I'll Take It Personally
We lost four Team PJP members this week - and that may be a PJP record. SIGH. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 100 times…the Human Resources part of entrepreneurship makes me want to burn the whole thing to the ground. (For the record, I’m being dramatic. Should the store ever burn down, I’ll promise it wasn’t me because I’ve worked too hard in that joint to lose it all now.). I’m so happy Jason is here to deal with all the hiring and other thorny HR issues because that frees up plenty of time for me to take everything very personally.
After some reflection, here are my pros and cons of working for a small business:
Cons
Well, most obviously, we aren’t starting employees at $15 an hour like Target. If we could start everyone at $15 an hour, we so so so. so would. But that requires a price increase in pie and then customers complain about price increases and now we are in a vicious cycle that no one can solve.
Jean or Jason or I are LITERALLY ALWAYS THERE. Do you know how stressful that is for people that work at large chain stores who don’t even know the name of their founders?
We set a very high standard. In general, if I don’t tolerate it from my own kids, I don’t tolerate it from my work kids. That includes specifically (but not limited to): language and tardies.
We work really hard. I’m not implying that those working at big box stores don’t work hard - I know they do. But since our family’s livelihood depends on the success of our business, there isn’t much of a challenge we will back down from. I always want us to do more and do it best. And for the most part, I’ll expect everyone to do what is necessary. That can be overwhelming.
We are a small business, but with big aspirations. We are constantly re-evaluating and adjusting our work flow. Big box stores have that all down perfectly, so we often appear less than perfect. That’s because we are.
Pros
We see each employee as unlimited growth and potential. We know each employee pretty well and we can quickly see the strengths of each and can work to develop those strengths into a serious skill set. Not much escapes me.
Oh, your great grandma is having her gallbladder removed Friday and you would like to be there when she gets out of the hospital but you forgot to ask off? We can probably work around that because it is important to you. (Try that at a big box store.)
Oh, you are worried about driving in the snow to work because you are from Texas and not familiar with winter weather? We are actually closed for the safety of all our employees. (Target is still open.)
Want to switch from afternoon crew to morning crew because that is better for your class schedule? We can try that! Worried about school in general? Let’s discuss.
Want to watch us figure out what we are doing each step of the way…and offer opinion during the process? Small business is the place to be if you are interested in weighing in with value about big decisions. I’m sure Target corporate is nice and all, but they can’t care what every cashier thinks because there are thousands of them. You keep that opportunity when working with a small business.
That’s my soapbox on behalf of small business everywhere on employment. Or maybe no one else have ever lost four employees in a week and no you are thinking WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM OVER THERE AT PJP? No worries…I’ll be taking it personally.
