Current employment shortages and challenges have some roofing contractors feeling trapped and resorting to poor personnel practices. When it comes to employee situations, desperate times do not mean you should make desperate decisions. Employees who hold you hostage for more money rarely become solid long-term workers. The solution isn’t merely paying more in an attempt to “buy” loyalty. Rather, the solution lies in having better personnel practices and a more long-term outlook on employment. With that said, sound management practices haven’t changed and caving in to current labor shortages isn’t going to make bad management practices turn into good ones.
The first rule of managing people is to terminate attitude problems and train skill problems. Attitude problems might be described as the person “won’t” do it and has chosen not to participate. Skill problems are when the person “can’t” do it even if they want to. When employee performance drops, ask this question: “If I gave this person $1 million could he or she do what I was asking?” For example, if you fell over dead, I could give you CPR and would be motivated to do so. But if that didn’t work, you might as well go to heaven or hell in one piece, as I do not have the skill required to cut you open and repair things.