Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards Assessment

Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards Assessment

In May, 2005 I was hired at Roofing Systems, Incorporated. Roofing Systems is a full-service commercial roofing contractor specializing in flat and low slope roof systems for commercial, industrial, institutional and retail buildings (Bloom Roofing, n.d). They have been in business since 1979. I was hired as the Assistant Service Manager to help the current Service Manager expand and run the Service Department.

When I began, the Service Department consisted of the Manager, four trucks with one foreman and one helper each. Just prior to getting hired as an Assistant Service Manager they had just expanded their department from three service trucks to four service trucks. Their revenue had topped at $600,000 per year and they did not seem to be able to increase it further with what they had in place. I was hired to help the department reach over $1 million in revenue.

In my capacity as an Assistant Service Manager, the first task I undertook was the development and implementation of the Service Maintenance Program. The Maintenance Program is something that I had been told they had been talking about for months, but no one had ever came up with a plan and implemented it. After they approved the Maintenance Program that I presented, I was put in charge of selling the program to the consumers.

Some of my other tasks that I was assigned was to do all the invoicing for the department, handle all customer service, from calls that come in, letters that went out, and customers that may walk in. I was also in charge of contract review when we did larger jobs that required a contract. I was in charge of reviewing the contract and making sure there were no clauses that could potentially cause legal or financial problems, to review for the requirements of insurance, bonds, sworn statements, schedules, warranties, reports or any other type of paperwork they may have put in the contract that they would be required from us. I had to determine if the amount of paperwork was warranted for the size of job that we were being contracted to do. I also had to keep track of reports, and paperwork that would be required, keep the schedule for their billing requirements, and get the billing out on time with the appropriate back-up paperwork. I was also in charge of doing collections, assisted with the larger quote and quoted the smaller jobs on my own. I also did the majority of the scheduling and dispatching.

Observing the organization and how they treated the employees, I knew within a short time that praise and recognition were not the management’s normal practice. There was often screaming, swearing and yelling that occurred on a daily basis. I was told when I was hired that at the three month anniversary, if I had proven my abilities, I would be able to get a raise. By the time I had been there three months, I knew that just keeping my job in this environment would be an accomplishment within itself. I had already seen two new employees come and go and had heard of many others that had been fired for less than normal punishable reasons. If the owner came in to work in a bad mood, beware. You never knew if some minor mishap would be blamed on you and therefore your days as an employee at Roofing Systems were numbered.

There were some benefits to working at Roofing Systems. These included short term loans for personal needs from paying a bill to purchasing a computer. There was flexibility in your hours, they would often buy lunch for the office employees and it was a casual workplace. Being a casual workplace the employees were allowed to wear jeans and t-shirts to work. Bloom also gave out clothes with their logo on it. At Christmas every year, the employees would also get a large gift bag. This bag usually consisted of t-shirts, sweatshirts, fleece jackets, Carhardts jackets, travel mugs and other various items.

Bloom Roofing did say they offered health insurance, but in order to get it, you really needed to push for it. There was one gentleman that had been told he would get health insurance and every month he would find out that yet again they did not send in his paperwork. He finally quit because of this problem. Others got it right away. I quickly learned it was important to get on the good side of the business manager. If she decided she did not like you, you either would not get the benefits that you deserved or that your time at Bloom Roofing was going to be short and painful.

Roofing Systems upper management did encourage that all employees be innovative and work on ways to improve the organization. The only problem was, if you presented or tried a new or innovative way of doing a certain process, if they didn’t like, you could count on either being called stupid, or in some cases, fired. There was no room for mistakes or doing things in a way they did not like.

The one reward that was anticipated, but not controllable, was an annual bonus. Once per year, if the owner felt like it, the employees would receive an annual bonus. They would range from $500 to over $10,000, depending on your position. The business manager and the owner would go behind closed doors and decide the bonus amount for each person. If you were not on the business managers’ good side, you could count on your bonus being on the low end. It did not appear to have anything to do with performance.

As an employee, I constantly set goals for myself. I did this right from the beginning of my employment. In the first year, I was encouraged by an outside consultant Bloom Roofing had hired