By Brian Bachand
Westover Auto Salvage
Bbachand1025@gmail.com
If I had a dollar for every time I heard the phrase “No one wants to work anymore” or “It’s hard finding good help nowadays”, maybe then Warren Buffet would be asking me for financial advice. These phrases are heard everywhere across the nation and throughout seemingly every industry. Companies with a hundred plus employees to ones with less than ten. When asked what a few of the primary challenges are that the auto recycler faces in 2024, I would be shocked to not hear employees, the help, or employee related concerns, not be a leading answer. But even if it is not the biggest obstacle we face, it is something that we all deal with on a daily basis.
Imagine if right now I was to say, you know what I’m just going to call out 30 minutes before this deadline to submit this article. No sweat right, no consequences, I will write the next article, show up for the next deadline. Sorry writers team, you are going to have to finish this one. This is the kind of thing that has become common practice and we’ve allowed it to become acceptable. It is prevalent in today’s workforce. No one wants to work and no one wants to work hard is the major consensus.
We can point the finger at society’s paradigm shift since the pandemic, the generational gap, possibly even the media influence or maybe that The Fourth Turning is here. But pointing the finger to blame is only adding to the problem. We are widening the gap when we should be bridging the divide. People are on both sides of these sayings, people directly above us and below us. Rich and Poor, Managers, Employees, piss poor management and no-show useless help. We are the problem. If we as a whole could step back and look at this conundrum from a different point of view, maybe put ourselves in the opposing side’s shoes, we may be able to find some traction. So, lace ’em up tight, we are about to get knee deep in it.
Employees are hired to help and what they do contributes to the bottom line but more importantly to the daily operations, culture and vitality. So, the biggest thing we can do for those in power, is to define what is our mission and what is our culture? When we know ourselves, and who we aim to be, we can better define and attract the like-minded and motivated people we seek. If you have not seen Pat and Mike of PAM’S Auto 2021 Video in the A-R-A University, “How Consistent Customer Service & Business Policy will Grow your Profits” or if you have, I implore you to watch this video and watch it again.
Right there, first thing, Mike goes into detail about the vetting process a potential employee must go through to work at PAM’S Auto. This protocol is a meticulously defined procedure that Pat lays out in such great detail that it should be the standard or the measuring stick that we compare our hiring processes to. If you iron out what it is you aim to achieve, then you can move forward in a different direction that will allow you to put your best efforts into this process and hire the correct people that are going to be the right fit for your business. It all starts with you. You are one of those who do show up and work hard every day, day in, day out and do not call out. If you were not or are not, you sure can be. Take extreme accountability for this, make it happen and continue to work hard, and you will create the good help that will breed more good help.
This starts with changing your expectations. Change your expectations of your business and your business model. Re-evaluate your expectations of your management, of your employees and re-evaluate the expectations that you have set upon yourself. You know what you want out of your business and where you want to see it go and grow. So how is changing your expectations of those who work for you going to help you achieve this? This humanizing paradigm shift will hopefully allow you to better understand the challenges, needs and motivations of your potential and current employees.
And here is the million-dollar question, why is everyone calling out? This is so frustrating and throws our daily operations plans for a major hurdle. We thrust people in the fire because we need it done now, or we overwork our reliable staff because we cannot think of better solutions, so we give the capable an increased workload in an attempt to keep pace, creating new problems while trying to find temporary solutions.. Sometimes we do fine, sometimes production is severely hindered by the musical chairs of who is to show up each day. However, auto recyclers are resilient and continue to grind on and make it work. It is something I try to remember when people are cursing the callouts and saying no one wants to work or make the valid point that McDonalds in California is giving their employees $20 an hour. We all face challenges and must deal with them the best we can. So, what motivates people to callout and how can we curb this contemporary cultural trend?
What this comes down to is how can we compete with people’s lives? How can our business become a high priority for our employees’ daily tasks? In this era, seemingly what goes on outside of the workplace trumps what takes place at work for much of the workforce. One may go as far as to say that an employee’s challenges that directly affect their lives outside of work will motivate them to choose addressing the external challenge and creating problems at work instead of parlaying it and fulfilling work obligations. These challenges include a myriad of different scenarios and contributing factors to the actual reasons in which people call out. Our old expectation screams frustration with things liken to the adjectives of lazy, useless, snowflakes, irresponsible, and unstable. However, if we have not employed the correct hiring processes to vet out people who fit these potentially perceived blanket titles or created and stood by consequences for not meeting expectations, then we have only ourselves to blame.
Our Employees have a life outside of work, they have families and dependents, they are their own bosses making lots of important decisions. Their decisions have consequences, and so should their decisions to decide to not show up to work. We must create consequences and remain consistent with the discipline to enforce said consequences, in order to achieve our goal. Yes, I understand we can’t just fire everyone or constantly write up absenteeism but there needs to be an order to things.
Quid pro Quo, Just like Rob Rainwater has said in reference to our old, inventoried vehicles, “Don’t fall in love with the box”. We should marry our interests and goals with the needs of the employee. We are invested but not married to the employees or the vehicles outback, and nor are we running a museum or a charity for that matter. So, at a calculated point in time, we must cut our losses and or reassess what is making us money. If we can control what is within our control, and remain consistent in our own procedures, we can then decide what is worth investing in and who needs to go.
All whom we hire should be worth investing in, for our employees are one of, if not our biggest asset and should be treated that way. Respect is absolutely essential and it must flow both ways to incentivize our workforce to care about their jobs, the daily work they do and how the business performs. We need to go beyond employee engagement and do better to manage performance and health of both the business and the workforce. Shows of appreciation and gratitude go much further in this decade than it did the last and it is best practice to demonstrate both. Communicating your expectations of their expected role in the company and their responsibilities, as well as to hear what they expect of you, is also very important in moving forward towards your shared goal. How we approach each person is different yet we must consistently empower all of their roles and enhance their life at work so our business becomes a priority in their lives. One that motivates them to solve problems, delegate needs and address challenges on their own time away from work, rather than taking work time to do so.
To cancel the call-out culture we must continue to lead by example and show up each day and work hard like we have always done. However, we must change our perception of today’s workforce and accommodate their changing challenges, needs and values. Instead of paid incentives, think in terms of paid time off or a more flexible work schedule. Address your hiring process, attract the like-minded people and assimilate your expectations. Hold yourself accountable and be the change you want to see in your company. If you remain consistent with your culture, communications and consequences, you will be able to create the good help you are looking for. Changing your expectations, understanding and hiring the right workforce, and proficient training and re-training, will give our people the tools they need to succeed. We will begin to reap what we sow and move away from this perilous predicament and towards the prospect of prosperity.