When I return to my office after a contractor interview for an article, I usually have tons of notes to sort through. A lot of times, not everything I talked about with a contractor makes it into my stories. But that's not to say the information left out of the article isn't quality information.
Take for instance my interview with Scott Truax for this month's cover story on Middle Georgia Concrete Constructors (p. 18). We talked about business management, setting goals and industry trends. Scott also told me about a recent change at the company that resulted in some unexpected increases in productivity. The conversation didn't make it into the article, but it is something any contractor could consider for his own business and worth mentioning here.
Middle Georgia has about 20 employees on the company bonus plan. In the past it awarded bonuses on an individual job basis, but Middle Georgia changed to a quarterly bonus program based on company-wide profits.
Truax said after the change, he started seeing employees getting a little more excited about saving money. "Now superintendents call each other looking for extra materials when they're a little bit short on something instead of running out to buy stuff right away," Scott says. "They keep each other in check to save money for the company, not just on their jobs anymore."
What a great result! Superintendents are planning better and making operations within the company move more efficiently, effectively making more money through increased productivity.
Getting employees to make you money - now there's a great idea! But it's not an original one, and coincidentally that very idea is the topic of another article in this issue -
Business 101 Columnist Brad
Humphrey's article "Moving employees to make you money" (p. 74).
When an idea like this starts popping up everywhere, you know it's good! Start reading, and start thinking of ways your employees can make you money!
