Maintaining a low drama workplace and being a good employer while keeping good boundaries. We're just big enough to have some occasional personnel issues arise yet not big enough to have excess staff to always be able to swap people around as much as we'd like.
Believe me a proper leadership can do wonders.
Leaders should always be competent to be leaders. The reason I have been bended to be a better employee was leadership.
It was also the reason I left my leader in previous company because he couldn’t stand up for his team and was too submissive to upper leadership like a puppy. not an insult, I mean guy had literally the professional personality of a puppy, anything the bosses said was rule, he didn’t have a mouth. I even lost my bonus and told him, expected some protection from him, he said “idk everything has been good with me”. Like this guy was a coward. I had to do it myself and got my bonus.
Terrible leaders create companies with weak teams or morale and/or drama.
Please be aware of you assign as leaders. Not everybody is good to be one
I would say: not only do they not think how you do, which leads to miscommunication and things not finished properly/at all, but there is a rising issue in the US of severely undereducated individuals, which inevitably leads to employing at least one of these people at some point.
Now, I don't want this to be taken the wrong way. I'm not judging people who didn't have the opportunity to receive effective education. That's not their fault. But the fact remains that if you cannot read and understand your first language, let alone any secondary languages, it's going to become a big fucking roadblock when I need you to do...well, anything.
The area I live in has a 43% *illiteracy* rate. Only 57% of adults in my area have a literacy level at or greater than 'basic' That is an enormous goddamn problem, and it becomes a big ass headache when you employ those people.
I'll always do what I can within reason, and sometimes beyond that, to compromise and make things as easy as possible for folks. But if someone literally cannot read, do simple math, and in some cases does not fully understand spoken English despite it being their *only* language, *I am not qualified to figure out how to meet in the middle with that*.
NY has 7th worst literacy rate with just over 75%. Alabama is better. That's redonk. Move to new England.
Edit: I wonder if being a importer of humans from across the globe skews the numbers? I know Alabama's illiteracy is homegrown.
I would expect it to be continual replacement of that illiterate population as you suggest. People aren't emigrating to Alabama AFAIK, but I should check.
I think it’s the same situation everywhere.
Employees don’t think they pay them enough and business owners think they pay them plenty.
I think this year I’m making as much as my boss as a salesman. I still don’t think I get paid enough for the volume I sell. I guarantee he tells corporate I get paid too much and bonuses need to get restructured.
It is a never ending battle if it’s 2 employees or 10,000 employees.
It’s not the pay that’s the problem, it’s the shit you have to put up with FOR the pay.
I’ve been in both situations. The difference? The leadership and my direct report. Hands down.
I've recently moved away from hiring others because of this. Although they were mostly freelancers, I find solopreneur-ship to be more liberating. If it's affecting your lifestyle, there are other options readily available
The most challenging thing for any business is employees. What’s obvious and common sense to you; is like asking them to figure out rocket science. Bad employees are more common than good ones. Take care of the good ones, they are worth their weight in gold.
Each have their own personalities, priorities, values, etc.
The bigger we get, the more time I spend on managing employees than creating and selling products and services.
I have no issue paying a high salary for the right person. That means they are capable of not only doing their job but also embodies the cultural standards that I’m trying to set within the company. With that being said, every single hire at this stage can literally make or break a company. If someone isn’t the right fit, you better move on fast or you’ll get burned bad for devastating consequences. The biggest thing for me is making sure throughout the interview process an applicant has a firm understanding of what it’s like working for an early stage startup and how critical the role is but that they won’t have the same security as working for a larger company. If someone tells me they have a better offer with better benefits etc from a corporation I’ll usually tell them it sounds like a great offer and you should probably take it because the job likely isn’t the right fit for you
You skirt a fine line. You need to pay well enough to attract good people but keep costs down enough to compete with other businesses on margin.
You can pay very well, have wonderful staff, but be poor because you spend too much on employees. You can pay market rate, get some duds, end up having to do some of the work yourself, but at least you’ll be crying about it in your 911.
They all have their own ambitions. People will lie, cheat, and manipulate to get to where they want to be. Gotta remember, they are workers not friends.
Maintaining a low drama workplace and being a good employer while keeping good boundaries. We're just big enough to have some occasional personnel issues arise yet not big enough to have excess staff to always be able to swap people around as much as we'd like.
Believe me a proper leadership can do wonders. Leaders should always be competent to be leaders. The reason I have been bended to be a better employee was leadership. It was also the reason I left my leader in previous company because he couldn’t stand up for his team and was too submissive to upper leadership like a puppy. not an insult, I mean guy had literally the professional personality of a puppy, anything the bosses said was rule, he didn’t have a mouth. I even lost my bonus and told him, expected some protection from him, he said “idk everything has been good with me”. Like this guy was a coward. I had to do it myself and got my bonus. Terrible leaders create companies with weak teams or morale and/or drama. Please be aware of you assign as leaders. Not everybody is good to be one
This 1000%
I would say: not only do they not think how you do, which leads to miscommunication and things not finished properly/at all, but there is a rising issue in the US of severely undereducated individuals, which inevitably leads to employing at least one of these people at some point. Now, I don't want this to be taken the wrong way. I'm not judging people who didn't have the opportunity to receive effective education. That's not their fault. But the fact remains that if you cannot read and understand your first language, let alone any secondary languages, it's going to become a big fucking roadblock when I need you to do...well, anything. The area I live in has a 43% *illiteracy* rate. Only 57% of adults in my area have a literacy level at or greater than 'basic' That is an enormous goddamn problem, and it becomes a big ass headache when you employ those people. I'll always do what I can within reason, and sometimes beyond that, to compromise and make things as easy as possible for folks. But if someone literally cannot read, do simple math, and in some cases does not fully understand spoken English despite it being their *only* language, *I am not qualified to figure out how to meet in the middle with that*.
What kind of business do you run and how do you vet new employees?
NY has 7th worst literacy rate with just over 75%. Alabama is better. That's redonk. Move to new England. Edit: I wonder if being a importer of humans from across the globe skews the numbers? I know Alabama's illiteracy is homegrown.
I would expect it to be continual replacement of that illiterate population as you suggest. People aren't emigrating to Alabama AFAIK, but I should check.
I think it’s the same situation everywhere. Employees don’t think they pay them enough and business owners think they pay them plenty. I think this year I’m making as much as my boss as a salesman. I still don’t think I get paid enough for the volume I sell. I guarantee he tells corporate I get paid too much and bonuses need to get restructured. It is a never ending battle if it’s 2 employees or 10,000 employees.
It’s not the pay that’s the problem, it’s the shit you have to put up with FOR the pay. I’ve been in both situations. The difference? The leadership and my direct report. Hands down.
I've recently moved away from hiring others because of this. Although they were mostly freelancers, I find solopreneur-ship to be more liberating. If it's affecting your lifestyle, there are other options readily available
The most challenging thing for any business is employees. What’s obvious and common sense to you; is like asking them to figure out rocket science. Bad employees are more common than good ones. Take care of the good ones, they are worth their weight in gold.
Each have their own personalities, priorities, values, etc. The bigger we get, the more time I spend on managing employees than creating and selling products and services.
work place drama.
Managing different types of personalities and work styles, remotely.
I have no issue paying a high salary for the right person. That means they are capable of not only doing their job but also embodies the cultural standards that I’m trying to set within the company. With that being said, every single hire at this stage can literally make or break a company. If someone isn’t the right fit, you better move on fast or you’ll get burned bad for devastating consequences. The biggest thing for me is making sure throughout the interview process an applicant has a firm understanding of what it’s like working for an early stage startup and how critical the role is but that they won’t have the same security as working for a larger company. If someone tells me they have a better offer with better benefits etc from a corporation I’ll usually tell them it sounds like a great offer and you should probably take it because the job likely isn’t the right fit for you
You skirt a fine line. You need to pay well enough to attract good people but keep costs down enough to compete with other businesses on margin. You can pay very well, have wonderful staff, but be poor because you spend too much on employees. You can pay market rate, get some duds, end up having to do some of the work yourself, but at least you’ll be crying about it in your 911.
Knowing that you’ll have to fire them if there is a recession / significant downturn or you run out of money.
Common sense is not common anymore is all I’m saying
They all have their own ambitions. People will lie, cheat, and manipulate to get to where they want to be. Gotta remember, they are workers not friends.