My number one rule for hiring an employee: Never hire someone you can’t fire.
In the last 24 hours I’ve had conversations with two members of my small-business group who have had employees and are trying to hire people to drive their equipment again. Their own and others’ motivations make sense. Take the new owner who buys that first truck, is fortunate and lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to have a year and a half of income well above their expectations. Naturally, they think, Hey, lets buy another truck and hire a driver.
It looks great on paper: Add a truck or trucks, grow a small fleet business. Double, triple or more your income. Spend more time enjoying personal home life following dreams. [Insert here the sound of tires screeching with brake lockup.]
I’ve been there, and the lessons I learned were expensive and stressful. As Overdrive’s Small Fleet Champ finalists also stressed last month, often enough that employee won’t work as hard or be as dedicated to the vision you’ve got. Productivity will be less than anticipated, and the most efficient workforce is one person, one task. (Conjure here the old joke about the highway construction crews with 10 people watching one who appears to be working.)
A truck owner and friend who has an employee driver shared that he has had to take back dispatching responsibilities for that driver’s equipment. It’s common with small owners that the employee may be given self-dispatch opportunity at first – then, their efficiency and willingness to operate at the higher level begins to fade as they earn enough to become comfortable. Typically, prospects and results fade fairly quickly themselves.
In my friend’s case, his clawback of responsibility saw both the driver’s and his own income increase again, but the driver is now grumbling about the amount of work expected.
As those champs illustrate, it’s not impossible to have employees, but be aware of the cost in both money and time spent managing, not to mention risk. Before you hire someone, learn and understand your responsibilities as an employer.
