“It is a very hard thing to assess the true character of somebody as a potential employee. It’s mostly experience that gives you the perspective to be able to judge whether someone is going to be good for the job or not.”
Jason Wentworth
Enviromat, LLC
Portland, Maine
Such “judgments” – leaps of faith, you say? – take place every day in coin laundries all across the country. And if you own an attended laundromat, the odds are good that you’ve recently made a hiring decision – or will be forced to do so in the near future.
“If I were to list the biggest challenges of running a laundromat, finding quality employees who will invest their best efforts in the business would be at the top of that list,” said Wentworth, who currently employs three attendants.
With today's relatively low unemployment rate, self-service laundry owners are feeling the pinch to find and keep qualified, motivated and happy employees. Here's some help as you attempt to build that "winning team."
Uncovering the Candidates
Your first step is finding these prospective attendants. Here are some proven techniques for uncovering quality staff members:
• Post notices at local grocery stores and supermarkets or other retail stores that have community bulletin boards. In addition, many apartment complexes have bulletin boards in their game rooms or central areas.
• Visit with other business owners in your strip mall or shopping center, and let them know that you have a job opening available. They will generally refer people who are not qualified to work in their stores. Typically, you won't be competing for the same people.
• Notices placed in your laundry on the bulletin board, on the front door or any other area where your customers read notices, are the ideal places to get people's attention and inform them of job openings.
This method is especially successful in a store when you have advance notice that a current attendant is leaving and you have a little time to locate a replacement.
• One of the most successful methods of locating good attendant candidates is through your current employees. Attendants who are happy with their jobs can usually refer some good people who may be interested in working in a self-service laundry themselves.
In fact, some laundry owners even offer bonuses to employees who make such referrals.
“I generally put the word out in my laundry,” Wentworth explained. “I don’t put up a sign because it tends to attract a huge number of applications from people who are not qualified. Instead, I ask my regular customers who I think might know somebody and who I also feel have good judgment. I also use word of mouth among my friends.”
In addition, Wentworth indicated that he has had some success posting job openings on the Internet, through such interactive sites as Craigslist.
Weeding Through the Prospects
When you are accepting applications, it is a good idea to set out a large box in which to place finished applications. After you have collected the applications, you can now start the pre-screening process.
“I try to give candidates as good a perspective on what I’m looking for and what the job involves as I possibly can,” Wentworth said. “I have them come in on a very busy Saturday when I’m working and have them just hang out with me for an hour. The serious candidate will be willing to do that. And it gives them a chance to see things at their busiest.”
Things to look for on the application include completeness of the form, work experience, reasons for leaving their last position, their availability to work and other work employment. When screening candidates, it is a good idea to hire someone from within the area. And, yes, it is OK to hire customers as well. After all, locals are going to best know the area and the people coming into your coin laundry.
Perform a reference check on each potential employee. Make a few phone calls to see if your interviewee is credible. Ask four or five basic questions and then listen for a negative or hesitant response.
“I have them fill out a questionnaire,” said Jeff Gardner, who owns Sel Dale Laundromat in St. Paul, Minn. “It asks questions like: What’s your perception of the laundry industry? Where do you do your laundry? Have you ever used a laundromat? What was your experience like?
“I want to see what people think of the industry. If I find someone who is giving me a negative slant toward the industry, that may be a reason not to hire that person.”
Next, plan the interview process.
One option is to set up an area in your laundry and hold interviews for a posted number of hours. Perhaps have an interview on the half hour.
Put the interviewee at ease during the interview process. Start by explaining the interview process. Describe the job and ask them questions about items on their application.
Of course, there are some interview questions you simply can't ask. Unacceptable inquires include: How old are you? Have you been arrested, convicted or spent time in jail? Do you have children under 18? Do you plan to have children?
Acceptable questions include verification of age for legal reasons and a request for felony convictions (if you indicate that such a conviction is not an automatic barrier to employment). You also can inquire as to what languages the applicant speaks fluently, but only if the qualification is job-related.
When you are asking questions, make sure you listen twice as much as you talk. Get the interviewees talking about themselves so that you can find out if they will be a good fit in your coin laundry. In closing, always invite any final questions from the applicant.
“I’m looking for someone who is going to be willing to interact with the customers,” said Gardner, who currently employs four attendants, earning between $8 and $10 an hour. “I want someone who’s not afraid to talk. If I’m asking questions and getting one-word answers, that’s a no-go. I need a salesperson.”
Keeping the Good Ones
Once you've hired your team of attendants, the real trick is to retain them.
“The key to retention is letting the employees know that they are a valued entity in your organization,” Gardner said. “If they feel like they have input or that they’re making a difference, then their work is worthwhile. Your self-worth and how you feel about yourself is really what we derive from our work.
“Giving them input and seeking their advice on any changes – those are the keys to keeping an employee.”
Of course, no laundry attendant will be motivated to stay and work hard if they perceive that they aren't being compensated fairly.
Wages are certainly the most common form of compensation. As a general rule, most self-service laundry attendants work 30 to 40 hours per week, earning somewhere between the minimum wage and a few dollars an hour above that mandated wage.
However, hourly wages aren't the only incentive you have at your disposal to help retain quality workers.
“I have hired a variety of people, in terms of their backgrounds and education,” said Wentworth, whose attendants earn between $8 and $10 an hour. “For some people, it is purely a financial issue; the best pay they can possibly get for the time they put in is the motivator.
“That’s not always the case,” he added. “I have an employee right now who wouldn’t care if I gave her more money. Having a job that she enjoys, that is meaningful to her and that gives her some flexibility is enough. She has a different motivation. And I would suggest that it helps to ask your employees what is important to them.”
• Wash-Dry-Fold. The most common added incentive revolves around wash-dry-fold services. Most laundries offer this service, and many of them allow their attendants to participate in the added profits of this program.
Some laundry owners give their attendants a certain amount of money per pound of wash-dry-fold business they handle, while others provide their employees with a percentage of the w-d-f profits after expenses. Others give their attendants all of the profits after expenses.
“After we hit $4,000 in gross sales in wash-dry-fold, 10 percent of everything after that goes back to the employees,” Gardner explained.
Compensate your attendants for the wash-dry-fold they do, but remember that you're in business to turn a profit. Give your attendants the incentive to push this profitable business to your customers, and provide them with the opportunity to make more money – but without hurting your business’ bottom line.
• Counter Sales. Another incentive some laundry operators offer their employees is a certain amount or percentage for every laundry bag or box of soap sold through the store's service counter.
• Benefits Package. The compensation doesn't always have to deal directly with money. There are several factors that make up an entire employment package, such as paid vacations after an attendant has been working for you for a specified period. Perhaps give holidays off with pay. Or, if you're open during the holidays (as most self-service laundries are), pay your attendants extra – perhaps time and a half – if they work those days.
In addition, offering flexible work hours can be a big help to mothers with young children at home. Another employee benefit might be to allow your attendants to do their own laundry, when they're not working, either for free or at a greatly discounted cost.
• Health Benefits. If you own several coin laundries, you may consider investigating a health plan, paid for by the employees and taken out of their pay. Or, for key employees, you could contribute to their health plan. The added benefit of this is that you may be able to get better insurance for yourself at these group rates as well.
• Training. One part of employee compensation that most store owners neglect is attendant training. If an employee has a clear understanding of what's expected of her, she will do the job better and will be more productive.
Training should not only include the proper use of the washers and dryers, and practical tips on working in a laundromat. It should also involve what hours attendants are expected to work, who they report to and other details.
For example, there are probably 20 different ways to fold a shirt, but you have to teach them how shirts are to be folded at your store. You attendants can't guess how things are supposed to be done. You have to train them. They have to know how and when you expect them to clean the equipment, how you expect them to treat the customers, how you expect them to handle complaints, how you expect them to wash the floors, counters and so on.
A lot of frustration on the part of attendants and store owners could be quickly cleared up with some simple communication. Of course, regular employee evaluations are an important tool in retaining attendants. Your employees should be evaluated twice a year.
And – together – with your attendants, you and your business will succeed or fail, based strongly on how well you've been able to discover, attract and retain solid, loyal, quality laundry attendants.
“I think a mistake that is made by many small-business employers is that they don’t see employees as an asset,” Wentworth observed. “They see the employee as serving them. It makes such a difference when you view the employee as somebody who can really be a contributor to your business – not just a ‘worker’ for you.”