 Good afternoon everybody Tom Stewart here. I'm with Liz Trotter. Our guest today is Mel Kleinman, and this is smart business moves Mel how are you today? I'm doing just right beautiful weather Trying to get the Daytona Beach Florida go sit on the beach enjoy it have a presentation to do. What more can I ask for? That's the weather like down in Gaitona. Is it a little chilly down there tonight? Well today's little chilly down there, but you know what it's beautiful the sunny shining and it's gorgeous and Can't ask for anything more Nice for sure for sure Well, you don't know this now, but you are one of our say I would say top three presenters would you say you know Liz didn't know you were the guest today And I was like Liz we can't be late Mel is our guest and she got all excited and it's like yeah I mean you are your VIP on our show. You're not here We're super excited that you're here There's there's nobody that that is more of an authoritative voice on building a workforce and a culture to you know hire and retain people and God knows and the house cleaning industry. That's that's one of the more important things If not the most important thing that that we have to do to build successful businesses, and you're you're the expert Mel Well, thank you for the great compliment And hope I can give the people who take the time to listen to this and other great ideas because it's interesting to note that You know, it's like all of a sudden you've been saying things for years and years and years All of a sudden something just hits you and it's really interesting Because you know I talk about people talk about they want to be great or they want to be a great manager For example, how do you be a magnetic manager? How do you be a man people join companies and the number one reason they leave interesting now if they bought into the company? Is they leave because of the manager and we talk about being a magnetic manager We could probably do a program on that at some point in time, but the interesting thing to note about it is the number one key to starting to be a magnetic manager is Like starting to do anything else. You have to decide that you want to And I think that Revelation to me has been so interesting and I even have to go differently because I said decide that you want to But you have to change the word to decide that you're going to be Yes, and that that's the key the first step if you want to be a great employee decide you want to be a great employee if You want to do a great podcast decide not that I'm gonna do a podcast decide that I'm gonna do a go I not want to but I'm going to do a great podcast and just changing the wording and changing your thinking we'll begin to change your outcome and just We've probably heard it all along through our lives But how often do we we accept where we are with saying not deciding? I'm gonna be better I'm not and you may not make the marathon, but you'll get better at going a little further distance if you go a little distance every time Okay Well, you know now. It's really interesting that you're bringing this up because about a month ago I started really harping on this idea about Deciding that the hardest part is not the doing the hardest part is the deciding Because we don't we don't want to do it. And so we don't decide to do it We decide that other people should do it first. We decide that we shouldn't have to do it We decide that it's not our responsibility We decide a lot of things but what we don't decide is I'm just gonna be better I'm just gonna be better now. We don't we don't do that. We don't decide that and it's interesting you use the word decide Yeah, because the and another learning decide open the Latin and Decide means to kill Isn't that interesting? Yeah decide to do something you kill all the other options Nice, I like that. Okay Yeah, I like that Decide to do you decide you're gonna eat better Okay, and then we'll get into some other factors about it But when you decide that you're gonna do something you kill the other option. That's why it's so hard to decide Yeah, there is no plan B. You burn the boats and that's the direction you're going Right, you do have a lag Tom. So that that becomes interesting. So that that's the new learning. I Love it. I'm excited about the new stuff that you're doing. I can't wait for you to talk to us all about it. Hey Denise Long time no see Denise so That that's the point you look at and so we need to decide Especially in the business we're in and we need to decide that we're gonna be five star employers We need to make that decision that we're gonna be better than anybody else to work for Nice agreed so what what what kind of advice do you have for us along this idea now because You know people people struggle they They they want really good employees. What do they need to decide to do? Do they need to decide to hire better or what? Well, the first thing you need first of all you need to decide to hire better because Another piece of new learning is that 90 a little over 50% of what we do is habit Okay, we did we eat the way we do because it's habit We get up in the morning at the time we get up because it's habit We and the habit is the natural way that we tend to move because it's something we're comfortable with And so we've got to look at the habit that we're looking at and we got to be looking to look at okay How do we change the habit? It's like And it's just making a decision first and then it's taking if saying okay I'm gonna take one small step. What is the small step? Okay? So let's assume we make the step that we want to become a five-star employer That's the key. Okay, and then why do you want to become a five-star employer? First of all, let's look at all the reasons to become a five-star employer The number one reason to be a five-star employer is because then all-star employees want to work for you I've actually have a maid company. I'm working with it. We just certified as a five-star employer and I got to tell you they get they know They know why they're in business. They're in their position. What is their position? Why are you in the maid business? Are you in the maid business to make money? Of course, all we are we think that is but what what's your real proposition and their proposition is you look at it Is to make life better for our customers our employees and the community? That's why they're in business nice How many of us have have to have a purpose statement that says this is why we're in business. What's our purpose? You know, it's like my purpose in business is to help companies hire better. So employees and companies have better lives Have you got a purpose statement? Why are you in business? Okay, and then what do you do to live up to your statement? That's the key And Deconquer the the power of recognition. Do you recognize, you know the number one key motivator that we could go back into is recognition Being recognized as a five-star employer Means you say to your employees. Hey, I need your help because I want to be a five-star employer What do we have to do to make this place a five-star employer? How many of ever asked your employees that go to your best people and say to your best people look I would like I want to be whether you want to be certified a five-star employer or whether you just want to be a five-star employer as a company How many of you would go to go to your people your best people I go to Liz and I say Liz look We knew we need more people like you the people like you make this a great business. I Need to know why you get what gets you to come to work every day. What keeps you excited? What why do you do the great job you always do for our customers? How did we're just role-playing right here, Liz. How did that make you feel? I love it Absolutely, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you too. I love working here because of you know all the reasons that I'm gonna tell you You asked me that question. Yeah, I feel good. I want to stay here. I love working here How much better would what are the other people listening to this if they just had that Conversation and what they just did is they recognize their that person as being a vital part of their company Gallup polls and I think we all know Gallup poll Gallup poll talks about the fact that Better than almost 65% of all employees are unengaged Okay, they're not in there. They're unengaged or they're totally disengaged only about 35% of boys are totally engaged. It's interesting. They did another study that says 67% listen to this number real study not not trying to sell you anything Gallup wasn't trying to sell anything But they were looking at Engagement of employees because they do their engagement studying and they found out that 67% also of all employees in the US today said they received no recognition at work within the last year zero And if they got it we're doing something wrong How terrible is that right and that number is so huge what the heck So and and the number one key is we're all recognition addicted We're little kids and big kids bodies Yeah, yeah, you know Told the story of my grandson was in the other room building with something with blocks and I was in my office at home And he has pop come look at this I built something neat and I was doing something and I said Cole. I'll be there in a minute Let me finish up and I keep doing something in about 30 seconds later. I hear pop Come look at this now And I said Cole take it easy. I'll be there in a minute and all of a sudden guess what I hear I Hear a crash Why oh What happened because there's three kinds of recognition Positive recognition Never get a negative recognition or no recognition at all apathy What are you giving your best employees? Yeah, no recognition at all probably Or if they're really good, what do you do if they're really good? What do you do? You give them a gift card I need somebody to take it. I know you know what I'm not gonna give it to you Because you're not you know what you you're you'll complain. Liz just does it What do I say to say I say Liz hey, I need your help. I've got this extra project I need kid what do you mind working late tonight because she'll always do it Yeah, you give your best Why did you quit the worst work? Yeah, yeah Yeah, burn them up Yeah, hey, Belle. We have a question from from our audience. So the question is how can you be certified as a five-star? Employer is that a is that a program that other cleaning companies can participate become certified? Even there's two ways you can drop me an email or you can go to five star employer On the web and there's a site that talks about how being certified and literally it cost you nothing to apply But think about it if you were a certified employer think about Getting your people to help you be certified number one are just going through the action Makes you a winner because you talk to them and say I need your help and you're recognized and everything else if you decide if you if you if the Becomes certified and what they ask I'll come back to that in a minute But if you're certified especially in the maid service, what happens when you go to recruit and This separates you from all your competition. You say certified five-star employer, but more importantly What does it say to your customers? harnessing the power of recognition and That that's the key part about it harnessing that power of recognition, but The the point being is just doing it and Taking the action is worth the whole it cost you nothing to apply. That's it. So Is this the website now? Yeah, that's it right there Okay, I'll drop the Lincoln chat Here you go, Denise and And the process really simply is the number one Okay, so let's start with how do you become sorry? How do you know if you're a five-star employer? It isn't anybody else's criteria, you know, like if you go from best place to work or great place to work or whatever the all those contests What they're trying to say is do you meet our criteria to be a fight to be the best place to work? Yeah, I agree. Oh We lost now Today, hey Kevin, how are you ma'am? Well, you know what I Think I know where he's going here and I'm kind of excited. He's right, right all of these different Places that you can apply to it's like they decide what the criteria is and then they determine whether or not you're going to be a five-star employer But I have a feeling that what Mell is going to tell us is that you're going to be Certified a five-star employer by your employees and by what your employees determine is important, right? Ultimately, they're the ones that would be deciding that aren't they yeah regardless of what any Outside third-party body says if your employees don't say you are a five-star employer guess what you're not Don't care what anybody else says So I I'm I'm really I hope Mel can make it back on here because I'm really intrigued Gosh, you know, we could also get Kevin on here Hey Kevin, you ready to take a link? Stand by You know the real only reason I really even say that is because Kevin is right on board with all of these same ideas as well Right. He's he's he's been a guest a few times before and Done done a lot of work with Kevin over the years and this is right in his wheelhouse. Yeah I'm So blow that up for us just a little bit Tom. Let's see if we can see what it says Our signature process. That's what I want to read or see right there. Can you blow it up? I can Oh Atop people and it works best when employees are involved in certification application, which in turn Drive loyalty return All right, so it does sound like It sounds like there's an outside process, but they engage your employees for your best results and Obviously that turns them into more loyal more engaged employees so All right. Well, I love this though I mean, you know, I'm gonna love everything that he has to say But you did notice Tom that the very first thing out of his mouth was you got to make your people feel like they matter Right that they are important and that they matter to your company So, you know, anybody starts talking the matter meaning measure autonomy Language and I'm I'm already on board. They don't have to say a whole heck of a lot more so Yeah and like what was the number or sixty Seven percent of employees say that they received No recognition over the last 12 months, you know, I have a really good story about this though Tom I love this story. So We we had an employee so we during our regular evaluations I think this was for a one-on-one and for a one-on-one A little form goes out to the employee like a little job form and one of the questions it says is Did you receive positive positive reckon recognition in the last week? and This form came back and this was from me and this was supposedly From Liz And I think it was like maybe in the last month and it was from Liz and on a scale of one to five How much did you get and she gave a one? right and The rating was a one the lowest possible rating and I was like what the heck and I had in my mind. I had a ton of examples of times that I had given her recognition, right? And I had like three right off the top of my head So she comes in with this form or she didn't have a form. It was a job form. She comes in We pull it out. We're looking at this and I said so Carol like I don't even understand what you're talking about here What about over the last month remember when I did this and remember when I did this and remember when I did this and She was like, oh Yeah, I forgot Liz. Let me give you let me change that. I'm gonna. I'm gonna turn that to a five and I was like, oh my gosh What's worse y'all somebody giving you Five because you convinced them that it's a five or a one So what's that? What's the tank? Oh, I mean, yeah, so you did you? Yeah, the big takeaway for me and this in the story was You can think you're doing all the stuff, but if it's not landing for your people guess what you're not doing it She's gonna give me a five, but did I have a five? No, did I really earn that five from her? No, were those three things the impactful things? No, they weren't and you know What kind of things they were you know Tom? I gave her a gift card didn't matter wasn't important to her didn't Right, so it was all stuff that didn't didn't matter to her. Were you able to like figure out what would would matter to her? You do you have any guesses of what that might be Tom those things might be I Don't know I like gift cards Yeah, she did she loves gift cards, too But at the end of the month did she remember that gift card? Did she feel like she was recognized by that gift card? She did not Okay, maybe recognize her in front of the team give her a little more She didn't she's kind of a shy gal, which is why I don't really recognize her in front of people a lot But she She just felt like I didn't really talk to her about anything like before she in her mind She was like usually you have a lot more time Liz, but lately you just haven't had a lot of time They wanted to okay. Okay. It wasn't about the gift card. It was about giving her more you matter Yeah, she didn't feel like she mattered. She wasn't she wasn't getting it and so That that was like a really I think that's a really awesome lesson and And how we we think we know what people Are we still What have I missed Mel are you watching the live stream on your phone? Yeah Okay, let me Hold on one second I think we're good now Yeah, this is fine. Yeah, some fine Denise mentions giving people a day off as a way of recognition In your case though Liz when you were talking about your team member that didn't feel like it She was being recognized that might not even do it either. She wants you to spend some time with her She wants you to talk to her. She did she wanted to feel like she was important to me And she wanted to feel like she was making a difference and that she mattered in the company and she she wasn't She wasn't getting that. Oh, you like my fur coats not for You'll see it when I'm when we're at foundations didn't eat Yeah, that that's really what she wanted was She wanted she wanted to to matter and to make a difference and to to really She wanted to be important which it goes to what Mel was saying, right? You ask people. Hey, you're We want more people that are amazing like you Why do you show up? Right? What makes you come to work? So I think we kind of Got it for my pal for Mel Nobody knows how bad it feels to be having tech difficulties more than I do That's tough. It happens though. Yeah, it does. It does happen. Yeah Let's see I'm sad that we don't have Mel. I really wanted to see his stuff Tom why don't you just really quickly take us through his website that he had up there? What else is on there? Are you a five-star employee? Oh, so okay real quick here. We got a few people on here Who do we have? We've got Linda. We've got Denet. We have Denise. We have Kevin. All right y'all Tell us type in there on a scale of one to five Are you a five-star boy? Are you five stars? Tell us what you are Go on all right now we're going to have survey for you. That's a great Question all right now we're going to have survey for you. Oh, thank you. Hey, I Didn't think she's for all a minute ago about recognition that I happen to hear Yes, you're we're We're hearing like a feedback loop about three seconds after we say something Not sure what's causing Yeah Denise high five to you I love that you think you're a four-star but your employees would say a two That's kind of how it happens right that's your exit. That's the example Yeah, I'm not sure what the solution is here There's a hear me now Yeah, we do can you hear us, okay? With the lag is like Yes, that's what happens in echo that I'm not enough Too bad singing with employee is a really great because you know what one of one of the things that makes you a five star Is being a fun place to work? Do you have fun? Do you look for reasons to celebrate? You know those are the things that you know make your people want to come to work for you Or make them come back every single day. Is it fun? You know do you recognize them? Do you you know? Do you give you give me a chance to grow? I think one of them I have another Made service that I happen to work with and it's interesting there who they're a five-star employer from is they've developed a very strong relationship With women shelter a women shelter. Oh All right, and they help to take those women who have been in those abuse situations, etc And they help build their self-esteem again And it's been a win-win for everybody It's things like that that make you a five-star employer Find out the people you can who help you and you help them, you know, it's like If you're one of the keys that I know somebody's a five-star employer ask the question What percentage of your employees come from referral from your other employees? Okay, if 35% of your employees or more are coming from referral From your present employees That means you've got to be a winner because they're voting They're telling their their friends that hey, this is a five-star place to work Hi voting with that they're voting It means are you are you heavy? Are you looking at? Building a method for them to give you referrals You know you can look at a methodology for them to give you referrals Do you have a methodology that lets them give you referrals do you pay for referrals for example? It doesn't have to be big, but it's saying thank you It's when somebody refers so let's assume you have a referral bonus program And let's make it $50. What's it? Is it good employee a great employee worth $50 to you? I think we know the answer if I was for a great employee to you for 50 bucks You give me $50 Well, why would you not have a referral bonus program? Maybe it's $50. Maybe it's something else I'll give you another idea in a minute, but I hire Liz And I say and Tom recommended you and I the day you come to work I say everybody I want to do is everybody to Liz and Liz was brought to us by Tom So we know she's gonna be terrific. Otherwise he wouldn't have recommended her What did I just do? I Raised the bar I've said I've said I've set the expectation for her and I paid a compliment to Tom Everybody's a winner and by the way Tom for bringing us Liz What do you get and let's just say you got $50. Well hold on your hand and count now 10 brand new $5 bill 10 5 $10 bills, okay? And you've got some recognition or even better than that have some fun. I have one customer Who we work with and they have a wall with balloons on it and you get a dart And you throw a dart and whatever in that balloon you you get it's fun. I have another another recommendation in you get you can envelopes and Tom recommended somebody recommended Liz and he gets to pick an envelope and what's ever in that envelope he wins Now the neat secret to that is I know what Tom needs and guess what's in all five envelopes Wow, okay But we had some fun giving the reward and everybody's had a good time doing it and that's a winner It's little things like that that make the difference and make you that place for all-star employees want to work You know harness this power of recognition There's a another tool. I think I even talked about the last time I did a This podcast with you But one of the tools we developed and if somebody sends me an email. I'll send it to you Is an employee data sheet? And if I said to you how many of you can tell me every one of your employees favorite candy bar How come you can tell me their favorite snack food? How many can tell you their favorite drink how many can tell you what charities if they had a charity they support How many can tell you what they like to do for fun? How many can tell you what they do on weekend? How many can tell you how many of you can tell us? If they have kids, what are their kids involved in how many so What we did oh, and then and we added one these couple months So why not have a new employee fill out the data sheet and if we and if we said that we were invest Give you a gift for twenty five dollars. What would you like to have or what's your favorite restaurant? You know what most of your what one of you a lot of your employees favorite restaurants are What's that with a lot of the pay residence Applebee's oh Yeah, I don't know why Applebee's come up Let me give you another one that came out interesting enough. I just as I'm talking about I keep remembering these things But one of them says what's your favorite radio station? and what they found out was and this was not in Made services happen to be in home health care what they found out was a lot of their Darn lost him again I got it. I know I I feel like as long as we're not talking That it works because the lag doesn't really show up He's talking the lag is major though Yes, but as long as we don't say anything you don't notice it, right? It's not a noticeable. Yeah It's hard not saying anything though. It is really really hard. So I have Based on that that questionnaire thing This is something that a new idea that's come kind of out of our circles here but a lot of people are having success with that I think is an awesome idea and Take your take that survey that are everybody's doing those now, right? Find out your favorite everybody's favorite stuff Instead of doing that survey after you hire them Send them three questions like for for from that survey there What's there? What kind of pet do they have? anything three of the things which favorite snack food whatever and And put that as part of your interview process send that question to them in advance as part of their application now that Shows that you are a different kind of employer because you actually care about me, right as a person and That is that is getting a little bit different result for people one of the things that I noticed is and Mel is speaking to this well when he comes back I'm sure he'll speak more to it, but he's speaking to it really well is that it's not the big things Right. It's all of these little tiny things. It's people aren't staying at your company because you are Like having them throw a dart at a balloon to to get money that that's not it It's not the dart at the balloon on the board. It's the recognition of You've done this thing that matters to our company That's really important to us and you've made it important to you So that makes you important and now you brought on another person who's very valuable to us. So it's a whole big It's it's like a it's like an example or a manifestation Of a culture as opposed to just a thing. Okay, we threw the dart great. I yeah, you know, I'm a great employer now I'm a five-star important. Yeah. Yeah, it's not oh Here it comes Maybe We're good. Well For all of these wonderful opportunities today Okay, sometimes this happens So Let me know how we can make it up to you because I just very sorry about what's happening Yeah, well, we'll get you back on at another time Okay, um you can you know if Liz and I are quiet and you can Just nodding our heads from time to time and maybe giving you a thumbs up It was a problem there's a problem with everything get piled into one time and I did plan to be someplace else and Everything fell apart and I apologize for it. I hate to see that happen That's okay This is not the worst thing that's happened to us now Okay, so Well, well, thank you Mel you take care Okay, let me know and we'll make sure that we have nothing no conflicts about it Thank you. Thanks so much. Take care Mel. Thanks now Well That's just sad that that was a bust Because he always brings the gold love now. I know me too but I'm really excited about Learning about being a five-star employer because this is really cool So just in the menu here the process. He's got five-star criteria the application process and the acceptance Let's see what the criteria is Okay, is this big enough can we read this I can but you know my screen is 50 inch so Okay, how about that? That's looking good Okay, so what do we say? What makes a five-star employer? How do they attract and retrain retain all-star employees the following are many of the traits five-star employers have in common But by no means all of them if your organization is five-star for reasons not listed here Feel free to include them in your application cool. Yeah, very cool. Yeah Well, he talked about this one that makes perfect sense to me The referrals 35% of employees. Yeah referrals. Yeah That makes sense People aren't referring their friends and relatives to a crappy company Okay, right if they think you're good enough then They're gonna refer you I've had some employees say that, you know, you wouldn't want any of my friends to work here Well, I have heard that too, but I always wonder that Like what are you like when you're not at work because you're amazing at work There's a questions better not at just best not not talk about it Okay, low low turnover turnover rate is 20% or more lower than the industry average Only 20% seems low to me like 20% low seems like you could be an okay employer and have 20% Lower than the industry average Well, maybe that's just kind of the threshold and you still have to check all the other boxes too if you check all the other boxes 20% lower maybe that That makes sense Yeah, it's just one point Okay, well Denise is Denise is happy. She says she said just chatting that little bit with Mel was super helpful and great timing for her So that's great. Glad to hear that Denise. I see you over there making notes Tom instead of scrolling Let's see hiring The organization all managers involved in the hiring process have had interview training. We have learned to fail fast Oh, I love that. I've always loved the learn to fail fast thing, right? Get them out quickly love that and That's interesting. That's not something that we hear a lot about Tom I haven't heard very many people talk about this at all that all of the managers have had Interview training. How many people you know? Do you know that have their managers go through interview training? Not me. How do you do? I mean, I guess that would be something that you would develop in house I don't I'm trying to think of some standardized That's a product. That's a product you need to develop lives and offer that to the industry Well, actually Tom, we have that and foundations remember We have the training on so that you're you set up your interviews You have the set question the answers that are scored and then you just fill it in so we actually have this But how many people do you know how many companies? Do this? It's a whole behavioral interview technique. Yeah. Yeah, and then actually train their people to interview If it were more like in a NLMS or something where it could be delivered on a regular basis We we go over that in in foundations with the expectation. I guess that The foundation's participant would then go back and implement that I think they use it themselves But did they train the people that are actually doing the interviews with it? I guess is the question That's what I'm thinking is missing and and I think a lot of that is on us also Tom We should be doing a better job with that because we know that the majority of the time the people that are coming and going through Foundations they don't have a lot of you know managers in place at that point in time And so we're not teaching them that piece We need we need to do better probably not happening for foundations 12 since it's in five days or something Right, so we'll get that we'll get that right next week. Yeah 13 y'all Foundation 13. Well, we'll be Actually look at it in 12. I mean won't point that out next week Well, yeah, but we can point it out, but we can't teach them how to do it Not with their managers Okay Well, we'll have the conversation as well Maybe we could do like a webinar or something afterwards. Yeah, actually, maybe that's a great idea Well, maybe we could have like the school got Mel on. Yeah You can talk about it. All right, let's do what's the next one employee commitment. I can't see it because we got Okay, I'm getting there All of our employees know what it takes to succeed in their job and a rewarded accordingly. This is kind of like The Gallup F12 in some regard Q12 Q12 that's right. It's y'all you have to forgive us Foundations is just right around the corner and that's all that's on our mind right now It's foundation and we've been working harder for weeks getting ready for this weeks Tom months over here Well, well a lot of weeks turn into months. That's true. Good point. Yeah Well, if you want to get right down to it, you want to get right down to it probably 10 years Yeah, all right. Good point. Yeah, I'll give you that All right, so I like this one. I think that we have all All or at least you and I have both agreed that this is really Important, right? We we've seen this in the Q12. We understand why it's important This has a lot to do with training, right? You're never gonna you're never gonna convince us that People don't need to be trained in their their jobs and their positions and That they part of their training is that they know what it takes to succeed All my life I'm working on foundations. So Linda's also working on foundations Much appreciated Linda, thank you Appreciate it. We got the need on here too. She's also working on foundations. Oh Yeah, it's a foundation's kind of a kind of a week here Pointing out the behavior based interviewing. Yeah, you don't want to be interviewed as based on a gut feeling. Yes We'll be seeing you next week when even so Linda and Deneep will will be here next week, right? No, Linda won't be here until 2.0. She'll be here the following week for 2.0 So Deneet's doing 12 and Linda's doing 2.0. Okay, they're not doing that. I hit not here for two weeks No, nobody's occurs. Yeah Yeah, y'all like us Ah Okay, let's see. What's this check this out? I think there's a there's a there's a tie you mentioned about training that gets into a compensation and benefits We pay above industry standards and provide above industry benefits You know, we both agree. That's a good thing. That's important and If you can train people to help them create more value and be more valuable It's really easy to pay them More than the industry average because they're worth more than the industry average They're creating more value than the industry average. So again, all of that ties back into training Which is the very next one, you know, I really like the idea of continual training, too I like cross training too. Yeah, I like all of this. I gotta say I love continuous training I do feel like this can take a backseat a lot of times in companies especially when you have someone that is doing a really good job, right, they get good scorecards and Sometimes you just don't even think to give continuous training, but there's always stuff that's available for training You know new surfaces new things to clean new products that are out there. There's there's new new What do I want to say customer service techniques that you need to employ because our customer needs and requirements change And what they expect from us changes. So we have to teach that stuff. I feel like there's a lot of Opportunity for continual training that doesn't pop up for people and It's interesting that it says offer You know from a cross training standpoint, I've had some people say that, you know, I like the job that I'm in Really have no interest in learning anybody else's job. Yeah So, you know, yeah, okay in that case if they're if they're really good at the job that they're in and they Really like the job that they're in if it's not broke, don't fix it You wouldn't you wouldn't necessarily mandate. Well, you're gonna have to learn how to answer the phone whether you want to or not I mean you wouldn't Yeah, give them an opportunity and if they don't want to learn somebody else's job Just let them be awesome at the job at their end a super good point Tom I I like your point especially because I Think that sometimes people do mandate. Sorry. You have to do this whether you like it or not you're gonna have to and I like the idea of honing in on the word offer as kind of the sticking point there This is interesting boomerang employees employees who have left us and come back You know what I'd like here. I'd like a percentage Everybody has boomerang employees. Everybody. I've never seen a company that didn't have boomerang employees But what percentage, you know, what percentage of your people? Come back to you. I think that would be an amazing number similar to the 35% from above I don't know exactly how we measure it may central. Can you guys figure that out for us? Sure. Yeah, and you know, and not every not every You know employee who leaves would be invited back I Do think that it would be awesome if we had a way to track the people who were available for rehire they came back though That'd be cool Not a not a core KPI by any means in my mind But I don't know it looks like to be a five-star employer. Maybe it is maybe it should be Kevin got a suggestion here and this goes back to I guess the training and cross training using the the best cleaning Recognitions best cleaning professionals to train the best practices of the field. I love that Yeah, I love that idea. Yeah, it sounds like a way of recognizing people as well Yeah, I think that's the bigger piece the recognition factor is the biggest piece of that Absolutely love that and we also have that continuous learning for the people in the field because they I've cleaned in the field Tom. You've never actually cleaned in the field but I remember when I cleaned in the field and you do It's nothing you really forget stuff. You just it just Becomes less important because you get into this rhythm Similar to what Mel was saying also about the habits, right? You are habitually cleaning in certain ways and some stuff just falls off your radar So I I like this idea of having those great cleaner train on some best practices. I think it's cool Promote from within always like to promote from within before looking outside to fellow position. I mean, that's a good practice It says We look to promote before it doesn't say that we don't ever fill from outside Just as we look to fill from inside first. I like that And you can can maybe tie that back into Like the interview process as well with in the hiring When you're hiring people, you know be looking for people who have you know Skills and the ability to grow into other jobs in the organization it's Sometimes I see that as a missed opportunity Well, you're actually really good at this. I've seen you do this for years at Castle Keepers You know you Honing in on different different things that people do well and seeing other uses for them You do that you do it with main central too I've seen you move people around based on what they do well and different different talents that they have It seems like this is something that comes naturally to you Looking for opportunities You know, it's not it's not like a light switch where you know, this person's not you know good for this job Not good for this job. It doesn't you know, what can they be good at? What are they good at and? Being a little bit flexible with job descriptions we create jobs for people at times just move activities around to Get the best out of out of out of the out of the players you have so to speak Vision and mission we have a clear vision and mission statement and every employee knows what it is So I have to hammer on this one just a little bit because I don't for me I don't think it's enough that people can recite your vision and your mission statements I know a lot of companies where people can say it but they they don't actually live it It's not enough to just know it you have to you have to be living it You have to know how to bring them to life, right? What what are the things that you're doing that show that you're following the vision and and the mission? I think that is a big big piece of that. It's not enough to just recite it And I'm speaking for for my company especially back in the day We had I don't know at one point in time I think we had like 36 employees or something and they could all recite everything Backward and forward but would I have said that they were all living it? No, right? That's a really good point, you know, it's a You know being able to recite it knowing it is is necessary but not sufficient Yeah, you need to be able to find examples of it and you know, we're we're we're where is this living within our organization? Yeah, and every employee I guess if if if you know at the highest level You know if you're getting it right at all levels would be able to give you examples of And I you'd be able to find it in other people here's an example of where You know somebody You know is embracing and living and exhibiting, you know, one of our core values or our mission and vision Yeah, I love what Kevin says here, too. That can be part of the best practice training Yes, absolutely because adding on the training to it makes it a whole different thing, right? And also if one of the employees is the one that is doing that training It's received in a way different way than it's then when it's coming from on high, right? Like memorize this information you have to know this information blah blah blah, okay I know I can pay lip service to it But when it's coming to people from their peers or what they perceive as their peers It's a I feel like it's a a different situation all together So Tom, I know we have quite a few more on here Can you scroll down about how many more? I want to hit on safety for sure. Wow. There's a lot of them Kind of tight on time so I can't I actually have an interview that I have to do at three o'clock come So I can't but I do want to hit on safety. No, we're gonna Yeah, we're gonna be done at the top of the hour here, which gives us two minutes Safety is important for you know many many reasons Recognition accountability employee investment Significant ongoing investment in all your employees regardless of the position. So I guess that's time and treasure Respect diversity family friendly community involvement whoops fun Open-door policy high expectations my favorite top management Open communication Dynamic-minded So the link is in chat five star employer calm check this out This is Something that we could probably all benefit by spending a little more time with than possibly implementing within our businesses We are at the top of the hour We're not gonna be here next week Two weeks we're not gonna be here the week after because we're doing F2.0 Y'all are gonna miss us. I'm not gonna be back until April 3rd. I mean no April 5th Is that right? Yeah So we're gonna miss both of our birthdays we're gonna miss St. Patrick's Day We're gonna be another year older by then. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm so excited All right y'all Thanks everybody looking forward to seeing everybody at foundations also 2.0 and I'm off to do that interview Okay, thanks folks. We'll see you in a few weeks. Bye. Bye