Staff wages and bonuses – Any ideas or advice

[Simon Clayton]

Difficult to tell really, i was production manager for a goood few years and we had staff that would have a laugh and joke and the directors would go mad (want them sacked and the like not realising what they would have lost) but most of these guy were fantastic at their jobs, would work late at the drop of a hat, and could complete work faster and better than the newer members.
They would get higher wages and bigger yearly bonuses, and when there’s not much work on they would get time off paid.

A way of getting around giving your guy a car and not upsetting the other staff is to have him come in early every morning to open up.

Simon

[Hugh Potter]

right, i say this as an ex ’empolyee’.

i was a service engineer, and the first time i left my job was over money, i was working harder and longer than anyone but the two bosses, far harder than my service unmanager, who earned more than 30% more than I, the money wasn’t that bad, but i felt very put out by the amount of work i did, comared to others on a not far behind wage, when they said no to a pay rise, or more of a ‘couldn’t give one’, i suggested they let me use my van for travel too and from work, saving me about £40 a week in fuel, after some bull about insurance, they declined, so i declined my employment, (and spent the following year being pestered to return !).

anyways, what i think i’m getting at, is that an ‘unofficial’ company car, like using the van to get too and fro work in, is not a bad bonus for an employee, as i see it anyway, as simon suggested, maybe offer it in return for him opening up if you want to justify it to the others ?

Hugh

[John Childs]

It sounds like you are trying to find a way of getting maximum benefit to the employee at minimum cost to the company. There are ways of doing that here but, not knowing the tax regime in your part of the world, it is difficult for me to make any suggestions. Perhaps your accountant is the person you should be talking to.

I don’t worry about my staff knowing the others pay rates. It’s pointless worrying about it because they are going to find out anyway. All I do is to try to pay everybody what they are worth to me, and consequently they are all on different rates. If anybody wants a raise naturally I will review the situation but basically it boils down to, "more money is not a problem. What are you going to do to earn it?"

If an employee is unhappy after that and decides to leave there is not much I can do about it because I am not going to pay them more than they are worth.

[Shane Drew]

Tim, you need to talk to an accountant who specialises in this sort of thing. Whatever you do, it needs to be with your tax incentives in mind.

Personally, I think a car for a leading hand is just asking for trouble. He’d want to step up to the plate with more responsibilty if it were me. The first thing you’ll encounter is the dreaded Fringe Benefit Tax. To get maximum tax breaks, the vehicle should be over 1 Tonne from memory, and used predominatly for business. Most Co’s buy 2 seaters (Utes or Vans) although the new Holden crew Cab is suitable under the new tax laws I think..

Anything you offer must be based around productivity tho.

It is a good thing that you want to reward the guy, but don’t do it so as your business gets penalised in a fiscal sense.

Drop john at conquestaccounting.com.au an email, tell him you are a mate of mine. He specialises in business advise based on tax incentives. There are things you can offer that will help both of you.

I’ve been down this path before with the 14 staff I had. I rewarded the two top blokes I had with their own company van, I paid the fuel and running costs etc. After 6 months they start looking for more ‘incentives’ as they start thinking that you need them more than they need you.

The best thing I did was reward my staff with Restaurant meals for their whole family, or weekends away in a motel for their family. No other staff knew about it most of the time. It was just a gift from me to them.

Every 6 months we took all the staff and their wives/partners and kids out for a really nice meal, and everyone felt appreciated.

Of course, some felt they were worth more eventually, but simply, if they didn’t earn their keep, they could leave.

Hope you work it out mate.

[Hugh Potter]

quote John Childs:

I don’t worry about my staff knowing the others pay rates. It’s pointless worrying about it because they are going to find out anyway.

my old employer would hold our wage review once a year, they would have us in the office one at a time, and tell us our fortune, and how they’ll retract it if they find out we’ve told any other staff our wage,

needless to say, within ten mins of walking back down to my workshop, we all knew who’d got what !!

they weren’t all bad though, they would often take us bowling, for meals, dog track etc, i had some of my best time there then !

[Martin Forsyth]

sure puts me off of having staff! 😮

[John Childs]

quote Martin Forsyth:

sure puts me off of having staff! 😮

It has been a valuable thread then. 😀

[Tim Knight]

Thanks everyone for there input.
Shane I like your idea on the silent rewards, etc
will go for this I think. and as a few have mentioned
they do start to think we need them more than they need us.
Look I totally agree we need good staff and are willing to reward
and pay accordingly to keep good staff. I just hate some staff we have that complain. As we have, I believe really good working conditions. Better than alot of signshops I have seen. At the same time
I dont want to dig ourselves in a seemly endless money pit of paying to much that a business may / maynot sustain. With this many staff
it can go pear shaped pretty quick if you dont keep pushing hard and keeping the ship steady.

Again thanks for you input and views. Was starting to doubt myself a bit.

Back on top again.

will keep https://www.uksignboards.com open more often, see if we can be of assistance to you guys and girls

tim knight

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