Masonry Magazine June 1998 Page. 12
attitude toward today's labor force for continued success. Bearing in mind the time and energy a renovated human resources effort will take, following are some quick fixes to begin to address the retention problem in the industry.
First, if the individual in your organization responsible for hiring has been doing this for more than five (5) years and you are experiencing significant turnover, absolve them of that responsibility. Chances are they are burned out and no longer capable of making good decisions because they have been faced with so many bad decisions of late regarding hiring. Put someone else or a couple of people in their place to hire the new employees. Use your office personnel as well as your field personnel as an interim measure. A few minutes of a foreman's time up front can save a lot of money on the backside of a long-term hire. Engage the loyalty of good employees to help make your company better. They know exactly the kind of people needed on the job. Consider the following: The definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over with an expectation of different results. If a $50,000.00 a year
superintendent is making bad personnel judgments to the tune of $400,000 he is a bad investment. Redirect and reinvest his talents elsewhere.
Don't be surprised if during your examination of your retention problem, you find one or more foremen's name coming up repeatedly. Every company is going to have supervisory people with less than natural people skills, but who possess exceptional production or customer liaison skills. Identify this individual and at all costs do not put a new employee in his supervision. Let the new employee get used to the company. The informal lines of communication within the company will alert the new employee to necessary coping skills. Under no circumstances should a new employee be placed with a certain supervisor as a test of what he can or cannot handle. Employees are not guinea pigs and your job site is not a laboratory of character tests. Give each and every new employee a chance to share in the success you enjoy.
Blow the dust off the employee company policy notebook and review its contents and its language. If it no longer meets the standard you need to
set in your company to handle this personnel problem, fix it. Rewrite it, edit it, do whatever is necessary, but put all company policies in understandable language and adhere to it. Hold your employees accountable at all costs. No exceptions. A good starting point is always at the beginning and new employees need to be told the rules before they ever don a hard hat. (Include in this policy manual that exit interviews will be conducted before final paychecks will be issued. A discerning listener will be able to identify why some of the employees are leaving. That will help you identify and personalize whatever personnel problems within your company. If you can identify the problem, you can solve it).
Start a new employee orientation program tomorrow! Begin by making sure a new employee has adequate safety knowledge to work on one of your job sites. Statistics indicate that 52% of worker's compensation claims are filed within the first year of employment. Thirty Percent (30%) of those are filed within the first 90 days. Based on these numbers the costs of a poor personnel manager continuing to hire again, increased along with your worker's compensation rate.
Make maps of how to get to each of your job sites from your office location. On these maps, list the foreman's name and the job site phone number. Make sure the new employee has your phone number. Also, make sure your new employees have the following information:
■Company weather policy when you work and when you stay home
Name of person to call in case of illness or car trouble
■Company policy regarding beepers and cellular phones
■Who family is to contact in case of emergency and what you consider an emergency
COMPANY ATTENDANCE POLICY AND CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-ATTENDANCE
Name of person who handles W-4 tax information
Name of person to contact if you are not available
Meet with your key people and create a job profile of the skills your company needs in an entry-level position. Divide this list into hard skills (forklift operation, scaffold erection, saw