will never have to go hungry or turn valuable work away.

Engineer will have sorted stock
From the parent company's point of view it is an excellent way of keeping that good engineer and your good reputation. It should vastly reduce the instance where an engineer will just book in sick or hand in his notice, because it is going to adversely affect his income and his business. Those two factors alone are enough to make things easier for frustrated employers. Speaking of frustration, having to sort out who does what will be removed somewhat because the engineer in charge of his own section of the company should have sorted out his work and his stock requirements by now. He shouldn't be setting off to a job with only half the equipment and then badgering you to send someone out with the bits! We should have removed the "I can't be bothered" or "it's not my problem" attitude. It also increases your income for minimal outlay in time and effort because you already have to employ office staff who can quite often run more that one small company at a time.

The real secret is to keep the controlling interest in any extra "branches" of your business you set up so that you keep control of your empire. Another secret is not to be too greedy because if the odds are not favourable the "good engineer" will up-sticks and move on anyway, and take your customers with him.

You could say that it is a new twist on the old franchising scheme but there is a world of difference to the two systems. With the franchising scheme the prospective candidate had to pay a lump sum up front, maybe as much as £10,000. For this he got a ready made company, adverts in Yellow Pages and some form of training, often this training was as far removed from British Standards and good working practice as you can get. You then had the privilege of to buying all your equipment and stock from the franchiser at inflated prices. On top of that you were on your own with little or no back up from the franchiser and plied with poor advice. The saddest thing about many of these franchise systems is that the originators of the scheme have no interest whatsoever in looking after the customer, they have seen an easy way to make money and they have no qualms about separating you from yours. They will give the franchise to anyone who can pay, and if the poor sod coughing up the dosh is as thick as a donkey's dangler then all the better. He pays up, goes out and makes a complete hash of the whole thing and goes bust. The franchiser laughs all the way to the bank and promptly sells the franchise on to the next mug with a thick wad burning a hole in his wallet.

Pub dreams shattered
Sadly I have seen this happen too many times in the licensed trade. Most men would like to run their own pub and the idea of sitting behind a bar and dispensing the odd pint or two appeals to us all. However, pub management is seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year, and every day is a very long day of hard graft. Finally the skills of keeping a good pint and an orderly house cannot be learned overnight, it takes years of experience. I have watched many of our local miners, having been made redundant with a big pay out, follow their dream of running their own pub and buy a tenancy. Almost without fail within two years they are back in rented accommodation and broke, looking for a job and totally disillusioned with life. We must not allow that to happen in our trade.

My idea is that we find the right people with the right attitude and the right skills and give them the chance they deserve without the risks. This way the customer gets a good system, proper service and all the comfort and security that comes with it.

We in the trade get good satisfied customers, happy engineers and a good steady profit that grows and lasts for years and years, then, at the time of retirement we have a nice little business to give to our kids or sell for a pension.

Pie in the sky you might say, looking for utopia you might say, OK, well I admit it, I also had an urge to run my own pub – once upon a time.