Motivating Employees With Redo’s and Rewards

Counter-intuitive as it might seem, redo’s can actually be a good motivation to improve quality and client relations at the same time.

At Commercial Steam Team we feel it is always important to reward quality work. Since redo’s are one indicator that quality may be a concern, and since we will always do a redo if the clients is not satisfied in every way, we encourage our employees to avoid the necessity of a redo. We accomplish this by awarding our crews with a bonus when they have less than 2% redo’s in a month, and double it when they have no redo’s at all!

This approach offers several benefits. One of the most significant is that redo’s rapidly change from a quality and performance issue into a means of monitoring equipment and materials quality and a means of building solid relationships with clients.

Another benefit is that team members watch out for each other and help each other avoid mistakes. After all, if I know that my paycheck and the paychecks of everyone on the team are affected by everyone on my team, then I’m going to make sure that I hold up my end of the deal and that they do too. This is particularly so if we each know that if a redo is needed we’ll have to drive 45 minutes back for a job that we’re not making money on. In the long term, this helps build teamwork and helps weed out non-team players.

Coming back to the topic of building solid relationships with clients, it is very important that employees show up for a redo with a smile on their face. If they don’t, then the client may interpret their attitude as sullen and resentful, which can be easily interpreted as believing the client is being unfair to them, which could in turn then lead to poorer quality work.

Clients trust our crews when they show up in good faith and assure them they will do everything in their power to correct the spill, spot, or traffic pattern. Clients take a big risk when they allow a company into their building, often after hours and unsupervised by the client. It’s important to show them that we are trustworthy, especially when a job may have had a problem. Trust is invaluable to both us and our clients.

When a redo is needed, our crew shows them what they are doing as they do it and explains the method well. Even if the problem isn’t corrected due to something beyond our control, the client still gains peace of mind that they weren’t duped. If the problem is fixed then we are not only heroes but they see we aren’t petty. This in turn helps create positive energy within our crews, an energy which comes across to clients very clearly.

It’s also very important to show through positive reinforcement that the team’s effort is noticed. At Commercial Steam Team we post notes on the wall for “over the top” compliments from customers. The crews love seeing the wall grow and everyone wants to know that their efforts have been noticed.

We also reward our employees with profit sharing. Commercial Steam Team shares 10% end of the year profits with our employees. As a result, every employee has a stake in the quality of their work and how well the company does.

These policies have resulted in a hugely loyal client base, extremely loyal staff, and record-breaking years for Commercial Steam Team. We look forward to doing your carpets too.

Visit this page to see the summary of the Clean Carpet Quality Control System.