Getting Paid

Getting Paid

I have a friend who worked with me for fifteen years twenty years ago. Think about that for a moment, its been longer since we worked together than the time we worked together. He was one of three of us partners of our firm that were always called upon to act as Master of Ceremonies for whatever gathering we had. I guess that was because we each had a degree of presence that captured people’s attention, but also because we were all prone to being funny in our remarks. The juxtaposition of gravitas and humor is not a routine or ordinary combination as it seems. There were other partners who were very funny and still others that were very serious, but the combination of the two attributes that the three of us embodied (all in our own unique way) caused us to be called on for one occasion after another. Sometimes it was to lead a partners’ meeting and sometimes it was to host a celebratory gathering. One of us went on from a successful banking career to be an ordained rabbi in Jerusalem. One went on to a career in stand-up comedy and comedic film production. Both of them pursued their skill set in logical outlets that required a combination of acumen and humanity. I find myself wondering how I have chosen to use my respective tendency and the best I can do is to suggest that I have done so through business leadership and writing. While both of these gentlemen had impressive capabilities, neither was particularly prone towards pure management or leadership roles for some reason. They were much more soloists than leaders though they both had to lead in their respective specialties to some degree. If I were to describe my biggest contributions in life, I would suggest that leading people has been the most rewarding.

Now I am in a very different sort of place in life. I am still a CEO, but it is both a very small company with only a bit more than a dozen people involved and with the nature of virtual management due to a combination of COVID and a remote and dispersed team, there is only a modicum of leadership involved. The outlet for humor is mostly through my writing, with one exception. I have a small team of workmen working to rebuild my deck. Almost every day I get the team lunch and we sit on the patio while I regale them with stories of my past or something relevant to the day’s current events. This interaction has proven to me that I have a performance jones that needs an outlet, wherever that may come from.

Every Friday I go through a payroll process and calculate hours and miscellaneous materials reimbursements and then go to my safe and the constantly refreshed horde of cash I keep there and put together my weekly payroll. When I have had day laborers (in the early days of the deck project during demolition) I would payroll those workers daily (including lunch). Now, with these more professional builders (including Handy Brad), I muster payroll weekly. That time schedule is as much for my benefit as theirs. I keep hoping that progress is going along well enough that I can see meaningful progress at least by the week. I also sense that the outflow “hurts” less if I keep up with it. Therefore, I act like an Army paymaster and put together envelopes with cash in them.

I have agreed hourly rates with each of the crew. Those rates were based on their specific request, a negotiation or the norm in the market. In each case, the rate of pay was a function of skill and experience, alternative market for those skills, and what “seemed” fair for their time and effort. This job has evolved into a much bigger effort than initially imagined even though the basic functions have not changed. This is demolition, framing, rebuilding, and finishing. We have finished the demolition and framing in eight weeks of work, twice the time initially suggested. My guess is that rebuilding (plywood covering of the frame) and finishing (retiling) and replacing the glass railing will take another three to four weeks. We should be moving into a realm of work that perfectly meets the skill sets I have since Handy Brad is a master-craftsman in tile setting. Hopefully all the added work on perfecting the framing and leveling the frame will make for a quicker application of the finishing since level is the biggest element in the process and great care has been taken in that regard. Along the way there have been several adjustments that have been debated by the crew and, to be fair, several corrective actions needed to fix first round mistakes.

One of my crew (the one who is paid the highest hourly rate for his specific carpentry skill set) has been more frustrated than the others and has been particularly troubled by the few mistakes which have required taking a step back and redoing some work. He has what I would call a professional angst about charging me for the work which has to be redone, even if he was not the person who created the problem. He somehow feels that he should have prevented the mistake or at least recognized it earlier. It is an interesting dynamic. He knows he is paid more and he takes that obligation seriously. This week he took one days pay off his submitted hours as a self-imposed pay penalty. I pondered what to do with that and have twice told him he didn’t need to do that. I resolved the issue by splitting the difference. He said I didn’t need to do that. I told him that he didn’t need to do what he did. We both seemed happy with the compromise. This is the second time that sort of interaction has taken place and he has apologized more than once about the extended time being taken by the job.

I cannot express how happy I am with the job being done on this deck. It is far more expensive than initially envisioned, but I am so familiar with the problems and the work being done that I have absolute an in-depth appreciation of how hard the job has become. I respect people for their efforts and their honesty. This crew has worked hard and is neither over nor under paid for their efforts. I gave them all a Holiday bonus in the spirit of the season. I have not only gotten good work done on my house, but I have genuinely enjoyed the camaraderie of the crew during an otherwise lonely time on the mountaintop during this pandemic.

We are all paid in life for our efforts in different ways. Satisfaction is a form of payment and is sometimes the greatest reward since it leads to so much happiness. I almost think that happiness and satisfaction may be the truest form of compensation. I have been satisfied to play paymaster and be able to pay men for honest and hard work I would be unable to undertake myself. I have been satisfied by the level of responsibility and commitment to quality of work being undertaken by the three crew members. I have enjoyed having an outlet for my natural talent for leadership and storytelling. I believe the crew would tell you that they have appreciated the work and enjoyed the learning experience during my lunchtime story time. I am happy that my skills in leadership and humor have come back into play in what I would consider a very basic and natural way. In other words, mutual respect and enlightened leadership has taken us to a place where we are all getting paid in ways that are most meaningful for us all.