Don't be a jerk

[Jeffery Waicak]

I was talking the other day to a friend of mine who still works where I used to. He hates how he's treated by management,  but he loves how he's paid. I felt the same way, I left because of the treatment.  I asked him if hypothetically speaking, if all things were equal,  except another company paid 10% less, but treated you better, who would you prefer to work for? He said he would take the 10% cut no problem. I said what about 20%? He wasn't  sure about 20% but absolutely 10% would be ok for the same work load, same other benefits, same job insecurity.  Well this particular site has 110 employees. An average pay of about  $75,000 a year. So that tells me that the company could save $825,000 a year! Just by being nicer to the employees.  And  have employees that care a lot more. I think as an investor I need to learn from this, treat my team like gold. I'm not saying accept less than their best, but it serves me no good to be a jerk. 

[Kevin Fox]

While I don't think you can really use one response to project the company average, I do believe it's a valuable lesson for entrepreneurs to be mindful of. Creating an environment where people WANT to be successful is key. Treating people with respect and making them know they are valuable to the company will go a long way towards accomplishing that.