Employment in South Australia - 200 hires strong

It was almost too embarrassing to share. Almost. In our 7 years, 14 people have quit within a week. Some haven’t even lasted a day and most don’t last year. So when our 200th team member started last month we wondered if it was best to ignore our terrible turnover. But we love to celebrate and what better way than laughing at ourselves and sharing the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

A huge thanks to the many wise people who have given us keys to better hiring. Some of them are acknowledged here because I want to publicly appreciate them!

Things that we’ve learnt as Construction Logistics providers in Adelaide:

1. Never book a medical on a Monday

It took a few “did not attend” charges to realise people change their mind over a weekend. Maybe they found another job, perhaps the aching muscles changed their mind. Maybe they had a bender and knew they wouldn’t pass a drug test. Or there could be a legitimate family emergency. Whatever the reason, you can’t give 24 hours’ notice on the day of a medical and a $600 sting reminded us that one day delay is better than an unnecessary cost. Not all days are equal, especially Mondays.

2. TYO not BYO

After reviewing a year of employment ads (and we are always hiring), I discovered which of our ads performed the best. And one that did not perform at all – ZERO results after being run multiple times. It was our truck driver ad. Sure, people applied. But they were drivers who had no desire to carry plasterboard. I get excited when good data changes how we operate. It was time for action: we stopped driver ads for many years and we began TYO; train your own. Watching team members get their licence and upskill is one of my favourite things. Guess how many Medium Rigid and Heavy Rigid truck drivers we’ve injected into the South Australia transport industry? 51 ! While carrying plasterboard is not forever, a truck licence and experience is a transferrable skill. Training doesn’t stop at truck licences either. We have also provided: time in our cars to gain P-plates, forklift licences, telehandler licences, crane truck licences, sales training, leadership training and opportunities to learn office-based skills. It’s a proud feeling to see our people grow!

3. Fun is a currency

It takes a lot to stand out from the crowd when hiring team, especially when unemployment is 3.2% in SA! As a family-owned business, offering the highest salary isn’t always possible. But fun is free and a bit of humour cuts through the noise. One of my favourite ways to advertise is to use cheeky headings instead of a regular job titles. Some of our ads have these as their headlines:

· Summer muscles, summer money [labourer]

· Do you even lift? Forklift operator, but cooler than a forklift [telehandler operator]

· Everyday I’m shuffling [MR/HR driver]

· Build your biceps at work [labourer] – this one is our most successful ad!

We also have great fun with Fast & Furious references wherever possible. (Yes, our company was named after Dom Toretto when it was still a side hustle.) A culture of fun creates an environment that’s enjoyable to come to every day. It’s the reason we make a big deal about getting through four weeks, celebrating staff member of the week,

shout outs for birthdays and work anniversaries, and general appreciation when someone achieves a new skill. We also take time to go-kart at end of financial year – that fun costs a bit more and is well worth the investment into our awesome team.

4. Use the “less, more, party” principle

The first four weeks at Toretto are tough. It’s mountains of plasterboard, blisters on your hands despite double gloving, getting to work in the dark, muscles aching more than you thought possible, falling asleep straight after work and wanting to quit more and more. Until about the end of the fourth week. Blisters become calloused. Muscles adapt to the new weights and there’s a bit of energy left at the end of a shift. We call this the Valley of Pain. The most common time to quit is around three weeks in, just before your body adjusts. In 2022 I did an analysis of our retention, looking for clues and ways to improve. I discovered 35% of our team left in the first four weeks. Ouch. How could we hold onto people a little longer and help them survive the valley? We implemented three key things:

· Less shifts. The work is still brutal but a well-placed RDO in those early weeks can help the body to recover.

· More encouragement. We send a text at the start of each week with a progress meter, lots of emojis, information about Toretto, how to stretch, introduction to our dog Daisy, career opportunities and more.

· Celebration. At the end of week 4, we send a final Valley of Pain text. The team member gets a uniform top up with a slightly awkward handshake photo which is posted on the group chat so we can all celebrate their milestone.

Since adopting these strategies, our 4-week turnover dropped to 23% in 2023, the lowest it has ever been!

5. Always* be hiring

When you are ready to hire, the right person might not be ready to join the team. So for the cost of a Seek ad (or a facebook ad), we always have feelers out for the next right person. This principle comes from our incredible business coach @Wez Hone and it has stopped the mad panic when someone leaves. Sometimes ads run and we don’t find a good fit. But most of the time, a few good candidates emerge.

*In full disclosure, we stopped all ads at the end of November last year. But they started up again on 27th December to make the most of New Years Resolutions. One of our best operators started on 20th December. It’s not ideal going into the construction industry shut down, but he’s been an asset for the last three years, so there’s never a ‘bad’ time to hire.

6. Try before you buy

During interviews, we used to tell candidates it would be the hardest physical job they had ever done. Yeah, yeah.

A few years ago we had a deflating pattern of people quitting within the first week and our operations manager joked, “We should get them to carry a piece of plasterboard up and down the warehouse a few times so they know what they are in for.” A 6m sheet of

plasterboard weighs 41kg and is up to 1350mm wide. Heavy, awkward, and fragile. Ton after ton. Day after day. Of course they quit – that’s a tough job!

In 2021 we started trials. After a short phone interview, the candidate signs safety documents and comes for a few hours to deliver a load of plasterboard. Our team can assess their suitability and the candidate can see what it’s like, before committing to the job. Win-win!

7. Go fishing where the fish are

For many “hands on” labouring or trade positions, the candidates may not be looking on Seek but they have a phone in their hand are scrolling social media! During a training session @Kerryn Page mentioned using lead forms on Meta and it peaked my interest. I was desperate to ease our labour shortage and we gave it a go. It’s been a game changer, especially as we can target ads. We also ran a fun ad campaign on Fresh FM. Although it’s not my style of music, the right kind of people were listening!

8. Exit the bad ones early

We work hard to find team, and I’m sure you do too! The amount of time and energy involved in getting a person to join the team can make it difficult to move someone on. Towards the end of 2021 there was a small group with questionable attitudes and it was affecting their output. The great people on the team were also noticing, but we were short-staffed and didn’t want to move them on just yet. An incident turned into a mass exodus of that crew and we were only just operational going into the busy period of the construction industry. I remember that sickening feeling in my stomach that lasted for weeks. We’ve learned the hard way that if we can’t help a team member improve their attitude, it is generally best to get them out of the team before the attitude spreads like a cancer.

9. Be a safe workplace

I’m not talking about Safe Work Method Statements or PPE, although we have those. Work is a place where expectations are clear and workmates are fun. For some of our team, it’s an escape from the turmoil of their home life. During one disciplinary meeting a few years ago, one of our drivers disclosed that he was currently homeless after his marriage breakdown. Woah. Although his behaviour was still addressed, we could offer more understanding. Occasionally people have ‘lost it’ at work. It normally points to other areas of their life not going well, but also shows they feel safe to express themselves here and we will remain (relatively) calm.

10. Retention is better than hiring

Back when I learned 35% of our team left within four weeks, I modelled different strategies to get the team to a sustainable level. What if only 30% fell over? What if everyone else stayed 9 months or a year? A year. That was the magic formula. Some legends stayed for a year or more, but not many. How could we encourage our team to stay a bit longer? Soon afterward, I heard @Sheree Sullivan share her experience increasing retention with the ‘Golden Handcuffs.’ It was perfect for our situation. Drivers were our most important staff to retain and our new strategy was aimed at them. We call it Project 1327. Every driver gets a small bonus for each shift worked and

it’s held until their ‘unlock date’ at 12 months. At their one-year anniversary, there’s close to $2,000 to say thanks for hanging around. That’s the carrot. The stick is a training agreement with a payback clause when gaining a truck licence. By 6 months, the training agreement timeframe is complete and their Project 1327 kitty is at an enticing amount to keep going.

11. Celebrate leaving better than you came

Before we started Toretto, @Jason Hillyer went to visit similar plasterboard delivery businesses in Brisbane (thanks @Grant Inberg!) The owners told us that if we could keep our team members for two years, we were doing amazing. Turns out that was much harder than anticipated! We became adept at saying goodbye. Although it was deflating at times, the mindset we adopted was ‘leave better than you came’. Our focus became celebrating how someone had grown and how we had upskilled or contributed to them during their employment. The scope of ‘leaving better’ is broad:

· Learned to turn up on time

· Held a job for two years after long term unemployment

· Got a truck licence

· Got a telehandler licence

· Made friends

· Learned to lead a small team

· Moved into a career they love

In that context, our little business is creating good in the world.

We’ve learned a lot over 200 hires. The irony of it all is our 200th hire didn’t last his first four weeks. There’s more to learn!