Yeah, and get rid of the damned air conditioning in the office. Just crack the windows and if they won't open up tell your office people to suck it up. Geesh, some of you guys must of forgot what it was like to be low man on the totem pole making half of what everyone else does (because that's all you worth). A little ice water goes along way to making the crew feel like you remember what it's like to be one of them. Maybe you weren't treated the best coming up but that doesn't mean you have to treat everyone that way. Or you can turn off the air conditioning in the office, throw the coffee pot away and make everyone supply their own candle for light. Keep you overhead real low.
Firms I've worked for in the past either had an ice machine or provided the crew chief with a credit card for fuel, ice, supplies, etc.
Firms always provided a 5-gallon type cooler. Water usually came from a spigot....
Now, I'm usually solo.... I keep a small cooler in my truck with bottled water and a couple diet soft drinks. I buy/provide my beverages and ice. I drink water during the day, usually keep an extra bottle in my back pocket.
Diet soft drink is my treat on my drive home 🙂
A few years ago we installed one of the large ice makers in the shop for all work crews to use. It came from a nursing home who had to get a new one because a health inspector saw some rust on the side of the machine and deemed it unsanitary. You might start inquiring at the local nursing homes or motels to see if they are going to change out their existing ice machines.
You'll need to have it in an area where you can have a hose to a drain. You'll also want to put in an inline water filter.
:good:
You can give them water, or not
You can give them a decent new vehicle, or not
You can get them the latest high tech equipment to work with, or not
You can teach them office skills as well as field, or not
You can pick up their professional membership fees, or not
You can send them to seminars, or not
You can reimburse education expenses, or not
You can provide decent health insurance, or not
You can give them 3 weeks off after the first year, or not
You can match 6% in their 401K, or not
You can work to get them licensed (even though they may leave), or not
Etc…
Ultimately you can manage them like assets or lead them like people, makes no difference to me. However if you’re in my market and you have a decent, smart, hardworking employee and you choose the “or not” route, you’re not going to be able to keep them if I want them.
Jaysus H, boys.
What's next? You coming out to visit us in the field to give us all back-rubs too?
Holy Moses
Wow, the hot sports opinions of the day. Wendell is going to have to outlaw conversation about politics, religion AND water. Call me biased I'm but not giving a whole lot of weight to the comments from those of you from northern lattitudes. It is pretty much industry standard in my area of Texas to provide water for the crews. Some of the better places I've worked at provide an allowance for ice. Twice in my professional career I have stood with my neck below the spigot of the cooler pouring ice water over my neck in an effort to alleviate heat exhaustion. This is a small company with 1-1/2 crews and a lot of times the crew includes me or the other RPLS. We will look into an ice machine when we get bigger, but for now it do what it do. If providing water to your employees is gonna break your budget, maybe it is time to consider raising your rates.
I've got no problem with safety rules.
Every place I've worked, I have been responsible for packing my own lunch, bringing my own fluids, choosing the proper clothing for the weather, ect. ect. If not I was miserable all day - didn't happen again.
With that said, every shop had some dusty old igloo cooler sitting in the equipment shed that nobody wanted to take the time to fill/empty every day. Water was available, but not because it was solving some sort of safety hazard or because some group forced them to provide it.
I understand heat exhaustion is dangerous.
Or breakfast pizza.
I don't know about the water issue. I think it's a personal respossibility of oneself. Next thing you know, your crews will stop bringing food for lunch and expect you to provide that also. I've got work for them, not a catering business to their needs. I pay better than anyone within a 150 mile radius and have a very low turnover. They like being treated with respect and not having their noses wiped by someone else.
SD
Up north....
> Call me biased I'm but not giving a whole lot of weight to the comments from those of you from northern lattitudes. It is pretty much industry standard in my area of Texas to provide water for the crews..
Up north, the boss provides free hand-warmers, free coffee and free hot oil massages for all the crew on cold days.
From the OSHA website:
1915.88(b)(2)
The employer shall provide potable drinking water in amounts that are adequate to meet the health and personal needs of each employee.
1915.88(b)(3)
The employer shall dispense drinking water from a fountain, a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle, or single-use bottles. The employer shall prohibit the use of shared drinking cups, dippers, and water bottles
My Ice/Water Policy
My policy is that the company supplies a clean water cooler that I keep clean. I fill the cooler with clean water and ice each morning. They can pay for the ice or I will buy gas and get a bag of ice on the gas card that is their choice.
Where I work now, Ice is a reimbursable expense, but we do have an ice machine at the warehouse. If we are working out of town and can not get enough ice at the hotel, we buy ice and turn in for reimbursement. We only have to turn in receipts for items that cost over $75, and out hotel room. We can not get reimbursed for bottled water, unless it is proven that our location does not have potable water.:-) 😉 😛 😀 :beer:
You shouldn't need much water. According to Philip Reed, anything above 83 degrees is too hot to work in anyway.
We have an ice machine at the office. We used to buy 2 bags/cooler/day from May till October sometimes. When we started having ice the following day, 1 bag.
If I'm drinking water, it's gonna be cold, so regardless of the time of year, at least one back in cooler.
Since we bought the ice machine some 5 years ago, the crews fill up the cooler (approximately 3 bags versus 2) each day, and if they want to ice down their beer at night, they can do that also.
My advice on this is don't be so budgeted mined that the crew gets the idea that money and receipts are more important than cold water to them.
2 bags/day that the company pays for.
I am absolutely
floored by some of the responses here. Never would I have guessed that ice water wasn't something that the boss should provide for his crews, and I mean NEVER.
I am absolutely
> Never would I have guessed that ice water wasn't something that the boss should provide for his crews, and I mean NEVER.
I had to read that one about three times to figure out what is was that you never would have guessed.....I think I understand by reading your earlier post. Those double-negatives always make me take a second look.
I've always provided my own ice water, but I think it's a good idea for the company to provide it. it sure is an inexpensive way to make sure you crews have what they need to do the job for you.
I am absolutely
We buy bottled water by the case and require each crew to load up every morning on the way out. We prefer that they carru a MINIMUM of 6 bottles per man per day. In July and August, we double that. We also provide a cooler for ice. The Party Chief buys the ice at the local corner joint and turns in his receipts for full reimbursement. In Mississippi you don't play around with heat and humidity. You do, you die.
Provide each crew with a water cooler. Reimburse the crew for the ice or provide it for them. It is their responsibility to keep the water jug clean. It is your responsibility to make sure it is not full of beer bottles at the end of the shift. Small price to pay to keep a coworker from ending up in the hospital with severe dehydration. My rules are safety, quality, and speed of work. In that order...
We ended up having an ice machine like you'd see at a convenience store brought to the office. The stops on the way to the job site for ice were turning into 30 minute chats in the parking lot. 5 two main crews just chilling while they got some ice. Right across the street. They may have stopped on the way out for something, not ice.
Um...
As an owner I'd rather pay a $100 a month to keep my crew operating well. That's less than one billable a month...well worth it.
