We had an interesting conversation in our Smart Cleaning Tribe recently that I wanted to share. I'll play the full clip in the podcast, but here's the scenario. Kate is a very successful cleaning business owner with 18 cleaning techs (cleaners). On this particular Monday, she had 2 call out. It put Kate into crisis mode. Can you relate? What would happen if 2 of your cleaners called out or quit on you? As I listened to Kate describe her employee scenario, I thought of the term negative employee margin. 

Let's relate this example to something easy to grasp. Money. You've got $5,000 coming in to your budget. Your expenses are $4,000. You have $1,000 left over. You have positive cash flow or margin. You feel peace. Most of you listening would say, "Ken, that's not me. I'm stretched." I would say that most of America would agree. So here is scenario #2. You've got $4,000 coming in to your budget and $5,000 in expenses! This creates stress, anxiety, fear, worry, doubt, anger, helplessness, etc. You have negative cash flow or margin. Can you feel the difference. Let's bring this back to Kate.

Kate has 18 employees. I asked her how many she absolutely needs to complete the jobs on her schedule. She thought and answered 15. This is great. Kate has 3 extra employees to clean at any given time, so she has a positive employee margin. If 2 call out, she still has 16 to get the work done. Right?! Nope. Here's the part that she shared on the call as well. Kate has a vacation schedule that allows up to 2 on vacation at all times. They rotate as a team to give everyone an opportunity. This is also great for business. Right?! It is and it isn't. Kate has happy employees taking vacation, but she has a math problem.

18 employees - 2 employees on vacation = 16 employees available at any given time. Add 2 call outs and Kate has 14 employees to do the work of 15! This is not positive margin anymore. Kate has negative margin.  This is why Kate feels the lack of peace. Do you relate. We talked on this call about Resource Management for her team. How can Kate always create a positive employee margin? We talked about flex cleaners, extra office staff, hiring more, cutting or changing the vacation policy, etc. Overall, it gave Kate a different take on how to create peace in her business.

Would you like to join our cleaning family and be with amazing cleaning company owners like Kate? The Smart Cleaning Tribe is an exclusive membership for cleaning business owners growing teams who desired a cleaning family to help them set goals, hold them accountable, and grow in every area of their life.