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Thanksgiving is perhaps one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the United States where Americans spend time with their loved ones and show appreciation for one another. As we celebrate this meaningful holiday, let us not forget the efforts of the hourly workers who spend long hours at work to make sure you have everything you need to celebrate this special day. From stocking up the grocery stores with cooking ingredients, to preparing those pumpkin pies in bakeries for your dinner, these hourly workers have done a lot to contribute to your ideal Thanksgiving dinner.
We definitely think that they deserve some love and thanks from all of us too! And who better to ask for tips on showing appreciation to them than a former manager of hourly workers himself. We spoke to our very own Business Development Associate and former Owner of Utah Maids, Jaron Hall.
Q: What role did you play the company you founded?
I was the Owner of Utah Maids, a residential cleaning service. I started Utah Maids because I saw an opportunity in my area (Salt Lake City) to create a home cleaning service with a modern approach to customer management and booking - using modern tools to run an existing service.
Q: What was you job scope?
I would assist with the management of hourly employees, meet with customers, improve the quality of service, and more. I also brought on many programs to help with managing employees - online training, attendance tracking sheets, scheduling software, automated emails and texts, and so much more.
Q: In terms of people management, what challenges did you face and how did you deal with them?
Because our staff are the face of our company, I am constantly trying to recruit reliable and responsible staff who are eager to learn. Our service quality depends on the skill level of our staff. The key to having high quality staff is to make things as simple as possible and align incentives for them to follow procedures.
Scheduling is probably one of the more challenging tasks. Keeping employees happy with their schedule, dealing with no-call and no-show rates, and being understaffed or overstaffed. These are all things that happened, and they need to be addressed. It’s important to set up a structured process of managing the problems so you don’t constantly run into the same issues.
When such HR issues came up, I had a manager who would first hear about them and handle them if she was able to. If it was an elevated issue it would come to me. There are many things that are repeatedly experienced, but I would also come across new cases and have to assess them.
Q: Based on these experiences, what have you learnt about people management?
I would always try to be personable with my staff. I think it is important relate to them on a personal level and show them how you can relate to them in many ways.
Be a friend to them, communicate with them often and show them that you are not above them, but that you can work alongside with them. Provide a structure where harder work will result in higher reward. Make it so their compensation correlates with their results.
Q: What are some of the best ways to show gratitude to your team/followers?
One of the things I did often was to give my staff surprise gifts. An amazon gift card for when I see some good performance. I also kept the office supplied with snacks and encouraged staff to help themselves when they stopped by. I also gave praises and recognition to employees in front of their co-workers.
I think one of the biggest things you can do is to relate to your staff on a human level. Be incredibly empathetic, without getting taken advantage of. When managing hourly staff, there are many cases where personal circumstances come up. Show your staff that you’re understanding about their personal life.
Be the boss that you would want to have.
