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I hear so many negative comments these days about young people and new employees who fail to perform. I have found the opposite to be true. Right now we have topped twenty employees and are still growing.
I like to hire young people, most often with little or no experience. My intent is not to save money for I pay them well. Even the greenest, straight from high school starts at $14 per hour. The young people I hire are eager to work and eager to please without fail. The only things they lack is experience and skills. We can provide those.
We pair the newbies with those who have been with us a while. The 'seasoned' employees know what is expected and take great delight in guiding the new folks. I find as their responsibility grows their skills and confidence do as well. With many teams working on the site there is a friendly 'competition to get more done. We encourage it. We rotate each crew member through many different tasks, cross training the crew in the process. We also shuffle the crew often to give each member the broadest experience possible. It also prevents boredom. The work we are doing is hard physical labor, often in not very nice conditions and yet the crew is always laughing and joking and encouraging each other.
I have found that everyone performs to ever higher levels when we take notice of well performed duties. Expect the best of someone, notice and recognize when they do it and a new standard is set in the process.
It is fun to watch each of the new employees go from shy and hesitant to confident and skilled workers in a relatively short time.
I make sure each evening as they pack the tools away in the tool trailer that they turn around and take notice of what they have accomplished during the day. The work our crew is doing is nothing short of world class!
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'm sure for some of them it is a dream job.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Folks like Dan are few and far between, but aren't we glad that they exist?
All of us eventually find what we are searching for. Dan just always searches for the best, whether in his own work or in the heart and passion of others.
If we look for the good, it becomes evident. The opposite is also true.
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Sources to help people see and chase their dreams with confidence is something sorely missing in our world today...You my friend are one of a rare few who have the gift to do just that and do it well...Thanks for that...Pat
-------------------- Pat Welter Masterhand Signs and Designs Unity, Saskatchewan.Canada Posts: 1304 | From: Unity, Saskatchewan.Canada | Registered: May 1999
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Can you imagine how much better off our country could be if other employers followed Dan's example? Now here is a true National Treasure in my opinion. Bill
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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