I'm looking to get out of my current business and get into a franchise for a service company. It's a fairly inelastic demand service, one of those 'you look us up when you need us' type services.
Specialized work, yet something you can learn on the job. Some indoor mostly outdoor work, and working in lightly inclement weather will be required when it's not too dangerous. (Cold, light rain/snow, nothing heavy or super windy).
Bookings will have to be made by sales calls but most of the time the crews *will* be busy based on other franchisee's experiences.
So with that in mind I want to attract solid people who will have a good reason to stick around. Good people need good pay - a philosophy I live by.
So I'm thinking of the following compensation model (the specific $ are not so important as the guaranteed income):
Level 1: Probationary (90 day period) - $X/hr (which will be at local "general laborer" rates)
Level 2: Technicians Assistant - $Y/hr (2-3 over $X)
Level 3: Technician $Z ($3-4 over $Y)
That's all basic - here's the part I'm wondering about.
If you're on the job you're paid at your skill level. If, however, we don't have any scheduled work on a given day (or half day), you will still get paid at Level 1 up to a minimum 40 hours/wk total across all levels.
Example: A crew (1 tech 1 probie for this case) gets 3 full day and 1 half day jobs in one week. That's 28 hrs scheduled and 12 hrs unscheduled. The probie* will get 40 hrs at $X. The Technician will get 28 @$Z and 12 @ $X.
The idea is guaranteeing a certain minimum income no matter what. Additionally, to qualify for overtime, you have to actually work a full week. If you had a half day unscheduled and the other jobs run long you have to make up that 4 hours at full pay before you can get OT. Taking a day off mid week won't get you any pay (at least not immediately - eventually I'd like to implement some kind of earned PTO system but that's downstream).
Obviously this means I'll need a higher cash reserve up front as well as to cover slower times, I think having that guaranteed income level as a trades person will bring stronger people and be worth the trade. My question is - what am I not thinking about here? Am I missing anything with this approach? Any legal issues? Labor board issues? Other pitfalls to be concerned with?
*(One thought I am having is maybe not making the 40/hr guarantee to probationary employees. Once you pass the probation period, maybe that's the first real benefit we offer. )
Specialized work, yet something you can learn on the job. Some indoor mostly outdoor work, and working in lightly inclement weather will be required when it's not too dangerous. (Cold, light rain/snow, nothing heavy or super windy).
Bookings will have to be made by sales calls but most of the time the crews *will* be busy based on other franchisee's experiences.
So with that in mind I want to attract solid people who will have a good reason to stick around. Good people need good pay - a philosophy I live by.
So I'm thinking of the following compensation model (the specific $ are not so important as the guaranteed income):
Level 1: Probationary (90 day period) - $X/hr (which will be at local "general laborer" rates)
Level 2: Technicians Assistant - $Y/hr (2-3 over $X)
Level 3: Technician $Z ($3-4 over $Y)
That's all basic - here's the part I'm wondering about.
If you're on the job you're paid at your skill level. If, however, we don't have any scheduled work on a given day (or half day), you will still get paid at Level 1 up to a minimum 40 hours/wk total across all levels.
Example: A crew (1 tech 1 probie for this case) gets 3 full day and 1 half day jobs in one week. That's 28 hrs scheduled and 12 hrs unscheduled. The probie* will get 40 hrs at $X. The Technician will get 28 @$Z and 12 @ $X.
The idea is guaranteeing a certain minimum income no matter what. Additionally, to qualify for overtime, you have to actually work a full week. If you had a half day unscheduled and the other jobs run long you have to make up that 4 hours at full pay before you can get OT. Taking a day off mid week won't get you any pay (at least not immediately - eventually I'd like to implement some kind of earned PTO system but that's downstream).
Obviously this means I'll need a higher cash reserve up front as well as to cover slower times, I think having that guaranteed income level as a trades person will bring stronger people and be worth the trade. My question is - what am I not thinking about here? Am I missing anything with this approach? Any legal issues? Labor board issues? Other pitfalls to be concerned with?
*(One thought I am having is maybe not making the 40/hr guarantee to probationary employees. Once you pass the probation period, maybe that's the first real benefit we offer. )