Add “Employee Accountability” to Dramatically Increase Profits AND Morale!
Stop letting missing tools and other doodads eat your profits! Discover the simple employee accountability system that slashed my equipment loss by 90% overnight.
KickStart: Develop and implement an “Enforced Accountability System” to stop missing tools AND increase your 5-star reviews! Here’s how to do it…
Humans use tools. Or maybe better said, we do when we can actually find them! 😯
Back when I was running my residential services company, I dreaded this phone call from a technician in the field:
“Hey Steve, now don’t scream at me... but I can’t finish this repair because my pipe wrench isn’t in the van. I think one of the other guys took it…”
GRRRR! 😠 I absolutely despised inefficiency! Not only did it kill our daily schedule, but rummaging around an empty van made us look completely unprofessional in front of the homeowner.
Steve’s True Story: Even worse was when my shamefaced tech had to ask the homeowner: “Uhhhh, I guess I don’t have a (you fill in the missing item) on this van. Do you happen to have one I can borrow?” AARGH! 😡
The root cause of this madness? My workers simply weren’t being held accountable. My team had no “enforced accountability” system.
Therefore, my loose-cannon (or worse) employees could lose, leave behind, “borrow,” and/or sadly—sometimes even steal— our company tools with total impunity. 😦
This steady drain of “lost” equipment and tools was hurting our reputation with clients, eating into our profit margins and destroying my sanity! It had to STOP! 🚫
Here is exactly how I solved the missing tool epidemic in my business:
Assign each technician their very own basic hand tools in an organized toolbox that follows them between trucks. Then, “hold their feet to the fire”!
First, buy a comprehensive set of high-quality, pro-grade tools for every production employee, along with a heavy-duty plastic, numbered toolbox. (I spent a bit more than $6,000.00 for eight techs.)
ProTIP: Always go with a plastic or composite box. Metal toolboxes rust, and the last thing you want is a rusty box leaving a permanent ring on a customer’s pristine kitchen floor!
Every individual tool was etched with our company name and the specific toolbox number it belonged to.
Next, the technician put their name and their own personal combination lock on “their” new toolbox.* (The office kept a master record of the combinations for emergencies, of course).
Each morning, the tech retrieved their personal toolbox from their locker, and it traveled with them to every single job site.*
* NOTE: To add accountability only the tech should be able to access their toolbox!
This setup was great, but where did the actual “Enforced Employee Accountability” come in?
Upon receiving their shiny new toolkit, the employee signed a detailed Inventory List. Then, we instituted a monthly tool inventory by management.
If any tools were missing, they were of course immediately replaced to ensure the tech could do their job.
But wait! Remember my “Enforced Accountability” system? Philosophically, I strongly believed (and I still do) that a worker should pay for the replacement cost of a tool they control and/or have agreed to be accountable for.
But then, my lawyer got involved.😦 “Steve, in this state you cannot legally deduct funds from an employee’s salary even for damages or loss that they are responsible for.” (This is still true for most states and yes, it drives me nuts!) 😠
Here’s the deal: It almost always is illegal to withhold an employee’s base wages for breakage or loss—no matter how much you feel they deserve to have their pay docked!
HOWEVER, you generally can deduct the costs of lost tools (and other acts of pure carelessness and stupidity) from their Worker Efficiency BONUS! (WEB) 👍👍
On the positive side, your employees can add funds to their WEB for superb performance and a perfectly maintained toolkit and van! 🪅🎊🎉
🗝️ Remember, your ultimate goal should always be to reward your team, not punish them and here’s why: When a WEB is properly set up, when your employee makes more WEB money, you make more money too! 😁
Never underestimate the value of public rewards and recognition when a tech takes pride in their work and their gear. Your Very Best People will LOVE this stuff!
Yep, at the end of the day, we all need accountability to thrive and excel… including the owner. (We need to talk about this “Owner Accountability” very soon!) 😎