CHICAGO — An employee stealing money (21.1%), mishandling a customer complaint (10.5%), and not showing up for a shift without notice (10.5%) were among the top employee management scenarios that coin laundry store owners and operators consider a “nightmare,” according to results of this month’s American Coin-Op Your Views Survey.
Close to 8% were most terrified by an employee “neglecting his/her daily responsibilities,” while 5.3% most considered employee tardiness a nightmare scenario. No respondents consider “overhearing an employee bad-mouth your business” or “an employee becoming lackadaisical about his/her job” as such.
While 13.2% were not scared by any of the scenarios, the majority (31.6%) considered all of the examples as a “nightmare.”
Roughly 41% of respondents are willing to give their employees two chances to correct their actions before dismissing them, while 35.1% are willing to give them three chances. Close to 11% are little stricter, giving employees just one chance to remediate their actions, while 13.5% say “other,” with one explaining “It depends on their action; [if they are] stealing, for example, they get one chance.”
When it comes to handling employee management nightmares, the majority (65.8%) say taking the employee aside to have a one-on-one conversation is the best course of action, while equal shares of 2.6% say hosting a staff meeting reminding staff of employee rules and responsibilities; docking pay for tardiness; and “other” employee management strategies were the best solutions.
While no respondents consider a written warning the best course of action, roughly 26% say a combination of “all of the above” management solutions work well.
Roughly 43% say an employee handbook is “somewhat useful” when it comes to managing staff, while an even 27% find it “extremely useful.” About 16% say such handbooks are “neither useful or useless,” while 5.4% find it “somewhat useless.” For 8.1% of respondents, an employee handbook is “completely useless.”
“We had a new employee steal money from the cash drawer,” shares one respondent. “We showed her the video and asked her to explain her actions. She could not, so we asked her to leave and not come back.”
“Treat your employees with respect, and establish a good relationship between owner and employee,” shares another respondent. “If you respect and treat them right, they will take care of your business.”
Another respondent says he/she tries to be direct with employees. “My current employees know what I expect—if something is slipping, I just remind them to do better. Current employees have all been with me for three to five years now. They respect me, the business, and [they] look out for it as if they own it. I appreciate that, and I can trust all of them.”
American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey presents an unscientific snapshot of the audience’s viewpoints at a particular moment; due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.
Subscribers to American Coin-Op e-mails are invited to participate anonymously in an industry survey each month. The entire American Coin-Op audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].