Some employees are like the floors we put in: a project. As owners of wood flooring contracting companies, we can’t be successful without them, but in addition to teaching them flooring skills, I’ve realized that oftentimes they need to be taught life skills.
Like many in our industry, I didn’t start my adult life intending to own a wood flooring business. About 15 years ago, I fell into the trade after going to college and moving to Colorado, where I then needed to find a job. My first job was with a small (one to three employees) hardwood flooring company, and since then I have been amazed at the range of laborers and apprentices doing our work.
I have been amazed at the range of laborers and apprentices doing our work.
When I started in the business, I had earned a college degree in English. I had worked in the education field teaching and coaching, the dot-com world doing office administration and customer service, and construction side jobs from patios to house painting to gutters. So, when I went to work doing hardwood, I was in my early 30s and had a variety of life experiences, had been married and was able to keep a job.
When I began working for a hardwood flooring installer/finisher, I was hired as a second laborer to the boss. My co-worker had more job experience, but not my life experiences, and it showed in his personal life. What was most striking was the fact that he did not have a car to get to work. He’d hitchhike 15–20 miles a day, each way, to meet at the boss’ house every day. He was a good flooring tech, but, due to his personal situation, not a great employee. His lack of reliability and his inability to communicate when frustrated resulted in my quickly overtaking him on the seniority ladder. Though he had the job-site experience to be a crew leader, he lacked some basic life skills. I quickly became the lead guy when the boss hung up his knee pads. I worked as the lead guy for about six months, and when I left, my replacement was a recovering drug addict who would perform the work but—again—had personal issues that prevented a higher level of success.
In the meantime, I had started my own business. One day a few months later, my old boss called to see if I could do some work for him. The worker who replaced me as lead guy had not been able to make it to work for a couple of weeks because he had lit himself on fire—he was smoking a cigarette while filling a snow blower with gasoline.
Just like my old boss, I, too, have struggled to find employees who don’t need to be trained in basic life skills, and this is an obstacle in trying to grow my business. I have found my own employees first among my friends, then from referrals from other tradesmen or acquaintances, help-wanted ads and Craigslist, but no matter how you look, it’s challenging to find the type of person my customers are accustomed to dealing with when I’m working in the field.
One crucial thought I had when trying to figure out how to find the right person or people to replace me was this: I’m not going to be able to “replace me.”
One crucial thought I had when trying to figure out how to find the right person or people to replace me was this: I’m not going to be able to “replace me”—find someone who works and acts just like I do on the job. However, I still need capable workers to help get me off my knees. So, I’ve been adjusting the way I think about the continual employee challenge by framing the situation in a way most of us understand: doing a floor. To complete a job, we sell, plan, prep, do layout, install, sand, finish, clean up/load out, and—finally—get paid in full. How can we apply the same principles to our employees? Here are my ideas:
1) Job planning: In preparing to hire a new prospect, we need to know what kind of worker we need, e.g., full-time or part-time, experienced or green, lead guy or laborer.
2) Layout: This means helping your trainee get to know you and understand how you approach your work each day. With flooring, you need a great starting row; with your employees you lay a foundation necessary to grow and provide the best possible outcome.
3) Installation: In this case, instead of “installation” we could say “instillation,” as in training and instilling the basics about working day in and day out. Keep it straight by following the book. Teach your hire to show up ready to work each day, put in the required effort, follow the rules, strive to meet expectations and communicate when necessary to clarify and eliminate confusion. Sometimes this requires spelling things out more clearly than you would expect. Here are some key areas I try to discuss with our employees:
• Be reliable = Be on time (manage your day and transportation).
• Have the proper mindset = Be ready to work and ready to do your best.
• Be a learner = Learn something new every day and be hungry for more.
• Be trustworthy = Tell the truth. Do what you say will do.
• Be resilient = Manage the ups and downs, or good and bad days.
Sanding, staining and finishing wood floors are the more advanced skills in our trade. Getting our workers’ skills from basic to intermediate to advanced is the goal, but job-site skills aren’t worth much if employees can’t achieve parallel skills in their personal lives. As an employer, it’s a great feeling to see the growth in your employees as they gain the know-how to see the long term, implement basic building blocks for a good work ethic and have success in life. Getting paid at the end of the job is a great feeling, but it’s even better when we realize the investment spent on our projects. Developing loyal and trustworthy employees who develop the skill sets to tackle all phases of the job and all phases of life is a priceless payment.
