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by Alan50
13 replies
:-)=B888:-
#nightmare #staff
  • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
    Originally Posted by Alan50 View Post

    I have never been in need of a solution more now than in my entire life! lol

    I have more staff than I can cope with! 20 odd Filipinos... some awesome.. some so-so... [/URL].
    I've met some odd ones too

    Really I was thinking about this very thing. Those companies that manage the outsources for you take a big cut, but they do cut down on the management. Still I think you can get someone in country to be the project manager or functional manager for you so that you have one point of contact and it all gets done.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sean Donahoe
    Here are 2 quick solutions,

    Daily meetings with the task leaders (if you don't have a task leader out of those 20 that could create a serious problem)

    To create task lists, even if you can't be bothered to do this yourself. Outsource the process. Send the ebook to an outsourcer, have them summarize the process into a step-by-step process for your other outsourcers.

    We currently have over 40 outsourcers that we use on a regular basis and I even have to have a task leader in house to keep them organized on both sides of the globe so I don't have to keep cracking whips here.

    All the best

    Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
    What Sean said.... also I remember something Eban Pagen said about staff... pretty much what Sean is saying but he said make them give you a report each day on what they have accomplished.

    Of course that implies they have a task list to accomplish too.
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    Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

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    • Profile picture of the author Sean Donahoe
      Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post

      What Sean said.... also I remember something Eban Pagen said about staff... pretty much what Sean is saying but he said make them give you a report each day on what they have accomplished.

      Of course that implies they have a task list to accomplish too.
      I have my task leaders do that too, usually by the end of the week though. I make my task leaders resposible for their team of outsourcers as I want my team focused on their work not the reports.

      However, the task leaders sole goals are administration and motivation and getting them to do the job. If someone is not pulling their weight within the team, they are gone.

      However, if the team consistently hits targets and even overachieves I give everyone bonuses and that really helps get the right team and a ton of work from them for a huge discount compared to hiring within the US.

      All the best

      Sean
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  • Profile picture of the author KristiDaniels
    I'm not sure what nationality or ethnicity has to do with your issue. Making it a part of the issue is offensive in the U.S. and often against the law.

    It sounds like your real issue is a lack of procedures. That can happen in any fast growing company. We had that problem with our EU business when my husband was still alive. Something caused us to have to get procedures quickly (EN 46001 was the legal requirement... I don't remember what made us suddenly have to comply with that standard in Europe, but we had 60 days to comply or close down our French office which would have cost us about two and a half million per year in revenue.

    The solution was simple. Your workers (Philipino or otherwise) have done the job before. Make them write the procedures. Get them together and teach them that a procedure is just a step-by-step list of instructions for a task. Team them up and have one do the task why the other documents it.

    We had the entire business documented in three weeks and had five weeks to spare.

    Don't ever allow staff to make you work for them. You pay them to work for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by KristiDaniels View Post

      I'm not sure what nationality or ethnicity has to do with your issue. Making it a part of the issue is offensive in the U.S. and often against the law.
      Given the context and some words, it sounds like they aren't US citizens, so it is NOT against the law. HECK, as the employer, it wouldn't be against the law for him to say as an employer anyway! The law was put in place to help US citizens avoid hiring and firing
      situations based on race, sex, creed, nationality, "sexual orientation", "marital status".

      BTW Employer HERE means the company owner. If s/he has a subordinate, THAT person is supposed to tell them everything BUT the items not to be considered. You aren't even allowed to ask if they are married, their race, etc... BUT, again, the EMPLOYER ALREADY knows and if they tell someone else, that won't affect the decision they have obviously already made.

      Given that the person is talking about a foreign culture and person, the nationality IS meaningful! Maybe special considerations have to be made, etc...

      Originally Posted by KristiDaniels View Post

      It sounds like your real issue is a lack of procedures. That can happen in any fast growing company. We had that problem with our EU business when my husband was still alive. Something caused us to have to get procedures quickly (EN 46001 was the legal requirement... I don't remember what made us suddenly have to comply with that standard in Europe, but we had 60 days to comply or close down our French office which would have cost us about two and a half million per year in revenue.

      The solution was simple. Your workers (Philipino or otherwise) have done the job before. Make them write the procedures. Get them together and teach them that a procedure is just a step-by-step list of instructions for a task. Team them up and have one do the task why the other documents it.

      We had the entire business documented in three weeks and had five weeks to spare.

      Don't ever allow staff to make you work for them. You pay them to work for you.
      At some point, people ABOVE the staff MUST outline steps, etc... WHAT, are you just supposed to hire them and say "START AN ECOMMERCE BUSINESS, give me 80% of the profit, and split the rest among yourselves!"?

      Alan50,

      To get something done the way YOU want it, YOU would have to decide. Hopefully some of the simpler things are things you can have the "soso" people do, and maybe some of the more complicated things follow standards where you can say something like "Setup a domain called .... on server #1". Outside of that, I guess YOU can best answer it. You DID say "I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I am looking for here".

      BTW Hiring project managers can be a BAD idea ESPECIALLY if they are managing less than 3 people or YOU can't direct THEM.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
        I'll see what you guys have to say... and after a while I'll give you a method to get either insanely cheap QUALIFIED Filipino staff members without paying a middleman service like bestjob.ph/onlinejobs.ph.
        Why "after a while"? This makes it sound like you're sneaking in a buildup to something. Not saying you are, but that is how it looks.

        Tina
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        • Profile picture of the author Gee S
          Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

          Why "after a while"? This makes it sound like you're sneaking in a buildup to something. Not saying you are, but that is how it looks.

          Tina
          I actually thought the way the OP meant it was that if he is given sound advice, he would pass that information on to others as a thank you.

          That's just me, and I could be wrong.

          Gee
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  • Profile picture of the author StaffPartyTrivia
    How about asking them all to apply to a Outsource Team Leader position.

    - some won't want it ( easy )
    - some will apply - you give all that do "the job"
    then see how they perform.

    Eventually, of the 7 that applied, one or two will outshine the others.
    You make them the Team Leader Managers

    set-up emails on your own domain for all employees - all fwd to a free
    hotmail account so you can monitor the work - and they use
    webmail to communicate intra-office with one another

    of course there would be no communicating of names / alternate emails allowed.

    So what you have then is one or two leaders
    managing the others and a lot less comm work for you.

    Whatcha think 'bout that?
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  • Profile picture of the author digigo
    the solution is very simple: delegate... have intermediaries between you and the staff.. select some of them to play the manager.. supervisor.. trainer.. roles.. you can do it all on your own.. isn't that how a corporation is organized?
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  • Profile picture of the author Easy Cash
    Originally Posted by Alan50 View Post

    But that's not the problem. My laziness in just knuckling down and writing step-by-step plans for my staff is the main problem there.
    You answered your own question here.

    Procedure Manuals and Step by Step instructions are certainly what you need to get things running smoothly.

    If you couldn't be bothered creating them, (which, yes, can be a pain in the butt) get them to create them while they are also performing the work.

    It is the only way to lighten the load - becasue all you then say is:

    "Please refer to the Procedure Manual first and then if you cannot find the answer, come and see me."

    This is highly effective.

    Use Google Sites to create your Procedure Manual. It is free and 100 % searchable which makes it very easy to find things.
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    • Profile picture of the author Suthan M
      You know what.. You sound like the kind of problem i face all this while..

      My staffs want to work, but i dont know what work to give them.. Even worse, in my case, they are working with me physically (not VAs) so, it was kinda sucks when they say they want to do work, but i dont have any( truth is- i was doing all the work even then!)

      Here's the reason why having a number of permanent staffs was atrociously hard for me
      1. I was not prepared to handle staffs
      I was used to working alone, and i didnt want to lose the "space". I bought a lot of business boooks, and learnt to give away..

      2. I started getting excited and jumping into many different projects
      What happened was that this new staffs were not trained.. So, when i talked to them about new ventures, and new projects on a daily basis without giving them support, or training, they are dumbfounded..
      Solution: give training.. no matter how long it is the first time. do it.. saves ya a lot of trouble later.

      When they get in that state of mind-whatever you do wont work. Trust me, the truth is, you dont control staff's output-they control their output..
      Put **** in their head, you get **** back
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  • Profile picture of the author WillDL
    I would offer a team manager position to one of the really good workers and work with them to develop procedures and project goals. Your good employees value their jobs and do the work everyday, they probably have a valuable prospective. Give everyone bonuses and just make the team leader's 5-10% more, so that everyone was motivated.

    Create a chain of command where everyone checks in with the team leader 1 or 2 times a day and that team leader checks in with you every day. Make it a condition of their employment so you can always know what's going on.

    I'd also check with the good employees to see if they knew anyone reliable and qualified who might want a job. P If they did I'd fire the crap employees and hire the new one's that come with a good recommendation from an employee you trust. Worst case scenario you trade one crap employee for another, but maybe you get lucky and get a better employee.
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    Occasionally Relevant.

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