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Keeping good help

jdowd

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Location
Iowa
What incentives do you use to keep help from jumping ship for $1.00 an hour. With the watering down of the machinist trade thru cnc's it seems to be getting harder to get and maintain good help.
 
When I was stateside it boiled down to benefits. Insurance, retirement, and other small gestures. Having cookouts and inviting the employees families along then handing out a small cash bonus was a real hit, in fact I still do that here in China. Most people tend to think they should not bond on a personal level with the employees and I have tried both ways but in the end you need to find common ground with each person and let them feel a since of security.
 
wages

What incentives do you use to keep help from jumping ship for $1.00 an hour. With the watering down of the machinist trade thru cnc's it seems to be getting harder to get and maintain good help.
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when i graduated from a apprentice machinist program my wage was $13.00/hr
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with inflation i have heard it said that would be over $30/hr in 2015. seems to me most machinist leave because of better wages else where.
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i make about $23/hr with wages and benefits. kind of sad i make less now in 2015 than i did in 1984
 
I left Iowa about 10 years ago. I called a molder in Iowa and asked the owner's wife ( I recognized her voice ) what they would pay for a journeyman mold maker. She said about $13 or $14 dollars. Goodbye Iowa.
They may say it is for a dollar raise but you can bet there are other criteria including the level of inter-personal environment in the shop.
 
Like they said, benefits. Even as relatively inexperienced as I am, I could probably go somewhere else and make a buck an hour more, easy. But the environment I'm in makes me happy. As a company, we have less than 2% voluntary turnover annually. What keeps us happy? Good PTO options. Lunches every day. Employee events paid for by the company. Minor giveaways for stupid things we don't need, but that make us happy. Insurance. A christmas card with a little bit of cash in it. A feeling of family and pride in what we do. A clean, safe, productive work place. I could go on. But if people are happy to come to work, the $1/hr difference won't matter.
 
With the watering down of the machinist trade thru cnc's.

That mind set might give some indication as why you would be asking this question.

Most people go to work for the same reasons, compensation. If someone has a good guy and they let him walk for a measly 40 bucks a week. Well I suppose that's just the chance you'll have to take. If the guy has an actual offer for one dollar more and you won't match it, I say walk. JMO..


Brent
 
Like they said, benefits. Even as relatively inexperienced as I am, I could probably go somewhere else and make a buck an hour more, easy. But the environment I'm in makes me happy. As a company, we have less than 2% voluntary turnover annually. What keeps us happy? Good PTO options. Lunches every day. Employee events paid for by the company. Minor giveaways for stupid things we don't need, but that make us happy. Insurance. A christmas card with a little bit of cash in it. A feeling of family and pride in what we do. A clean, safe, productive work place. I could go on. But if people are happy to come to work, the $1/hr difference won't matter.
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personally the free employee lunches and the feel good meeting with bosses do not mean much with me.
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for many it is keeping the wife happy. if she feels i am not making enough per hr i have to listen to her complain. that means 10x more than to me than just about anything else. if she wants a new house or a new car the free lunch or feel good team meetings will not pay the bills
 
Make sure your guys are given a fair wage. Our time here is short and damned precious. Make their time on your watch WORTH THEIR TIME.

I was let go from the last shop I worked because I got sick and missed time during a rush. They had excellent working conditions, the work was interesting and challenging, but the pay absolutely sucked, and health insurance was over the top. I will never again roll my Kennedys into a place that does not give a shit about what you're worth. There is more to that deal that I won't go into here.

That shop called me a month after the "breakup" offering my position back with a $1.00 bump. I said no thanks.

I am now working as a diesetter/press operator on a 2,000 ton stamping press crew making $4.00 more per hour with excellent benefits. Will be in the toolroom here shortly.

Be one of those places that rewards a man for his labor. They seem to be really damned rare.

Running a f'ing press and making that much more an hour over what I do as a skilled tradesman........just pisses me off thinking about it.
 
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personally the free employee lunches and the feel good meeting with bosses do not mean much with me.
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for many it is keeping the wife happy. if she feels i am not making enough per hr i have to listen to her complain. that means 10x more than to me than just about anything else. if she wants a new house or a new car the free lunch or feel good team meetings will not pay the bills

x2 ^^^^^^^

Here they call them "Town Hall Meetings"... what a joke..


Brent
 
Boy you have a big can of worms opened up! I have read that money by itself is not the prime motivation. I don't think that the benefit package by itself is the prime motivator. I know that the working conditions by themselves are not the prime motivator. I think the idea for a manage/ owner is to find out what is the " mix" for your emotes. I can say that what I see as important to most people is their sense of self worth. Most people would like to be very good at what they do. So help them. Have good tools to work with. Help them learn to be better. Encourage them. Respect them, but understand that you need respect too. You have to be sincere and consistent, fakes are found out. You can spot a fake, don't expect anything less out of others. I heard a saying today" words fall from his mouth like shit from ass"... Don't be that guy!
 
Ask yourself are your employees just a # or are you good to them. Where I work as a mechanic we are just # and I hate it but only 4 years left to retire!!!!
 
Like they said, benefits. Even as relatively inexperienced as I am, I could probably go somewhere else and make a buck an hour more, easy. But the environment I'm in makes me happy. As a company, we have less than 2% voluntary turnover annually. What keeps us happy? Good PTO options. Lunches every day. Employee events paid for by the company. Minor giveaways for stupid things we don't need, but that make us happy. Insurance. A christmas card with a little bit of cash in it. A feeling of family and pride in what we do. A clean, safe, productive work place. I could go on. But if people are happy to come to work, the $1/hr difference won't matter.

I couldn't agree more about a safe workplace.

I haven't locked a toolbox in more than a decade, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Nobody leaves for $1/hr..

I know two excellent Diesel mechanics that left their shop for a buck an hour. One went to driving a Budweiser delivery truck, the other reads water meters.

You'd probably be surprised at how many guys will jump just to make things a little easier on the home front, even at a buck an hour more.
 
I know two excellent Diesel mechanics that left their shop for a buck an hour. One went to driving a Budweiser delivery truck, the other reads water meters.

You'd probably be surprised at how many guys will jump just to make things a little easier on the home front, even at a buck an hour more.

And the $1/hr was the only consideration? I doubt that.
 
That mind set might give some indication as why you would be asking this question.

Most people go to work for the same reasons, compensation. If someone has a good guy and they let him walk for a measly 40 bucks a week. Well I suppose that's just the chance you'll have to take. If the guy has an actual offer for one dollar more and you won't match it, I say walk. JMO..


Brent

I knew this was coming as soon as I read the OP. CNC operators and Programmers are invaluable in the mold making trade but molds are systems not parts. Having an employee who can analyze the "system" and correct mistakes or flag problem areas BEFORE it ever goes to the floor is worth their weight in gold.
 








 
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