Just because Monday is the beginning of the workweek doesn't mean it can't be payday, too. Heather Schuster, CLP, president of Terra-Firma Landscape, Inc., in Muskego, Wisconsin, has been paying employees on Monday mornings since she and husband Dave started their business in 1993. They initiated Monday paydays early on because, in Heather's words, "Our people needed the work, and they also needed to get paid right away." After more than a few of her first employees asked if they could get their paychecks early, Heather simply paid them all on Monday. Since then, every Monday has been payday for Terra-Firma employees.
The move benefits both the company and its employees, Heather explains. "For employees, getting paid on Mondays gives them an immediate reward for the work they did the previous week, and it can be especially rewarding if they have worked overtime on Saturday. We also understand that many young people haven't developed good money management habits … paying them at the beginning of the week gives them a better opportunity to save some money than paying them on Friday."
From the company's point of view, a Monday payday has some built-in advantages, too, despite the fact it entails more paperwork than paying every two weeks. "First of all, it ensures that all our employees will show up for work on Monday," Heather notes. "Who wants to miss payday? It benefits me, too, because I know what our labor costs are right away. Thirty percent of our costs is in labor, and it's no secret that payroll can get out of hand in a hurry. Paying every Monday makes me aware of our overall labor costs and helps our managers get a better handle on costs for specific jobs."
Heather adds that recently "unplugging" their time clock has helped track labor costs, too. Now, for employees to get paid, they need to hand in their time sheets, completely filled out. They no longer can depend on the time clock to back them up and count the hours for them.
As Heather points out, companies like hers can pay any day of the week. They can also pay weekly, biweekly, even monthly. For Terra-Firma, paying on the first day of every week has just seemed like "the right thing to do."
Article provided by the Associated Landcape Contractors of America eToolkit. eToolkit is an e-mail communication resource covering issues from finance and operations to labor, equipment and marketing. To sign up, register at http://www.alca.org/listserveintro.html.