#119 HIRING AND MANAGING OUR EMPLOYEES * (revised 6/1) "getting trapped"

Getting trapped.




There is a big trap out there ready to gobble you up.
It’s called all forms of employee compensation.

When designing all the benefits for employees, it is so important to anticipate and plan carefully about all of them. Once you have committed to the plan and put it out there, it is too late to take it back.

Every store has a “Norma Rae”, who makes it his or her mission to watch carefully for unequal treatment among employees. Norma Rae is not afraid to spread it around the store. That is not bad. Every employee needs to be compensated with fairness and equality for the tasks that they perform. It is the fault of the owner when an employee is forced to jump up on the table. It starts as a low rumble but soon everyone is grumbling and unhappy about everything.

These are the traps in the garden path you need to avoid





"Why does Frank get paid more than me? I work as hard as he does. It must be because I am a woman!"

It is a classic situation that occurs in the workplace. It will leave your female employees bitter and very angry. However, nearly as bad are inequities in pay and other compensations between men and men and women and women. It starts when the owner just gives away extra perks off the top of the head, with no standard or planning. This stuff still goes on and it is deadly.

“She got a raise because she cried that she could not make it on the pay”
“He is the man of the house and he has to feed his family”
“The boss has a little thing with her”

Set firm pay scales and do not veer away from them.


We have a set pay scale and period of increases in pay that are specified times of the season and standard to all. We do not make exceptions






"How come Susan got overtime and I didn’t?"


Same thing, lack of sticking to a standard plan. It says that Susan is more important to the store.


“Susan needs to complete a project and we need her expertise”
“Susan is going to be away with her mother and she needs extra money”
“I like what Susan has been doing out there”

Make a written statement about overtime hours.
Allocate those hours to the sections
Closely monitor who is getting those hours and for what reasons



Except in very rare instances, as in extreme emergencies, we do not allow overtime at our stores. Some owners of garden stores hold that carrot of overtime out to their employees or they find that it is cheaper to pay experienced employees overtime rather than using another employee who is not able to sell as much or work as productive. We have found that overtime just wears employees out. By insisting that they rest from the workday, they are significantly more valuable to our store.

"Mike takes an hour lunch every day and all I get is thirty minutes?"



“He works hard so we give him a little extra time”
“He is older and he needs to get off his feet for an hour”
“I don’t care as long as he does his job”


Set a standard for lunch time and other breaks and stick with it for everyone

At green garden gates, we believe that a thirty minute lunch break is just too short a time for our employees. We have settled on forty-five minutes for lunch. Everyone takes forty-five minutes away from the store (in a personal vehicle in our parking lot is acceptable) Further, we insist that they take all of this time. We believe that our employees need some down time away from the activity of the store. There are no exceptions to this.

"Mindy is on the schedule every day until five o’clock and she leaves at three all the time. I want to leave early and I can’t"



“Mindy has to pick up her kid from daycare”
“Mindy has a sick mother to take care of”
“Mindy works hard every day”



Keep Mindy off the schedule during those times. Don’t just keep ignoring this.


Everyone needs to get out of the store early or come in later once in a while. We understand that. It is the job of the section leader to make the schedule firm, but painfully equitable.







"I should get paid more for doing this stuff."


“Sorry, but I need you to do this work”
“Do what I tell you to do!”
“We all have to do the dirty stuff once in a while”


Have a job description that requires everyone to do nasty jobs occasionally If the tasks have changed for a long period of time, change the pay to reflect the job and the tasks that demand more compensation.

We closely monitor employee tasks. If the employee has been placed in a position of a supervisor, he or she is compensated for that new position immediately. We don’t wait. We act right away.

“I have been here longer than she has. I have more seniority and should get paid more”


“You are right; I will raise your pay and give you a better shift”

Always a big deal if the owner allows it to happen. It is just not a good idea to go down that road. Reflect their seniority in other ways. Keep the wage scales clean and democratic. Experience and length of service to green garden gates is important to us. However, we reflect our appreciation for this service in our bonus program. We do not gauge wages based on seniority and experience. Also, shifts are decided based on ability to perform certain jobs and the hours available to work by the employees.

And the biggest trap of them all........


“Why can’t I be a permanent full time employee like Fred? I have been here a long time and there is plenty of work for me to do”

This is a huge problem for owners. A permanent full time employees is a firm financial commitment to that person, that a job will be there for that employee, thick or thin, either on a year round basis or nearly year round. There is not much room to maneuver for a store owner. The request and granting of permanent status can creep up silently. First thing you know it; the business has to support some full time employees when they are not needed at all. And then the fireworks will start; who to keep and who will leave and all of this is very unpleasant for all concerned.

Give permanent status to very very few employees Scale down the permanent status employees through natural attrition.

Green garden gates grants permanent status to only one person in each of stores; the store manager. All other employees are classified as “seasonal” or “occasional”