Dave Says on Business: Company Owes you Nothing

Townhall.com ^ | February 2, 2012 | Dave Ramsey

[Kaslin]

Dear Dave,

I’ve been self-employed all my life, and I work my tail off every day. The other day I heard some guys complaining about their jobs and saying that their company “owed” them all kinds of perks. Being a small-business owner, what is your stance on this?

John

Dear John,

Here’s the deal, an employer owes employees fair wages and the respect that goes to someone who will devote themselves to the job and do it well. But if you don’t like something to the point that all you’re going to do is cry and complain about it, then take a hike a find a job you like. That’s what I’d do.

At my company, I take my leadership role seriously in terms of being fair to the team and taking care of them. I mean, I couldn’t do all this stuff by myself. But I’ve also seen some companies out there that have earned this attitude they get from employees, because they’ve mistreated their workers. They lie to them, cheat them, and worse.

It’s all really simple, John. If you love what you’re doing and you’re treated with fairness, dignity and respect, it’s a winning situation for the employer and the employee. That’s what I try to do here. If you hate your job, or your company doesn’t treat you fairly, go find another job. The company “owes” you nothing in terms of perks.

—Dave

Dear Dave,

I started a little consulting business auditing commercial phone bills about four months ago. I look for unnecessary expenditures and errors and I take a percentage of what I save my clients. I’m doing a lot of cold calling and can get in the door, but I’m having a problem closing the deal. I keep getting asked who I have helped locally. How can I get someone to sign up without first having established clients?

Beverly

Dear Beverly,

Why don’t you try offering to do two or three of these audits free? I’m not talking about huge companies, but local businesses that are well-known in your community. Offer to review their billing free of charge, no matter how much you save them, and ask for a referral letter if you save them money. Then, show what it would have cost them to have this service done and how much you saved the company.

You’re trading services for great references. If you do a few of these you should be able to overcome that objection!

—Dave

Dear Dave,

I recently graduated from college, and I think I’d like to get into the real estate business as an agent. I don’t have much real world experience, so what can I do to learn and become a great real estate agent?

Ryan

Dear Ryan,

Congratulations on finishing college! It sounds like you’re ready to hit the ground running.

I think the first thing anyone in your situation should do right now is get a first-hand look at the day-to-day life of a really good real estate agent. Find out what someone who sells 100 houses a year does on a daily basis, how they got to where they are, and how long it took them to get to that level in terms of skills, referrals, knowledge, and recognition in the marketplace.

You might consider driving to a nearby city—one that’s far enough away so that competition won’t be a factor—and finding a superstar agent. Tell them your situation, and ask if you could ride around with them for a day or two and pick their brain. Basically, I’m talking about interviewing them and finding out how you can be them when you grow up. Believe me, you’ll learn tons about the technology and marketing sides of things, too.

Real estate is probably the perfect example of The Pareto Principle. It states that 80 percent of the people make 20 percent of the money, and 20 percent of the people make 80 percent of the money. Learning as much as you can as quickly as you can is a great first step to making sure that you’re in that top 20 percent!

—Dave

[slumber1]

Freedom - what a concept!

[RC2]

I agree with this. I worked for a large company in electronics. I managed a design group. We had one project that fell behind with it’s schedule. By the time my department got to the project it was far behind. It was really no ones fault...it just happened. I cancelled all vacations until the project was completed and we met the schedule. I had some ticked off employees and one told me that the company “owed” them their vacation. I told the person that the company owed them nothing other than fair wages and fair treatment and that if we didn’t turn out product, they wouldn’t have a job. I did make it up to my people later.

People seem to think, today, that a company owes them everything. It’s not true. I would tell people that if they did a good job, they would keep their job. If they didn’t, I would replace them in a heart beat.

By the way, I had the best design group on the West Coast and they could go up against anyone.

[citizen]

The marketplace generally sets the perks that a company “owes” their employees. At least the national holidays, generally an insurance package is available, sick/personal days, vacation accrual, perhaps an auto if appropriate for your duties or status.

It’s part of the “costs” of maintaing a labor force.

[CSM]

Keep being weird and productive!

Thanks Kaslin for posting the article.

Dave Ramsey Fan Ping List.

If you would like to be added to the “Live like no one else, so that you can LIVE like no one else” list, feel free to Freepmail me.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Dave is right. Problem is no one believes it anymore.

Ever since the rust belt started stewing in bitterness back in the 70’s, this philosophy of “they owe us” as been building to a crescendo. And it may be coming to a head.

[Ace of Spades]

Did the company tell they employees that they were entitled to vacation? Was it spelled out in their employment contracts? If so, they were in fact “owed” what was promised, which is a lot different from what Dave’s talking about.

[RC2]

Yes, they were entitled to their vacation but not guaranteed as to exactly when they could take it. The product comes first, without that, no one would have a job. If we would have missed our schedule, penalties would be applied and they aren’t cheap.

[zeestephen]

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“Find out what someone who sells 100 houses a year does on a daily basis.....”

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In this economy?

My guess...

He sits in a bar all day CLAIMING he sells 100 houses a year.

[A_perfect_lady]

I swear, people get “employer” and “Daddy” mixed up. They got hired, not adopted.

[pepperdog]

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