The Glorious Burden of Sign Company Employees

Great power, greater responsibility.

I’M GONNA GET INTO some nitty-gritty, baseline minutiae in this article, y’all! ‘Cause I’m going to talk about employees: their respective importance to a business, as well as their responsibilities to their employer.

Ohhh… I have your attention now, don’t I?

Know why? ‘Cause employees are unequivocally, without question, absolutely, the hardest, most volatile component of a successful business. I should know. Because I’ve had employees since I was 18 (and without giving you an exact target, that’s “approx.” 40 years now…)

And you know what? Every single night for those four decades (14,600 evenings) when I go to sleep, the responsibilities of that undertaking flood my mind. It’s a weight that I dread and love at the same time.

I love the fact that I have the ability, with 100% confidence, to tell a friend, a client, a Fortune 500 company, that I can “make that happen.” Whatever they need! If I’m honest, it’s one of the highlights of my existence. I came to this planet to get sh-t done, help people along the way and make a lasting impact (all while looking good doing it… but that’s probably just an ancillary benefit, ’cause Rick Ream is beside me…) I love having all the signmaking equipment, all the resources, and all the guys that know exactly how to squeeze all the benefits out of that equipment and resources!

Only problem (and it’s a big one), is that they expect to get paid for that ability. Cue the Night Terrors! OK, here comes the nitty-gritty…

For the past 6-7 years, we have maintained anywhere from 30-36 employees. Think somewhere in the $2 million payroll range. Cue the Night Terrors!

And many of them have been with us for 1, 2, 2.5 decades. Their whole working life, even! Oh damn… my whole working life too! (…I’m never sleeping again…)

Because of the sheer responsibility of my company being liable for not only my family and my handsome partner’s family, but all those dudes that have stuck with us through thick and thin, and their families!

It’s a massive, nearly indescribable weight that is on a business owner’s shoulders. Constantly. There is no break, no week when you don’t have to worry about covering a $40k payroll or more.

Now that we’ve established an owner’s side of things, let’s discuss an employee’s responsibilities to a company.

Our company is what we like to call a “Production-Based Organization.” What does that mean? It means every single employee must bring value to our company. If they do not, they cannot remain a part of our company. Period. End of discussion.

Let’s start from the beginning. A company, a corporation, is a fictional “entity.” You do not “own” that company. You are an employee of that corporation (or you better be!), just like all the other employees. The corporation lives on if you die in a fiery distillery explosion (for example). This is the key. They work for the corporation just like you do. So their value has to be based on their ability to generate more money for that company than their paycheck costs that company!

I mean, it’s so simple! But so hard.

You must break the mindset that you give raises out or that you fire people. You do not. The corporation does. If they don’t show up on time, if they give lackluster performance, if they wreck company vehicles, if they allow personal issues to block their usefulness, the corporation, absolutely, without question, needs to shed that liability. The corporation owes it to you, and the other employees!

However… maybe, just maybe… they are worth the effort to save.

Next month, we’ll get into how to make that happen, where both parties benefit.

Signs of The Times Article