This is a question that every business owner has pondered. Getting your staffing mix right at the best of times is tricky! So to help out anybody currently ‘umm-ing’ and ‘err-ing’ over which to choose, here’s our short pro/con list!
Subbie Pro
- When you are JUST starting out, or in a growth stage of your business, then a subbie is a great way to ‘test the water’ without complete commitment.
- They’re AWESOME when you feel you are ready for a new tradesperson but don’t feel you have enough consistent work for full-time staff.
- You have no commitment with them, for instance: if you don’t like them or work dries up, you’re not in any binding agreements to give them work. They just don’t work that week and you save BIG on wages!
Subbie Con
- The big one is consistency! Subbies can let you down, so having your business depending on subbies labour, can get you in hot water!
- For instance: If they get busy with their own work, they will prioritise theirs over yours and leave you high and dry!
- Subbies often don’t follow your systems! They see themselves as their own business with their own processes, so the quality of work may differ.
Full Time Pro
- Certainty, control! They’re your staff so you can train them to work the way YOU want them to.
- They can grow with you as you scale the business.
- You can rely on them to be involved and committed.
- You can build a relationship with them, and they can help you with the ‘big picture’ of your business and actually HELP your business to grow and succeed, feel like they are here for the long term.
Full Time Con
- You have to hustle for new work to keep up with enough work to keep F/T staff busy. Feels like you can never take a breath or a day off.
- Finding good full-time staff is one of the biggest headaches for tradies at the moment, we have a HUGE shortage of good tradies.
- Have to pay for sick leave, paid time off, personal days, deal with HR and flexible hours … and all of this must be done 100%! You can’t cut corners or you may end up in BIG legal issues, or a high turnover.
For the FULL pro and con breakdown, check out our full episode on this of The Tradie Show Podcast – scan the QR code below or click here to listen today!
| Andy Smith: “I think if subbies were excellent on the tools, gave you 100% loyalty AND followed your systems… we’d probably all have subbies instead of full-time staff! The reality is, you don’t get this level of control with subbies, but you DO with full-time staff. I’m a certified CONTROL FREAK, so I’ll always opt for control, even if it costs more. My advice is: Subbies are GREAT for when your workload suddenly increases, but full-times are better to build a sustainable business foundation!” |
