Labor around the Sawmill

[just_sawing]

I am in the process of increasing my work flow on my mill. I have always hired contract labor on the spot.
I am contenplating hiring a full time employee. I have gone to the TN state site and am blowed away by the amount of fees taxes forms and such. Do any of you who hire other than your personel relatives have full time employees. IF so how do you keep your sanity with the red tape?

[scsmith42]

My wife's small business uses a firm called "Paychex" to manage their payroll.  They take care of all of the taxes, appropriate forms, etc.

Although they charge a fee, she feels that it is more than worthwhile considering the time that it used to take her to manage payroll.

[Cedarman]

Yup, SS and medicaid taxes.  Unemployment taxes.  Workers comp. And the time it takes for you to do the paperwork.   Take what you are paying your employee and add another 50% and you will be close to your costs.  If you pay $10 per hour, you need for them to generate at least $20 worth of work or $160.00 per 8 hour day to justify hiring labor.  Probably more since your effieciency will go down for a while  when you train them.  If they break something you get to buy a new one too.

Makes you wonder why  people have employees doesn't it.  We have 5 now and had as many as 15.

scsmith42, we do the same thing with a different company.

[Banjo picker]

Get an accountant, its the only way to keep up with all the BS that rolls down from Wash.  Unless you are one or have one in the family.  Forms to fill out each quarter...etc..And if your late don't forget the penalties and intrest.  My ex. partner was going to do the books when we first got started.  It liked to have cost us everything.  Tim

[Kansas]

I do the weekly payroll on the computer. It costs about 280 dollars a year for the updated figures and such. There are 8 of us, so that isnt too bad on a per employee basis. However, I have an accountant fill out the quarterly reports from data off my payroll. I want someone independent of me doing that in case I ever get audited. Same with the workers comp audits.
The workers compensation is the worst part about only having a few employees. If your state is like kansas, you are likely to get put in a high risk pool for having only one employee, and where you are just entering the system. The owners can opt out of workers comp on themselves here. I know small business owners that were told by their agents they had to be covered too.
Take the time to call around and see if any agents out there can help.

One thing about it, judging by the calls I have gotten the last few months, its a lot easier to find help than it used to be.

[bull]

How big do you want to get?
Employees bring on all kinds of factors, push the pencil before you jump th gun... Workers comp will kill you, around 67 cents on the dollar paid for sawmills with under 5 employees, the owner does not count and neither do family members unless they are on the payroll !!!
I started small got up to 1 fulltime and 5 parttime employees, and was then assaulted with all the workers comp issues, went into it earning 45 cents on the dollar or 45 % with out employees, with employees. After comp and other insurance expenses were figured in I was earning *(losing)* 08 cents or -.08%. I regrouped tightened the belt, let everyone go and now work alone, and am back on the positive side of earning.....
There has to be a huge jump in income potential to entertain putting employees on the pay roll, with the present economic situation I woild ahre on the side of caution and spend all you time crunching numbers before you jump.....

[mike_van]

One of my cousins used to own two trucks. He drove one, hired a driver for the other. He used to tell me about the paper trail that went along with it all, I don't know how he kept up with it as long as he did. This tax, that permit, this form, and on & on. Good luck is all I can really say, the bureaucratic b.s. today is endless.

[WH_Conley]

I started a business that included me, my brother, wife and nephew. I grew to 11 employees later on. There is money in big or small, there is none in the middle. >:(

[bull]

WH i agree with that.... there is nothing in the middle

[Banjo picker]

WH i agree with that.... there is nothing in the middle

WH i agree with that.... there is nothing in the middle

I totally disagree, there is something in the middle.  Lots of money for the folks in Washington D.C.  ;D ;D ;D No offence guys but I couldn't resist.  You are totally correct.  Tim

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Jsawing Ive been in both posititons haveing employes and haveing ppl on contract in the past Dad and I when we had the log building buisness had 3 employes plus ourselfs and it worked well as we had low imput costs but a high labour imput .
so far with the sawmilling ive kept the 2 partime employes on subcontract where I pay them between $22 and $30 per hour and they have to cover ther own costs such as Tax Insurance Super and other costs it makes things easyier for me with just having to pay a once of cost  ;D
In sawmilling the margins arnt that high and excees labour costs can start eating away at your bottom line pretty quick   thats when You have to start looking seriosly at good equipment selection and purchasing plans as sometimes Investing the money in gear that will increase production with the same labour imput or less can be the way to go As I know that id rather be paying gear of that makes my job easyier  than paying a blokes wages .
I dont know weather its just me but one other thing i dont like is how some employes Ive talked to  seem to me verry unappeciative of what the buisness owner is doing for them and seem to constantly WINGE  about how much the Boss is making out of them only taking into consideration the finnished price with out thinking about ALL the other imput costs thats why I dont want too many of them as it seems to get worse the more you have  ;) :D :D :D ;D
Besides Ive allready got a list aslong as my arm of proven top workers that are willing to leave other jobs to work for me  ;D I just gotta pick the right ones  ;) :D ;D
Ive allready got  two top proformers with me and dont ever want anymore than 6  ;) ;D 8)

Thats just my 2 bobs worth

Reguards Chris

[bandmiller2]

Is it possible to have an associate to work with you paid on a percentage of production and let him handle his own reporting??The more machinery you have to eliminate help the better,it will soon repay the expense.Frank C.

[Cedarman]

We pay about 8 cents on the dollar for workers comp for inside the mill employees and 6 cents for the loader driver yard man.  We have had a very good history of just one injury in the last 7 years and it was a finger tip smash.   

Does this discussion make anyone wonder why some mills have a lot of people that don't speak much English?  Or why paying under the table is going on.  Or why the Amish are heavy into the sawmill, pallet and woodworking business.

If I had all the money spent on insurance, I would be  a lot better off.

We operate our mulch business in Ok with son and DIL, no insurance costs for employees.  They do have their own health insurance though.

It is expensive to have employees.  There is just no way around it.  You have to have the extra revenue to support them.

Get with an accountant and find out all you have to do.  SHOP around for insurance.  Watch what classification they put them in.  Some have a lot better rate than others. 

[dewwood]

I have in the past looked into using a "Temp Agency" because they do all of the payroll and reporting as well as insurance and workers comp.  They are paid a single dollar per hour figure billed weekly and they then pay the workers and do all of the reporting.  Say you would pay $10 per hour to your employee then it will probably cost around $15 per hour to the agency but you only write one check and no paperwork.  As was stated above the paperwork is much the same for one employee as it is for ten when doing it your self so that one additional employee has to generally more than double your income and therefore your profit.

The only drawback to the temp agencies is some will not work with a "sawmill operation" due to the workmans comp.  If you can find one to work with you I feel for a small operation of one or two employees it is probably cheaper than doing it yourself.  You have to keep in mind that the more time you spend doing office work you are paying someone to replace you so doubling your workforce never doubles your output.

Good luck with your decision, or by the way I decided to go with no employees other than one part time.

[Kansas]

I used some employees from a temp agency for awhile. The problem is, even on the most rudimentary equipment, it takes some time to train them. Wether it is a popup saw, a resaw, or even pulling boards around the mill, you have to take the time concerning safety, quality, etc. Seems like every time we got a few trained, they would disappear and new ones would take their place. Most were pretty good employees, some were not. I think the good ones eventually go on and find full time jobs elsewhere. The fact we were 30 miles from the temp agencies didn't help-by the time you got done paying mileage, plus not always having someone with a drivers license willing to drive, made it pretty unreliable. I can see them having their place in a number of different settings, but I think you would be better off to invest in a decent local employee.

[Banjo picker]

I used some temps a couple of times on concrete jobs in the past, when We had short term jobs out of town and were short handed.  They were pretty much rent a drunks in constant training.  Finally got 2 decent workers, and I told them if they would show up every day for the remaining 2 weeks, I would give them an extra 250 each.  They did and I gave them the bonus.  But that is strickly against the temp service rules, but I kind of figured it was my business what I did with my money as long as the temp service got their money.

The state laws differ as to what you have to have as to worker comp.  Some let a business have up to 5 before its manditory.  But that doesn't let you off the hook if somebody gets hurt.  They get themselves a good laywer, and they will probably own most everything you have.

[DanG]

I'm not much of a businessman, which is readily obvious to anyone who has been here, : but I invested considerable cogitation in this subject along the way.  That, along with the wisdom that has been shared here, convinces me that you should explore every other option you have before assuming the role of an employer.  Is there any sort of equipment you could add that would speed up your solo operation?  Are their weapons in your current arsenal that could be used more effectively?  Are there things you can do to enhance your bottom line without increasing production?  Since you're set up to run solo, do you really have a place for a helper?

Remember, if you have an employee, you work for him just as much as he works for you.

Get a video camera and set it up on a tripod where it can film the entire work area.  I'll bet you can find a dozen ways to pick up speed while watching a 2 hour tape. ;)

[Brian_Rhoad]

As far as paper work for employees, the Quickbooks program I use has that built into the program. I don't have employees so I don't know how it works, but the program is there to use. I think if you use a program like Quickbooks it will speed up the paperwork part of having employees.

A sawmiller friend of mine told me you need to hire 3 employees to break even with the amount of work done to what they will cost you. He also said you can double the wage amount to get the total cost of an emplyee. That seems to hold out fromwhat others have told me also.

[rbarshaw]

Get a video camera and set it up on a tripod where it can film the entire work area.  I'll bet you can find a dozen ways to pick up speed while watching a 2 hour tape. ;)

It's also a good idea to have that camera recording full time while you have an employee working around the mill, 4 cameras would bee even better. You'd be suprised the things people will try to get away with, false claims for injury, theft, just sitting around and expecting to get paid for it.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Rbashaw thats one sure fire way to P@$s off good workers too mate One mill ive worked at a few times over the years Did that to 3  good blokes last year then when i went there earlyer this year i couldnt beleave it  Paul said wach this  mate  ;) he will be out within a minite  :D he sat on the docker outfeed while the other bloke reprogramed the docker settings and euge was out yelling why arnt you blokes F#$!n working  >:( I said to him that he realy needed to mount one in the office  ;) :D as your mum dose 80% of the book work mate  What are you doing in there all day ;) :D :D Honestly his 75yo dad dose twice the work he dose and Tonys only there for about half the day as hes got a bad back It was alot better before tony handed the mill over to his son when we all knew tony appeciated the amount of work we put in every day  ;D ;D 
4 blokes  7 to 10000bft dunnage docked stacked with about 2000 bft of grade sticked and stacked in the yard aswell as some other small house lots some days Not bad going I dont think  for 4 blokes an old man and a son you would only see if he had to be out there ;) :D ;D ;D
Like the boys and myself all ageed on was that Tony only came in each morning to make sure euge was there the sad thing is that He knows that as soon as he passes on that the place will be up for sale you could se the dissapointment writen allover his face sometimes  :'(
There is also only 1 bloke out of that crew working there now we all left within about 4 weeks of eachover  .I still talk with Tony on the phone and hes asked me to come back I said I work for you anytme mate but never again for your son

sorry for adding this but i think it needed to be said that ive seen that in action and dont think its the way to go

Reguards Chris

[Meadows Miller]

To get back on track  :D

Have you ever thought about Incentives for Your current crew  ??? as ive worked at places that have that in place and it worked well at increasing production tyed in with workflow and equipment improvements  ;) ;D

Chris

[bull]

paying by piece meal is one thing,but an hourly wage with and incentive is just another joke...
Work and get paid for what you do, the job pays X do it and you get paid, don't finish no pay....

[backwoods sawyer]

paying by piece meal is one thing,but an hourly wage with and incentive is just another joke...
Work and get paid for what you do, the job pays X do it and you get paid, don't finish no pay....

Incentive programs work in larger settings. I find that if I let the helper know what is expected for how much and give them specific task to complete it works good.

Example: I need the area around the mill cleaned up and it would take me 2 hours. I spend 10-15 min walking around with the helper to show them what and how I want it done, and he gets $20 when the job is done. I could care less if it takes him 2 hours or all day, what I care about is how well the job is done.

Hourly you are trying to find some one that will work as hard as you do. That is not always the case.

[Warren]

Get a video camera and set it up on a tripod where it can film the entire work area.  I'll bet you can find a dozen ways to pick up speed while watching a 2 hour tape. ;)

DanG, 

This is exactly what the Japanese do when they want to streamline a production process.  Before video cameras, they would take a new engineer out onto the shop floor and draw a chalk circle on the floor.  The new engineer was then required to stand in the circle and observe the manufacturing processes around him until he could identify at least one improvement to an existing process.

-w-

[Ron Wenrich]

Actually, wage and incentive for production is a pretty good deal for both employer and worker.  Line workers won't do anything extra if they are paid by the hour.  If you pay $X per hour, then when workers get to a point where they feel they have given $X for the services, their work slows.

You set the incentive to where you make money.  Then, workers get paid extra for extra work.  It actually works where labor costs are pretty steady on a per Mbf basis. 

When you have down time, or clean up time, labor costs can eat you up.  With an incentive system, down time isn't as expensive to the employer.  It also gives an incentive for workers to get back into a production mode.

It can work for both small and large operations.  Its just a matter of setting the threshold for the incentives to kick in.

You have to be very careful about using employees as private contractors.  If you are setting what time they have to show up and are directing them as to which tasks to perform, then you have to pay insurances and withhold all government taxes. 

[DanG]

Get a video camera and set it up on a tripod where it can film the entire work area.  I'll bet you can find a dozen ways to pick up speed while watching a 2 hour tape. ;)

DanG, 

This is exactly what the Japanese do when they want to streamline a production process.  Before video cameras, they would take a new engineer out onto the shop floor and draw a chalk circle on the floor.  The new engineer was then required to stand in the circle and observe the manufacturing processes around him until he could identify at least one improvement to an existing process.

-w-

Back in the early 90's, the phone company I worked for did a "Work Process Analysis".  I was on the team that analyzed the processes in my department.  We would sit for hours with a stopwatch, pencil, and legal pad and write down every movement a worker made, even down to the picking up of a pencil.  After all that data was recorded, we had a series of meetings to analyze the analysis and came up with ways to streamline the processes.  It was a very effective tool, and saved the company millions of dollars.  Whole departments went away, but their workers were transferred to other departments, where their work wouldn't be duplicated.  The "savings" were manifested in additional earnings, through efficiency.  One tiny example of the things we did involved staples.  This was a 24/7/365 operation with 8 worker positions.  We had 2 staplers and one stapler remover in the whole place! :  With a $40 expenditure, we put staplers and removers on every desk, and saved about $40 per week in wasted motion.  Most changes were much larger than that, of course, but all of them reflected greater savings than expenditure.  The key to the whole thing was objectivity.  The teams were made up of all levels, from file clerks to upper-level managers, and everything in between.

You could do the same thing by filming yourself in action, and picking out things you could do differently.

[backwoods sawyer]

DanG, 

Back in the early 90's, the phone company I worked for did a "Work Process Analysis".  I was on the team that analyzed the processes in my department.  We would sit for hours with a stopwatch, pencil, and legal pad and write down every movement a worker made, even down to the picking up of a pencil.  After all that data was recorded, we had a series of meetings to analyze the analysis and came up with ways to streamline the processes.  It was a very effective tool, and saved the company millions of dollars.  Whole departments went away, but their workers were transferred to other departments, where their work wouldn't be duplicated.  The "savings" were manifested in additional earnings, through efficiency.  One tiny example of the things we did involved staples.  This was a 24/7/365 operation with 8 worker positions.  We had 2 staplers and one stapler remover in the whole place! :  With a $40 expenditure, we put staplers and removers on every desk, and saved about $40 per week in wasted motion.  Most changes were much larger than that, of course, but all of them reflected greater savings than expenditure.  The key to the whole thing was objectivity.  The teams were made up of all levels, from file clerks to upper-level managers, and everything in between.

You could do the same thing by filming yourself in action, and picking out things you could do differently.

Sounds like the Perforex system we used here in the big mill when a new owner wanted to stream line the already effective operation. If you can shave 1/10th second off the time it takes to position a log, saw, chipper, cant or flitch it can mean thousands of dollars in savings. However, the $1,000,000 that the Perforex system cost to be implemented not to mention the added paper work that kept the pulp mill in operation and all the time spent in meetings to determine when to have the next meeting, was considerably more then the $100,000 savings after 2 years.
This was proved by there own data when after a year of no improvements they reorganized the three crews so that the most experienced crews were on day shift, and night shift and every six weeks they would switch. Flex crew had the least total experience yet consistently set higher production rates then the other two crews. So they switched flex crew to day shift and the production went down. The other two crews production fluctuated depending on which shift they were on.
Why?
They were over analyzing everything that was done, and the crews would slow down to make sure they were not perceived as having done something wrong.
Did I mention that the flex crew also had the best safety record of the three crews.

Another words you have to trust the people that work for you, and make sure they have the best training that you can give them, and instill a desire to want to work for you that goes beyond the paycheck. It does not happen over night, but it is a necessity to being an effective business. The alternative is an unhappy employee that will cost you more then he or she ever thought of making.

As several have stated, stream line your operation. Analyze how you run the milling operation and find where you can save some time. Consider hiring a bookkeeping outfit to free you up to have more time for maintenance, milling ect.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Thanks Ron ;) ;D

Bull Ive worked a few smaller mills this is the mill i sayed at for 3 yrs and still do some work for now in 2001 when i was 20yo i was getting 27.50 per hour subbying + a $30 fuel allowance as I was doing a 170 mile round trip to work and back every day I was sawing on my own most of the time once I got to above $2 ks t/o per day id get $50 extra and every $500 to above that an extra $50 so on and soforth I had to prepare , saw and stack between 2500 and 4500 bft per day on my own I used to do 9 to 12 hrs per day plus driving time and I made some dang good money and had plenty of time to do the things I wanted to do usually took 1 week of every 4 to 6 weeks
Like i say go hard or go home  ;) :D ;D ;D

Down here you can subby if you have an ABN (aust buisness number / TAX) , insurance the only real thing that the employer needs to provide is a safe work place above all

Reguards Chris

[Banjo picker]

Extra pay, bonuses, incinitives, etc what ever you call it has its place, if its done right. 

Dang called what they did "Work process Analysis" I believe.  That is a first cousin to what I would call a production enginer.  Something similar has to take place before the emplorer can expect to know how much of an incinitive to offer.  (ex. you have to know that x number of people working at a good clip can cut x number of rr ties is they stay busy...you also know that if they really turn it on they can produce 15 more per shift.  The incentive is for the extra 15.  You are probably not going to get them in a normal setting, but if a small bonus if there to make over production...they make a little more, employer makes a little more.

But on the cameras, I don't like them.  I have had to work some for companys that used them, and no body likes them.  My two sons and I worked at a plywood mill under construction at Oakdale La where Marko (Jonnie Martin) was building , one of the biggest osb plant in the country.  They had several cameras, the first thing when someone hired on was they get shown where they were hidden.  The agenda there was not for production.  I think they hurt production,  I had a crew of about 10 men, and they would go out of their way to set up their work station where the camera couldn't see. 


If you are going to do a production analyis it is best to not even let the people know you are doing it.  I have seen a production enginer at a work station observing someone, to set production.  I bet you they will slow down so you won't expect as much, which would flaw your final results.   

Tim

[DanG]

The program I talked about wasn't about cracking the whip, at all.  It identified places where things could be done differently to increase production without adding people, which is exactly what Just-Sawing wants/needs to do.  We did things like adding more Xerox machines, and shifting responsibilities from one work group to another.  Morale actually went up along with production, because the job got easier instead of harder.

I suggested the camera so the solo worker could see where he might be wasting motion, not to spy on other workers.  A manager who has to rely on the latter, isn't much of a manager, IMO.

I increased production at my mill by about 100bf/day by just removing a couple of trees and clearing some bushes to make more room behind the mill.  Just-sawing might increase his by adding an edger, live deck, forklift, kiln, or even replacing the mill itself, instead of hiring someone.  He may even determine that he really does need to add help. ;)

[OneWithWood]

If I installed a camera to record my activities in my barn, you know, milling, stacking, ciphering, drying, stacking, etc.  the resulting footage could keep us all entertained at the piggy roast for hours!
:D :D :D :

[DanG]

I could record my activities lately with an oil painting. : :D

[mike_van]

I could record my activities lately with an oil painting. : :D

:D :D :D :D      Thanks Dan, almost lost my coffee  :D

[Ron Wenrich]

There are a lot of different types of studies you can do around the mill.  Time and motion studies is pretty much like what DanG has described.  They are pretty useful when used properly.  For most of the smaller to medium sized mill operations, a study would involve watching the primary log breakdown area.  It shows where the bottlenecks occur in the mill, and how to avoid them so they don't effect productivity.

I think the smaller operations would benefit greatly from those studies.  But, I have yet to find a mill that doesn't know what their problems are or how to solve them.   ;)

[Cedarman]

Question?  Why are you moving lumber that way?
Answer:     Because that is the way we moved lumber yesterday.

[Tom]

what I have experienced is consultants.  when the company upper management feels that they have lost contact with what is going on, it seems that the best thing to do is hire a consultant.  Maybe even a bunch of them.  It doesn't matter what they are trained in.  The general synopsis is that the best consultants are Accoutants.  Accountants study things in detail, make sure that everything has a place and is in place, and them trims it all down so that the books show that a profit is being made with a minimal expenditure.

The reason that it works is because the upper management wants change.  They expect change.   The consultant, none to shabby in the brain department, knows this, and will find something wrong whether there is anything wrong or not.  After all, that is what he is being paid to do, find something wrong.  As a result, the higher paid, most experienced employees, are sent packing.  They are replaced by those who worked for them, at half of the salary, and those lower slots aren't filled.  Since there is no longer as many people doing the work (streamlining they call it) much of the equipment can be discarded and sold to bolster the bottom line.  Overtime replaces extra workers and schedules can be made that allow the company to use 80 percent of a workers time.  After all the company doesn't benefit from the time spent with the family, so the 20 percent of "extra" time can be used for sleeping, eating, healthcare and entertainment. That should keep the worker happy.

What with the increased schedules, diminished tools, minimized workforce and a freeze on hiring, the bottom line will begin to look pretty good.  If it isn't good enough, there is always a target of retirement, vacations, sick days, breaks and other nonproductive time periods that can be cut to help the company when times get tough.  If times get too tough, and the product isn't being produced, they can always hire another accountant consultant.  It's cheaper than hiring more help and it worked last time.  It's a win/win situation.  :P ;D

[DanG]

Just-Sawing doesn't have a prayer of getting one of those consultants, Tom.  They're all tied up telling GM to sell less cars so they won't lose so much money, and telling Sears to close stores because they're losing money.  Heck, I can tell him that he is producing too much lumber to make any money.  He needs to lay himself off! ;D :D

[just_sawing]

I retire from public work in two days. I have been running WM for 15 years for this day that I can get er done. With Workmans comp osha fica income tax I will be hiring two less people. The equipment is paid for I am investing 60k in a forestry Mulcher paid for and will work family or contract workers that keep up there own taxes ansd insurance. If the goverment wanted less unemployment they would make it eaiser for people like me to do the right thing.

[DanG]

I retire from public work in two days.

WOW!  That's a biggie right there!  Congratulations! 8) 8) 8)

[Meadows Miller]

I retire from public work in two days. I have been running WM for 15 years for this day that I can get er done. With Workmans comp osha fica income tax I will be hiring two less people. The equipment is paid for I am investing 60k in a forestry Mulcher paid for and will work family or contract workers that keep up there own taxes ansd insurance.

A big congrats on the career change Mate   ;) ;D ;D 8)

If the goverment wanted less unemployment they would make it eaiser for people like me to do the right thing.

Like thats Ever going to happen   ;) :D :D :D  We all look more like cash cows to them  :( >:(   ;) :D :D :D

Reguards Chris

[Handy Andy]

  My experience with help was, I wound up doing all the dirty work, keeping everything fixed and replacing the tools the help took home, doing the rest of the work the help didn't get done, and dealing with all the paperwork, and boy if you don't get some form sent in on time, the fines are ENORMOUS.  More than the original amount owed.  I have found that equipment is cheaper than help.  So help your productivity by buying something.

[Brucer]

Reguarding the paperwork:

My best customer started as a 1-man show.

When he started to hire employees, he hired an accountant. But his (my customer's) idea of record keeping was to hand the accountant a shoebox full of invoices, bills, chequebooks, etc. So the accountant told him to hire a bookkeeper -- paying an accountant to do clerical stuff will bankrupt him.

So next he hired a part-time bookkeeper. That saved him a bundle in high-price accounting fees. But she ended up spending 2 days a week just to stay on top of things. And soon she was answering phones, doing invoicing, and all sorts of clerical stuff. So she told him to hire a clerk.

Good help is hard to find these days, but finally he found a neighbour who was available for 6 months, so he hired her as a part-time office manager. Now he was saving a bundle on unnecessary bookkeeping fees. And just as she was ready to move on, he heard about another young woman who wanted to move to the area and work part time. She came highly recommended so he hired her, based on one very casual meeting.

What a difference she made to the business. Invoices got sent out promptly. Delinquent accounts got polite but firm reminders. Payroll got done on time. Government paperwork got submitted on time -- no fines levied. Regulations got changed? She was on top of it. If someone needed to find the boss, she knew exactly where he was -- and who not to tell where he was ;D.

In fact she made such a difference to the business that within 6 months she got 2 raises and was asked to increase her hours.

Now ... this business had between 8 and 15 employees, depending on the season. But even a very small business can benefit from a part-time clerical person. Doesn't have to be an employee -- there are people operating out of their homes who can take care of the paperwork for you. The key is to find the right kind of person -- some one who will "git 'er done".

[cptbob06]

Consultant- Someone who came from more than fifty miles away

[pineywoods]

Consultant- Someone who came from more than fifty miles away

Carrying a briefcase ;D

[Ron Wenrich]

I've heard a consultant described as a guy that knows how to make love to a woman 101 different ways, but doesn't have any girlfriends. 

[Meadows Miller]

:D :D :D :D :D :D Thats because he had plenty of time to read the books ;) :D ;D

There Ambition exceedes there Ability sometimes  ;) :D :D ;D

[bkaimwood]

I know this is an old and stale thread, but came across it while looking for something... So here I go...I was a flat rate auto tech for 25 years...I can tell you for fact, with minimal thought and planning, incentive and bonus plan as discussed, WORK!!! It won't motivate everyone, but it will make potential stars shine, and make it easy to recognize the ones drifting to the 5:00 paycheck. The latter of the two are unfortunately 9 out of 10 these days...you can weed them out quicker...

[drobertson]

I've heard a consultant described as a guy that knows how to make love to a woman 101 different ways, but doesn't have any girlfriends.

for the small business this could not be said any better,  1099 forms contract work and let the cards fall.  there will be good help and not so good, many folks do a lot of travel between employers and the check in the mail. Its a scam, and a sham, the main reason if my sons can't help me, I go alone,  too much crap to put up with.  going big with lead men that call the ball,, this is a different equation.