Diffuse ‘employee time bombs’ with proactive measures

I want to begin this article by stating that, for the most part, I loved my teammates at Schopen Pest Solutions. But employees can be little “time bombs” waiting to go off.

I’ve had techs drive trucks into houses. I once had an employee break his foot by kicking a flat tire that he couldn’t remove from the rim. I had a technician fall off a ladder, fracturing his ankle, and several workers fall through attic spaces.

I once had a technician admit to stealing a bag of illegal drugs from a customer and quit our company to sell the ill-gotten gain. I also had another tech steal one of our work trucks and disappear for three days. The Chicago Police Department called me and told me they found our stolen truck dismantled and ruined. We never heard from our klepto employee again.

Fallout from an incident

Today, we are catching up with Nicole Gorman of Evans Termite & Pest Control (ETPC), who is, unfortunately, facing some employee issues of her own these days. When we last highlighted the Locust Grove, Ga.-based company in April 2023, she and her team were using several strategies we had discussed in our coaching sessions with great success. I helped Gorman and her husband, Tim Ivey, find money by selling mosquito control jobs to existing quarterly customers. They also streamlined their training and reorganized their routes. These, and other tactics, helped them rocket from $347,146 in 2022 to $455,689 in 2023.

Unfortunately, ETPC’s “time bombs” began to detonate in 2024, and significantly hindered growth. Last summer, one of its techs took a truck home without permission, causing a three-car accident in the middle of the night. There were no serious injuries, thankfully. Still, the incident led to a lawsuit, cost them a tech and took a truck out of commission. The fallout is still being felt by ETPC today, significantly slowing its growth.

ETPC only grew by $10,000 last year, and this year, revenue likely will increase by between $35,000 and $40,000, representing less than 10 percent growth.

I asked Gorman about the accident and how it affected her. “I lost track of the day-to-day minutiae of our company,” she admitted. “I wasn’t focused on my company or the growth but instead had all of my focus on the accident, the lawsuit and getting past this disaster.”

Fail falling forward

While it’s easier said than done, good business owners shouldn’t dwell on their mistakes; instead, they should work with urgency to rectify the issues and move ahead. That’s why I teach my consulting clients the three “F’s”: Fail Falling Forward.

Gorman is an excellent example of this. After the initial shock, she dug in and was determined to prevent this type of problem from happening again.

ETPC has since implemented a five-pronged plan:

1. Gorman created a list of questions for potential hires to ensure they are more likely to be a good fit.
2. ETPC now has a three-month probationary period to assess each employee before it offers pay raises or truck privileges.
3. The first day of training for a new employee involves signing several work documents related to taxes, driving records, vehicle safety videos, ladder safety videos and ETPC’s new and improved company manual. “We used to have a small manual, but now it is 2 inches thick,” she reports with a chuckle.
4. Gorman is developing a company-specific training manual.
5. New ETPC employees must complete the Georgia Pest Control Exam and Prep Course, a two-hour, self-paced online study tool.

Focusing on the future

Despite the rough patch the team has endured over the past 12 months, ETPC remains very busy and is gaining traction in its market. Last year, it was voted “Best of Georgia 2024” by the Georgia Business Journal.

Also, the local chapter of Make-A-Wish Foundation of America heard about Gorman’s hobby of breeding butterflies and her interest in lepidopterology, the study of butterflies. The chapter’s leaders asked her to help coordinate a butterfly release for a young girl who is traveling to Puerto Rico. The butterflies will be released in front of the girl and her family to mark the start of the trip.

No matter how difficult running a company can be, Gorman, a second-generation pest management professional, still loves it. “The responsibilities can be overwhelming,” she adds, “but I love being my own boss, and I love working with my husband and family.”

Training, company manuals and interview questions won’t stop all “time bombs” from going off. After all, ETPC recently had a trainee fall through a client’s attic, twice. But it does reduce the liability. ETPC will bounce back from this setback and be stronger for it.

The company recently added another tech. This, along with protocols, standard operating procedures, and setting expectations during training will help guide it past the half-million revenue mark this year.