By skent on
Oct. 29, 2012
Quick question, I am mad as hell right now.........so my question is this..........A local high school that we do alot of work with brings in some expensive garments, I have a somewhat new lady in my emboidery area. She thinks she knows what she is doing because she has her own little one head at home, but has screwed up ATLEAST 6 orders within the last three months. Somehow she managed to mess up again with the stitch out RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER!. Our policy has never been to take it out of the employees pay but I am starting to rethink that, or maybe just fire this woman!. What is everyone else's policy in this regard??
Re: Customer Supplied/Employees
I was an employee for 10 years, until yesterday, (gave notice to start my own business) anyway when I first started, mistakes were made, usually because of stress to get jobs out the door quickly and unclear paperwork. If she is just embroidering and not digitizing, there really isn't an excuse for mistakes unless paperwork isn't clear or she is overwhelmed. Machines eat garments, colors get loaded wrong, crap happens. But at one point we were told that if mistakes continued, it would be taken out of our pay. We slowed down, started worrying about quality and stopped worrying about getting it out the door. We decided that if they wanted things done quicker, they needed to hire and take responsibility and learn how to schedule.
Re: Customer Supplied/Employees
Sorry about these mistakes.. yikes.
Either she is very careless or you don't have proper procedures in place.. probably both ?
Do you have her sew a full sample of the design for each order first? Examine the sample and approve it's quality and the colors yourself.. then pin it to one of the items in the location your client wants the embroidery. Then it is as simple as telling her that if she cannot do this she should quit.
If you are not involved then you are as much at fault.. sorry, it is YOUR business, YOUR money, YOUR reputation... YOU have to be involved.. each and every time until you are large enough to have a production manager.. they THEY would be the QC person. This should be done whether you fire this employee or not.. with ANY employee. And in my scenario I am not firing her I am having her quit.... no unemployment. sorry.
We run a full sample even if I myself am doing the embroidery... and we sew designs that can be in the MILLIONS of stitches!
Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com
Re: Customer Supplied/Employees
In the US the labor Laws prevent you from charging employees for screw-up or mishaps if you will. You can try to scare the employee by telling them you will garnish but if they have a brain they will more than likely contact an attorney the first chance they get. Best bet is to proof every job before it is ran, yes this takes time but in all reality one small screw-up can cost hours of production.