Suds & Swagger has made a commitment to being a force of change within the industry. How?
First, we will change the lives of our employees. At our core, we believe employee retention and satisfaction is the key to customer satisfaction and retention. My employees are my greatest asset and by helping them with a better quality of life they can take better care of our clients. They can focus on taking care of all the four legged family members with the passion, integrity, and positivity that we strive for.
Altruistic? Heck yea! But I’d rather aim high and miss. Bad decisions still make for good stories and failure is just another learning opportunity. But continuing to stick with a broken system is an even worse mistake. Afterall, isn’t the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results?
And don’t even ask what I have done to the interview process. 2nd interview you get to pick an employee at random to interview. No better way to judge employee satisfaction and workplace moral then the employees already in the company.
First, we will change the lives of our employees. At our core, we believe employee retention and satisfaction is the key to customer satisfaction and retention. My employees are my greatest asset and by helping them with a better quality of life they can take better care of our clients. They can focus on taking care of all the four legged family members with the passion, integrity, and positivity that we strive for.
- I don’t ask for resumes, I want to know my employees professional, financial, and personal goals instead. We strive to integrate our approach to each employee based off those goals. They help me achieve our goals, I help them achieve theirs at the same time. And there are regular individual checkins ensure we all remain focused on success through measurable criteria. I also do not care where you were, or where you are now. I want to know how we can grow together.
- All employees are paid on a transparent pay scale based off experience, certifications, and continuing education or competition experience. At minimum our salaries start at $36,000 annually and go up from there. If they want a pay raise they have access to an unlimited supply of continuing education to help them achieve that. They grow, we grow, and you have services from an even better trained employee. This also means that pay scale is transparent between all employees.
- All full time employees have access to a 401k after 90 days. I’m not just investing in them now, I’m investing in their future. There is also an annual profit share.
- All employees get paid time off. Gone are the days where an employee is showing up sick because they are afraid they can not afford a day off. Employees also have the option for health insurance. This includes chiropractic care, massage therapy, vision, dental and mental health services. Healthy employees are happier employees. And I’m committed to their mental and physical well-being so that they can be their best for you.
- Severance Pay. Any employee that stays more than one year will receive 1 week pay for every year they stay with me, if I terminate. Why? I never felt it was fair an employee has to give notice but an employer does not. It’s called compassion. This is someone’s life. And if it gets to that point then I have failed as an employer and leader.
- We are throwing away the Machiavellian style of management and hierarchy based organizational charts. There aren’t even titles on our business cards for a reason. We embrace the entrepreneurial employee through continuing education, and cross training; allowing our employees to remain fluid as we grow and expand. Every employee will have their individual strengths, but that does not mean we stop working on our weaknesses. This also means 100% my employees are authorized to do what ever it takes to make sure our clients get the best possible experience.
Altruistic? Heck yea! But I’d rather aim high and miss. Bad decisions still make for good stories and failure is just another learning opportunity. But continuing to stick with a broken system is an even worse mistake. Afterall, isn’t the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results?
And don’t even ask what I have done to the interview process. 2nd interview you get to pick an employee at random to interview. No better way to judge employee satisfaction and workplace moral then the employees already in the company.