Good day ladies and gents.
That’s my situation in a nutshell. I had my only employee call me just after lunch yesterday to let me know he was leaving early to go help a friend finish a painting job.
Now for some details. It’s just myself and him (journeyman and 4th year apprentice, and a friend for the last 17 years). We are absolutely swamped right now with a few houses on the go. I worked through my weekend because I’m trying to get us caught up. I have him working another jobsite, and I’ve already been getting rode pretty hard to hurry up and finish rough-ins so drywall can start.
I let him know on the phone that I was not happy with this decision, but I’m hesitant on what my next step should be.
What say the masses?
It doesn’t sound like this is a pattern, yet, only an isolated incident so far. If he is hourly, and leaves early, he doesn’t get paid, right? Do you ever ask him to work late? Seems like some flexibility should be in order in both directions. He doesn’t own the company, you do. You can’t make being understaffed his problem, nor can you make setting unrealistic expectations with customers his problem. You have created a situation where losing the capacity of a single person for a partial day is potentially causing hardship and customer issues. Do you have a plan if he ends up injured or unable to work for a week or two? This is not an employee problem you are solving, this is a capacity planning and business continuity problem that your are solving.