SMALL... MEDIUM... LARGE... Welcome to New Jersey Automotive’s latest feature, “Small...Medium...Large.” Each month, we will present the same scenario to one small, one medium and one large shop and share their response verbatim. Does size really matter? Decide for yourself...
A longtime employee doesn’t show up for work and doesn’t call for two days. It’s your best technician. What do you do? Sq. Footage: 1,100 Employees: 4 80% DRP
Sq. Footage: 9,000 Employees: 8 75% DRP
Sq. Footage: 25,000 Employees: 35 80% DRP
Well, on the first day, I would call him and ask what’s going on. No response? I would probably write him up. The next day, he’d be gone. I mean, if it’s two days, he can call you. But from my experience, that usually happens with the shitty guy, not your best tech. But it’s harder for me being a small shop. I am going to have to give a little slack, but if he just says it’s none of my business and if his attitude is really shitty, I’d probably let him go right there and then. Now, if they’re gone for a week, the decision is pretty easy. I mean, what are they doing? They probably went somewhere else. But again, as a small shop like mine, if it was the one guy I depend on tremendously, I’m kind of jammed, you know? It really depends on what they bring to the table. Also, as an employer in New Jersey, the laws are stacked against you. The employee really has all the leverage, so you have to figure that into your decision as well. Luckily, I have never had to go through that.
You mean after I’ve cursed my brains out? If I don’t get a phone call from the tech who has been loyal and trustworthy, I usually call them and see what’s going on. Make sure that hopefully nothing tragic has happened. I try to see when he’s coming back. My next step is to maneuver people around to get the job done. Most of the time that would mean I would go and fill that position, whatever that position could be – doing some paintwork, bodywork, framework. In my situation, I kind of trade-off a little bit, and then I jump into that role to fill in the void. When he comes back with no good reason for his absence, depending on how he catches me, that might be his last day. (laughs) I would hope that by calling him prior to that and having some kind of civil conversation with him, I would have already ironed out the details of where he was and what happened. The frustration is he could at least pick up a phone and just say, “Hey, I got an issue going on. I’ll call you later,” since they all have a phone attached to them 24 hours a day. But I’ve noticed over the years that this level of respect among employees is not there anymore. You know, the boss is the last person that they’re thinking about. Not that I should be top priority, but you have responsibilities to your job. At least just say, “Hey, let me give that dummy over there a heads-up on what’s going on because he pays me every week.” As far as affecting other employees, I try to keep my conversations private. I don’t take things like that to the floor where everybody can hear. At the beginning of the year I try to update emergency information from them. I try to say, “These are some of the things I would like done.” Put it all on paper so they have a hard copy in front of them. Not that any of them really follow that, but I feel like I’m trying to instill something on paper where they can see it. But again, it doesn’t always work. I try to not have that situation happen where it becomes contagious in the shop where the next guy wants to do the same thing as the other.
It depends on the situation. If he’s never done it and he’s my best tech, he likely doesn’t miss work. It’s the first time and he misses? Would I tolerate that from my best guy? If he did that regularly, absolutely not. I would expect that there was a legit excuse. I would talk to him about it. I wouldn’t just make a rash decision. However, if he didn’t have an answer or said it was none of my business, that’s a different story. I mean, if my kids tell me it’s none of my business, I have to tolerate it. But I’m not going to tolerate it from an employee. It’s none of my business? It is my business. You work for me. So, they’d have to give me an answer. If not, they’d be gone. I guess that’s an advantage of being a big shop. Years ago, when I was smaller, something similar like that did happen to me. I tolerated it, but I told myself I would never allow that to happen ever again. Like having somebody put a gun to my head and telling me, ‘Give me this or I’m gone.’ Once, my top guy put a gun to my head [figuratively] to give him more money and if I didn’t, he would quit. Well, I tolerated it then because I had to. And even though I said I would never allow it to happen again, it has. You can’t help that. But I’ve never because I don’t like that feeling of being held hostage by someone I am paying. We had a guy this year who wanted about five weeks off – two and half in February and again in June or July. We just told him, ‘You’re abandoning your job.’ I told my people, ‘No matter who he is, no matter how hard-up we are, we have to let him go.’ You can’t set that example. You can’t let that happen and let the other guys see it. If they see that he could do it, they’re going to feel they can do it. The guy’s got to go. He got fired. It hurts. But you have to do it. You definitely have to suck wind as a smaller shop when it’s your top people, because the guys aren’t going to smaller shops. Guys are leaving for bigger shops, and that’s just the way the industry is going.
30 | New Jersey Automotive | September 2021
NJA
