One good deed too many

As a shop owner, you can develop many valuable relationships through business and community involvement. Successful shop owners and managers are often looked to for community leadership and your contributions will generate respect.

While I applaud such efforts, your role as a professional businessperson will also open you up to numerous requests for help. But for every good deed, more requests will come, because once you’re known for having a willing heart, you may be contacted more frequently than you intended.

Your efforts to help humanity and will likely lead to employment requests from those who “just need a chance.” Problem is, there’s a never-ending supply. As recently as mid-May, I was asked if I’d give a recent parolee “another chance.” Although a few of our current employees have overcome experiences at the “state hotel” and became valuable employees, I couldn’t accommodate this one.

We all know people who’ve encountered difficult circumstances. Our company has certainly employed our share. Unfortunately, most just-need-a-chance candidates don’t last and they aren’t appreciative of the opportunities provided.

Recognition isn’t important to me for whatever good deeds our company may attempt, and I decline most attempts to publicize our efforts, in part because it’s distracting when people look at your company as one suited to employing sketchy characters. It shouldn’t be assumed that companies with blue-collar positions are social organizations looking to employ goofballs with troubled pasts.

Several years ago, we changed our strategy and decided the only way we’d employ anyone with a questionable history was on a contract basis through a staffing company. This protected us in the event someone didn’t work out. One cost of using this approach is the agency fee, as well as candidates’ desire to be permanently hired as soon as possible. When it becomes clear we aren’t going to immediately make a permanent offer, their attitudes typically worsen.

For example, in 2012 we contractually employed a paroled brother of an employee. He worked hard for awhile, but because of his history and our own careful hiring practices, we weren’t ready to make a permanent offer and his attitude went downhill. Later, we discovered he was discreetly tagging equipment with a racial insignia and other employees became concerned. While he denied it, the insignia matched his tattoos and we decided to release him. Unfortunately, after years of dealing with every element of humanity, shop owners can become cynical about helping anyone, causing problems for those who are really looking for an honest opportunity.

In addition to those with legally troubled pasts, requests for help often involve people who are just plain careless and undisciplined. A family friend asked me to employ her 19-year old son, who needed a real job and some direction. I told her we’d interview him and consider giving him a shot, until my daughter informed me about his bad reputation in high school, including experimenting with drugs. Sure enough, he failed a drug test at another company where he had applied, proving he wouldn’t have lasted in our shop. Thankfully, we didn’t have to deal with that one.

Don’t read this as a recommendation against ever helping those in need, but do evaluate them carefully and don’t create a position when nothing is available. A desire to help is admirable and I’ll continue working hard to dispel the notion that machine shops are grungy places full of nitwits and ex-felons. Our employees are some of the smartest people around, troubled pasts or not. CTE

About the Author: Keith Jennings is president of Crow Corp., Tomball, Texas, a family-owned company focusing on machining, metal fabrication and metal stamping. Contact him at kjennings@jwr.com.