# Productivity bonuses



## Treefanatic (Aug 27, 2007)

Does anybody use bonuses tied to productivity as an incentive? Please describe how you set it up, and whether it's been successful for you. Our goals are to provide an incentive to get more work done, as well as to retain workers, so any other comments on this subject are most welcome. Thanks!


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## kevknep (Aug 28, 2007)

How do you plan to determine productivity? I think it would be a good idea to give a bonus if an employee is doing a really good job, hustling, etc., but I don't think I would set some criteria that based pay on productivity on a week by week basis.

Give the workers that hustle bigger raises and/or give them a bonus check during a team meeting so that the other crew members know that they might get a bonus if they hustle, but I don't think a weekly pay supplement would be good.

I just wouldn't recommend setting up a scenario where employees start to depend on a production bonus and then feel let down/cheated when they don't get it.


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## ASD (Aug 28, 2007)

just remember *SAFETY FIRST* and speed much further down the list

and yes productivity is important and if you have someone that's not keeping pace then they do not get to move up in the co. and make more $$$ and should move on. 

but if all of your people are doing what they can to make the co $$ and the co is making $$ we pay out extra $$$$ on their hire date and in December


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## pesimon (Aug 28, 2007)

*Bonuses*

I don't have any set bonus rules but when a person hustles for me [and still works safely] I try to do something for them. Some times they get a cake job on Friday and told to go home when their done, sometimes its cash in hand [a tip for a job well done].
Always let the other guys know in a nice way why the special treatment, just in case they get the urge to work a little harder/smarter. 
Not anything set in stone as jobs always seem to differ but just trying to say thanks. Most of them feel real good after recieving something "extra" and most of them understand this is not a constant addition to their weekly pay. For the ones that can't figure it out, I spell it out.


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## beowulf343 (Aug 29, 2007)

We don't have productivity bonuses with our outfit. Some trim crews do several trees a day while some removal crews only manage one tree a day. Comparing apples to oranges. But we do have ways of earning extra vacation days. We all get a certain number of weeks of vacation depending on how long we've been with the company. But they came up with a way to earn an extra week on top of that. Every six months without a workman's comp claim (a trip to the hospital) is worth a day's vacation. Every year without a missed day of work is worth a day's vacation. And every six months that your crew goes without property damage is worth a day's vacation to every member of the crew. Had to do the last one by crews or else the groundies would be blaming the climber for damage and the climber would blame the groundies. This way the whole crew sinks or swims together. May not seem like much but every little bit helps. Plus we all get a yearly cost of living wage increase and a wage increase depending of productivity. As a take-down crew, we get a raise every 1000 trees we put on the ground. The trimmer crews get a raise every 2500 trees they do i think it is. And the bucket crews have their own tiered system. Makes you want to stay with the company for the long term. And it seems to work-my crew has been together for 7 years now and we are on our fifth thousand.


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## Mitchell (Aug 30, 2007)

*I try to say thanks more when*

Things are going well and not just grouch when things are not. I find people in general produce more with positive feedback. 
My arborist service is something I do part time so when I am not running things I do not employ folks. I also try to pay guys with cash at the end of the day. They like that better then a pay check. I Usually pay a bit more then what we have agreed on but not always [60% of the time]. I also pay more then the next guy to retain guys.


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