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Advice on raising an Apprentice.

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The new prospective franchise player showed up
this past Monday 7-11-05. He is the 18 year old
son of a friend who I worked with 10 years ago.
I have had up to 3 employees max at once and
for now it is just him and I. Right now he is
going to have a range of duties from machine
operator, delivery driver, to ditch digger.
I have a real low opinion of teenagers of this
modern day, but this kid is old school. He
listens, throws trash in the trash can, puts
tools back where he got them, etc, etc. The ditch
digging is for utilities for the new shop.
I needed a few trees cut down for an area that
needed graded for better drainage, I went out
after a few hours to check on him and found
the large pieces neatly stacked for firewood
and the small stuff in the dumpster, just
like I told him. He had more done than I had
expected and was on the next task with out being
told. He did just a little of actual shop work
this week, but once the new shop is finished he
will mostly be doing all shop work. My question
is how do I best grow this kid as a good employee? I have made the mistake of over-paying
for bad help in the past so it left no room
for motivational raises. I started this kid out
cheap $7.50 an hour, but bumped him up to $8.00
in just 4 days. Since he lives kind of far away
and doesn't have a driver's license yet (he should get one next week) he stays here Mon-Fri
in my home and goes home weekends, so I feed
him to. He has a lot of potential and seems
pretty good for a So. Cal teenager, so is the
best stratedgy a bunch of small raises close
together or big ones far apart? Any advice or
stories of how to raise an apprentice would
be very appreciated. I am looking to expand my
business and I would like nothing more than make
this kid my well trusted right hand man when
he is 25. Then he can take over the small shop
of no more than 5 employees and I will semi-retire at 51, how can I do this?
 
I went out
after a few hours to check on him and found
the large pieces neatly stacked for firewood
and the small stuff in the dumpster, just
like I told him. He had more done than I had
expected and was on the next task with out being
told.
I don't know how, and I don't know where, but I think you found a good one. Certainly an exception to the rule.

Reinforce his good behavior, and make sure that he knows why. Most kids these days have no sense of responsibility and no respect for anything. Compliment your friend for raising him right.
 
Wilbilt touched on it. His dad probably has the qualities you like to start with. Sounds like the start to a great relationship. Promoting open communication will pay high dividends for both of you I suspect. Continue to keep expectations reasonable and you will probably be very happy with his performance and eagerness to learn. Keep flowers watered and in plenty of sunlight. ;)
 
Bob, sounds like you got a good one there.

The first thing to remember is that he is a teenager. You want to keep him challenged and not feeling like he is stuck in a rut.
What are his interests? Cars? Girls? Partying? Machine work?

Since you are basically together all the time, I think you need to find a way to also cover his interests. He needs something to look forward to after work other than dinner and bed and more work the next day.
Maybe restoring a car by working on it in the afternoon after work may keep him motivated.

I don't know what kind of arrangement you have on the room and board. I agree with keeping the pay low to start and giving small but regular performance increases.

Is he wanting his own tools? Setup a deal where every month he can buy some tools and you pay a certain percentage of it.

I guess a big part of it is his desires for the future. Does he have an interest in running a machine shop at the age of 25? If he does, you have him at the perfect point in time to groom him. But remember, he is a teenager.


Les
 
Well I'm 19 and working in a shop for the summer while I'm home from college. One of the things I may suggest that you do especially if he has never really worked in a shop before is try sticking him on a Bridgeport for some time. Before getting this job I'd played around in my garage shop, as well as ran some CNC as an operator mainly. Working a Bridgeport really teaches you good habits that you pick up real fast. Running a Bridgeport will give him a feel for what cutting metal is like. On top of that it will teach him to pay attention to details. Unlike production CNC where he can make a mistake and pop in a new part and try again, it gets a lot more frustrating when you spend 5hrs working on a part only to see it blown, cause you roatated the part, didn't tighten the vise enough and it all went to hell. Even if it isn't the best way of doing something try to make him log a ton of hours doing it manually.

He may make some scrap at first but very quickly he'll learn the importance of cleanlieness, how to properly read prints, proper setups, and just plain paying attention. It will also familiarize him with the tools he uses, teaching him to measure align and indicate, and give him a better understanding of what the machine is doing. He'll quickly pick up an understanding for the orientation of a cutter, like the common beginner's goof of milling a 3/4" long slot, with a 1/2" cutter and "Damn it that stinking slot came out a whole half inch too long, I cranked that table exactally .750"!" He'll start making a mental checklist. One like did I tighten the vise, is everything clean, is my math right, are all my refrences ok, does the setup look safe, is the collet properly tightened, am I taking off to much too fast. He'll learn what taking a proper cut should sound like and about chip color. It is amazing at how fast all of these things add up on a mill . Best teach him on a manual machine rather then CNC. As time goes on he'll get better and start developing his own problem solving skills. Personally I think this could be the best way to break him in, I'm kind of going through that process myself right now, and it is amazing how much I've developed after logging probablly about 150+hrs on a Bridgeport at the same time how much I still really have to come.

Lastly make sure to let him know you are impressed with him and possibly your long term plans for him, so he sees the oppurtunity and wants to stay. If it is just another job for him $8hr these days is cheap. I was earning that stocking shelves at a supermarket by 16, I have no idea what the cost of living is in So-Cal but I would think it is even higher then in Massachusetts. Make him realize that while he may be earning a little less, then his friends who are lifeguarding for $14 at the local beach sitting in a chair all day and looking at girls that he is getting a real edjucation. While it may work in the boon docks if you are in a populated area I have a hard time seeing that it will be enough. If this kid has to start paying for his own room, board, car, food, you are starting to get into some real expenses on very little money. Another thing is even though you are teaching him, it still isn't in a college cirricilum style of learning. I don't know how it works in your state but I think I'm entitled to be on my dad's health care plan till maybe 24 as long as I can prove that I'm taking 24credits a semester proving I'm a full time student. If not once you pass 18 you are on your own for health insurance, so I don't know if you are helping him there or not. So while yes the kid should look at it as a paid edjucation, (unlike me and my parents who are paying $20,000yr for engineering at a State school boot which is half the cost of a private school), health insurance is not something I'd really want to go with out.

Adam
 
Do you have a machine shop night class nearby? A little theory while actually working at the job is a good way to learn. Maybe a benefit would be you pay for it as long as he gets good grades.
 
*** rant on ***
Ya know it really gripes me when all the teenagers of today's society get grouped into one lazy pathetic group. While I can't say that the majority of teenagers these days aren't in that category, it is not that hard to find a good one if you just take a step back and look a little bit. What really gripes me is when the parents of the kids don't put any effort into raising them and then complain about the way they turned out. Kind of like when people say "we didn't do that when I was a teenager" but blatantly let it go on. anyway...
*** rant off ***

Glad to hear about your recent employee blessing. I don't have any experience from your end, but it hasn't been that long since I was 18. I think the pay deal, when you throw in the room, FOOD, and board, sounds fair. I'd think that a more substantial raise ( $1 ) every 3-4 months would be better. He would always be working towards that next raise he might get. I'm afraid if you just raised him little by little he'd get to taking it for granted and expect it even when business goes down or performance doesn't warrant the raise. I would also just pay him fair. If he goes and learns code for a CNC machine he might have, pay him a little extra for that.

And it's that period for the end of the day to that start that's critical. Find out what his hobbies are. Maybe give him some space in the shop to park his motorcycle or join him in his interest. A happy employee is a productive employee.
 
Try to keep him interested. Let him take part in a bit of everything. Let him make some mistakes and learn from them. Hopefully he will feel like there's more to it then the paycheck and waiting for the next raise.

Considering that he lives with you, he probably see you as a friend more then as a boss. Try to keep it that way.
 
only thing I can add is to give him a chance to get away from you and your house for awhile after hours. Dont want him to feel trapped and begin to resent where he is.

I am sure your fun and all that, but I am sure you know what I mean
 
This sounds like an apprenticeship from the
past - where he lives with you as family and
so on.

I applaud you efforts at making a go of it.

Because he's an employee as well it's important
to communicate what you expect of him, and what
kinds of improvement will actually *merit* a
raise.

In other words, if he learns to do such-and-such,
that makes the wage increase so much. It would
not be a bad idea to write some of this down
so everyone is aware of what the plan is.

Speaking from experience, it is not uncommon
for goals and expectations to shift and change
but at least if there is *something* in writing
it makes it easier for you to point to it and
say, 'but we discussed this here.'

The downside for you is, he can point to the
same paper, and say the same thing.

Anyway it helps to keep the memory honest.

Jim
 
go to monster.com

type in machinist

type in your zip code

see what they are paying other machinists in your/his area....

that is that salary that you will have to compete with in three years.... ie- he will have 3 years experience in three years and that will be enough for a lot of entry level jobs or apprenticeships in so cal ....


if you really want to have this person running your shop for you down the road i would consider being competitive with the local market salaries, and some sort of profit sharing so that it PAID for him to bring in and keep business....
 
What a great opportunity, and big responsibility. I applaud your desire to do right by this kid. I also applaud his parents for giving him the basics, so many kids don't. On the raises I always try to pay good employees just a tad more than the going rate in my area, that way I won't loose them. For employees that suck, I make sure and pay them less, hoping someone else will hire them away.

I thank the Lord for my first shop foreman, Henry Falcon, of Donaldsonville LA. He pushed me to learn and made me work hard for my money. He rewarded me when I did good and was always fair. Henry died at 54 or there about, hard living will do that to you. I hope he is enjoying the big shop in the sky.
 
Geez, I'm reaching back more than 30 years, but if I may suggest:

Sit down with him and a B&S, Lufkin, or other catalog and select some minor tools that he might make, prick punches, drifts, perhaps the head for a hammer.

Later have him prepare some stock for V-Blocks and so forth. Have him mill an indentation in these tools, perhaps a 1/16" deep oval, and let him letter-stamp his name or initials into the oval before you set him to polishing off and heat treating.

Once he has a few of these, get him a used toolbox at a thrift store, YOU clean it up a bit, paint his name on it and on payday put his check inside and hand it to him. Then the lecture about how a craftsman that takes care of his tools, and can make his own tools, is of value to any shop... and himself.

The motivation comes from the sense of...

"Mine! I did this with my own hands, and they are MINE!"

And you hope that the following comes from him:

So, Sir, what else can your teach me?
 
The fact that he's got initiative and is willing to listen is absolutely wonderful.

However, does he have "the love"?

If iron doesn't run in his blood then he will probably be an excellent employee for awhile...possibly saving enough to buy a car...and someday politely leave for what he really wants to do.

I wouldn't bet the farm yet until he's shown machining skill and the intuition to be a leader. Oddball work requires thinking outside the box. Shop work requires math and critical thinking skills.

I hate to drag this down on a fine young man, perhaps you have more insight into this that's not included in the original post.

I worked quite hard in my first job cutting acres of grass and picking up trucks after trucks of trash. Possibly a poor analogy but it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life......

-Matt
 
Thanks for all the replies. I won't have to
address the medical insurance issue for a full year, he can be on his dad's for that much longer. The "oddjob" part of the job will only
last another month or so, then it will be all
machine work. This is his first job as he was
a multi-sport athlete in school and just
graduated in June. He already knows what an
X-Y-Z plane is from pre-calculus so I think he
will have the required math skills. Motorcycle?
I have to teach him how to ride, let him ride my
enduro around the property, he doesn't use the
clutch well and would kill it every 5 seconds,
the battery won't turn over the electric start
now. It is expensive to live here, I think you
could make $15-$16 and still struggle unless
you had a roommate to help with rent. The summer
is a test to see how it all goes, I figure I
can bump him up to $12.00 with in a year if
he works out. Thanks again for the input.
 
It sounds like the guy is already pretty decent, so all I can see is that you need to keep his interest in machining. Allowing him some time to machine his own tools(v blocks, 1-2-3 blocks, etc. which others have already mentioned) will benefit both him and you. You get the benefit of him gaining knowledge and experience, he gets the benefit of experience and ends up with tools he will need to do the job.

Some machining questions(from him) will need to be answered with questions, perhaps a different approach to the problem at hand which he will have to think about to decipher. He may also be the type that enjoys doing something different now and then. He may get bored with doing mill work day in and day out, watch to see if this is the case. If it is, move him over to lathe work for a little while. The work should become more complex as he advances, both in operations and setups required thereof. Treat him well and make it obvious that you appreciate his efforts. Encourage him to seek any available training outside of the work environment(machining courses). It is much better to know both the "proper" way of doing things AND the "get it done" way of doing things than only one or the other.

Hopefully, it will all work out to your satisfaction.
 
Hmmm...

I think that the raises aren't really such a good tool when trying to reward good behavior. You can only give them once, and you can never take them away. At some point you've run out of kudos to give and then your little game is over.

I would suggest working more with bonuses. You can setup a 3 month bonus that is understood to vary between 2 numbers. At 40 hours a week he's making $1200 a month... not including room and board. So say the bonus ranges from $500 (aprox = to a raise of $1/per hour) to $1500 (aprox = to raise of $3/hour) depending on performance, but also on business conditions. That's a big chunk of money at one time, so that he can invest it in tools or other things and save. And it happens every 3 months... way way better from a communication and reward point of view than say the equivalent raise which would be perminant and would leave him nothing near term to look forward to.

B
 
small raises close
together or big ones far apart?
Wrong! Money is a short term motivator, he should be fairly paid but hitting him with raises frequently is not fair to him or to yourself. It also, in your mind, absolves you of your real responsibility as his employer. Take him under your wing, treat him with respect and take the time to train him properly. Let him know when he does a good job and let him know when he doesn't. Sit down an write out goals that you want him to achieve and a time frame you want them achieved. When he accomplishes those goals, then and only then does he get a raise. Pay increases should only come once a year anyway. This takes effort on your part but it's worth it if your serious about having quality help. Sit down with him from time to time and review his progress. Constructively critique his performance. Be open for suggestions and implement them if they are good ones. NEVER combine performance reviews with pay increases! These are two separate issues.

Employees are a responsibility that few employers ever take seriously. They just figure they should know how to do the job the way you want them to do it and when they don't you figure they're no good. To develop a employee to his/her full potential takes effort on your part, not just money. You have to take YOUR time to train them. Be patient and let him know you care about him being the best he can be.

The worst thing is not to train an employee and lose them, it's to not train them and keep them.

Jim
www.pivotlok.com
Professional Bench Top Positioners
 








 
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