Workers and equipment damage

[Matt]

How do others deal with workers making dull errors and the cost of repairing kit.

Recent example, lad on driving digger. Swung bucket in too far and ripped ram guard off 6ton machine when tracking about.

I had wondered off having say a bit of money in pot as a Xmas bonus but any dull things like that half the cost comes out of it.

No doubt some people would say make them pay it all, but he ain't too bad a lad.
So feel half the cost out of money he could have isn't so bad.
Or should just take half out of wages to wake him.up?

 

[Chae1]

Can't take money out of wages.

A warning it will be removed from Christmas bonus sounds fairer.

 

[Sharpy]

You cannot dock wages.
You can however pay a bonus for whatever you like. Timekeeping or attendance are two common ones. I know of one company that paid an annual bonus if no damage that year, only one man out of eighty got it though..........

 

[betweenthelines]

Train 'em properly.


Or, add a small non contractual bonus (say a tenner a week) which you claim back on a monthly basis in the event of negligent damage, not fair wear & tear. downside of this is if them bend something at the start of the month, there's no incentive to be careful until the next month.

 

[Matt]

Can't take money out of wages.

A warning it will be removed from Christmas bonus sounds fairer.

Thanks for info. Just don't want them thinking well no cost to them if something gets fudged.
I ain't got a problem with things breaking just the dull stooopid things

 

[Clive]

You just have to suck it up i'm afraid - is anyone so perfect or going to claim they never caused any silly damage or had an accident ?

If someone has more than a fair share of "bad luck" then you have to question if you want them to work for you at all any more

 

[Deerefarmer]

Interesting read here, because several weeks ago I was unloading a shipment of def with the Bobcat and was watching fork tines,got a bit to close to the trailer, kapow right in my face went the door/window,
I didn't think twice about it, swiped my personal card and put a new one on to the tune of 250 USD
No boss wouldn't have expected me to pay, but I felt responsible and will be on guard a bit more next time.
He tries to keep up to date, reliable, operator friendly kit,employees should return the favor by being sensible ,caring ,and responsible for their actions,I think .
It's called respect .
And it works both ways

 

[Mydexta]

Anyone who can say they haven’t had an accident or made a mistake hasn’t done anything in life!!!!!!!


These things happen unfortunately

 

[How much]

when I had some lads working for me we had a bonus scheme I expected to pay it every week , but now and again it got docked it was 50p per hr for attendance 50p per hr for quality of work so £20.00 each per week

so someone was late for work or off without booking holidays due to being to drunk on sunday to get out of bed on the monday for example they would be docked £20.00

The quality one was for damage , not cleaning machines , or just not doing what was asked and again they could loose the £20.00 and on a couple of occasions we docked it for 2 or 3 weeks .
it was pretty rare maybe once per year someone got docked some never and the lads actually respected it as the lads who where reliable knew that the slackers would be docked if they didn't get to work or if something was broken through carelessness there was a price to pay.
it worked really well and say if someone had slept in but rang to say they where going to be 10 mins late i didn't dock any money as along as it was not regular and again this was appreciated by them that i could have docked them.
so overall it was a success but you need to work it into wage increases as a part of the employees pay .
unless you have new starters as reducing there wage and bringing in a bonus could get messy I guess but assuming you intend to pay it it can be part of there normal wages. as along as you pay more than £20.00 over minimum wage you could dock it.

 

[ollie989898]

You just have to suck it up i'm afraid - is anyone so perfect or going to claim they never caused any silly damage or had an accident ?

If someone has more than a fair share of "bad luck" then you have to question if you want them to work for you at all any more

Christ, you are surprisingly mellow after your man whoopped your combine header that time!

 

[Clive]

Christ, you are surprisingly mellow after your man whoopped your combine header that time!

That was sometime ago ! But yes ...... he no longer works for me, one that seemed to have a little too much bad luck he was !

 

[Matt]

when I had some lads working for me we had a bonus scheme I expected to pay it every week , but now and again it got docked it was 50p per hr for attendance 50p per hr for quality of work so £20.00 each per week

so someone was late for work or off without booking holidays due to being to drunk on sunday to get out of bed on the monday for example they would be docked £20.00

The quality one was for damage , not cleaning machines , or just not doing what was asked and again they could loose the £20.00 and on a couple of occasions we docked it for 2 or 3 weeks .
it was pretty rare maybe once per year someone got docked some never and the lads actually respected it as the lads who where reliable knew that the slackers would be docked if they didn't get to work or if something was broken through carelessness there was a price to pay.
it worked really well and say if someone had slept in but rang to say they where going to be 10 mins late i didn't dock any money as along as it was not regular and again this was appreciated by them that i could have docked them.
so overall it was a success but you need to work it into wage increases as a part of the employees pay .
unless you have new starters as reducing there wage and bringing in a bonus could get messy I guess but assuming you intend to pay it it can be part of there normal wages. as along as you pay more than £20.00 over minimum wage you could dock it.

The lad who is in question is always close on time for been late. He usually is only coming up the drive at the time he is supposed to be at work. He is actually good with the livestock. Think we need to Have a chat to iron these things out. As he is a bit relaxed with it all.

 

[michael N123]

Interesting read here, because several weeks ago I was unloading a shipment of def with the Bobcat and was watching fork tines,got a bit to close to the trailer, kapow right in my face went the door/window,
I didn't think twice about it, swiped my personal card and put a new one on to the tune of 250 USD
No boss wouldn't have expected me to pay, but I felt responsible and will be on guard a bit more next time.
He tries to keep up to date, reliable, operator friendly kit,employees should return the favor by being sensible ,caring ,and responsible for their actions,I think .
It's called respect .
And it works both ways

Doors and glass on skidsteers are stupid anyway should of left it off and said don’t replace it

 

[Deerefarmer]

Doors and glass on skidsteers are stupid anyway should of left it off and said don’t replace it

Totally agree

But he owned it so.....

 

[oil barron]

If there’s one thing worse that people braking things then it’s people not telling you when they’ve broken things.

 

[Grouse]

Or blaming somebody else

 

[Frodo]

Is that not what Insurance is for. Appreciate its the small things damaged that mounts up which may be less than excess.

 

[7610 super q]

Anyone who can say they haven’t had an accident or made a mistake hasn’t done anything in life!!!!!!!


These things happen unfortunately

Yes we all make mistakes. Unfortunately, there's some that can't go more than 5 minutes without having a mishap.
Sack them. Farming isn't profitable enough for sorting out expensive disasters. And they're a danger to themselves and others.

 

[Bury the Trash]

The lad who is in question is always close on time for been late. He usually is only coming up the drive at the time he is supposed to be at work. He is actually good with the livestock. Think we need to Have a chat to iron these things out. As he is a bit relaxed with it all.

Positives to build on .

 

[RWG Contracts]

How do others deal with workers making dull errors and the cost of repairing kit.

Recent example, lad on driving digger. Swung bucket in too far and ripped ram guard off 6ton machine when tracking about.

I had wondered off having say a bit of money in pot as a Xmas bonus but any dull things like that half the cost comes out of it.

No doubt some people would say make them pay it all, but he ain't too bad a lad.
So feel half the cost out of money he could have isn't so bad.
Or should just take half out of wages to wake him.up?

Pulling ram guard off is fairly easy, I’ve done it in a moment of day dreaming

I never make my staff pay for damages. I don’t even shout at them. I tell them I’m upset and disappointed

That tends to do the trick and they start grovelling