Pay by percentage or by the hour..

[k9srule]

I am wondering how others are paying their employees. Is it more common now to pay by the hour or by the dog at a certain percent or percent of the total dogs per week ??? And then we get into the contract labor / or leasee issue. What do you guys think? Thanks!

[redbird]

payscale

My first job as a brusher bather/assistant, I got 7 an hour flat rate.

My second job(after school) I got 7 an hour plus 50% of any groom I did, plus my tips. Thats 2 dollars over minimum wage.
Its going to get tougher if they raise minimum wage around here.
I started out at just 2 dogs a day, after my bath dogs were done.
I still got the 7 an hour on top of my grooms.

The problem with persentages are, you must make sure your help can get enough dogs to groom each day, to pay their bills.
It makes no sence for help to come to work and do 2 or three dogs on persentage only. If your really slow they may not need to come in at all, and there is no sense in having a job if they are pulling days with little or no income at all. Perhas a minimum base pay could be agreed upon if there are few dogs that day, and they help clean.

I would just say, if your are going to employ a groom, make SURE you have enough dogs to keep them busy, busy, busy. If you do, then persentage could work.

[k9srule]

Thank you

Thank you for the reply, I really appreciate it. I pay my employees by the hour, they receive 5 days paid vacation and a raise every 6 - 12 months. I can't afford to offer insurance. They do receive tips and we share the dogs.

[HoundLover]

i dont know if your looking on how people pay their bathers or other groomers...well i am a bather. the first groomer i worked for paid me 7 dollars an hr. she paid her other bather by the dog. well...i would have made MORE money there if she paid me per dog ( i think she paid 4 dollars a dog regardless of size) than the hourly rate! figure there are 20 dogs. 20 x 4=80 dollars. now say i only work from 7 in the morning til 2 pm. thats only 49 dollars being paid at 7 dollars an hour. now thats taking into the factor that there are mainly small dogs at this shop...sometimes i was there until 3 or 4 o clock...but thats still only 63 dollars versus the 80 dollars the other bather is getting. ie...the other bather has motive to get the dogs done as quickly as possible (also she worked there for 6 yrs too) and then she has most of her day still left whereas i worked at least 7 hrs a day..and was totally exhausted by the end of the 3 days i was required to work. now the groomer i work for now pays me by the dog. 4/large 3/med 2/small (ie pom size) but she never really paid me 2 dollars she just gives me 3 dollars. and 3 for cats. this way i am not rushing to get the animals done and i have a chance to relax and sit down and not feeling stressed because i still have 10+ dogs to wash and dry and a groomer who is waiting around for their dog.
personally if your going to pay your bather i would figure out how it is going to work for both of you. i feel getting paid by dog is alot fairer to my boss as there are times im not doing anything for an hour or two as there is a gap between appointments. should she be paying me for doing nothing? i personally dont think so.
but thats just me...
Hound

[k9srule]

I wish I could say we do 20 dogs a day. We do around 9 -12 everyday. So paying by the dog might be a little better than hourly. But she also cleans the bathing room, empties garbages, records the days business and answers some phone calls. She does the roughouts on some as well.

[HoundLover]

well now that i look back on getting paid by dog...if you expect your bather to help clean up the shop then id offer them so much an hr for cleaning and so much per dog or itd just be easier to pay them By the hour. so sometimes it works out better being paid by dog other times it works out by being paid hourly. since i was told that i was lazy and had no work ethic and that i didnt clean up my work area properly..i looked at it like this. i wasnt being paid at all for cleaning. so why should i bust my butt washing the walls down and mopping when she never offered to pay me for it? now if i was being paid hourly at this shop then yes i would have been mopping and wiping down the walls etc. when i worked at the other shop i was paid hourly...and i DID bust my butt and wash the walls and cages when we were slow. most people dont like to work for free...me included! LOL!
so if your bather is doing rough outs of grooming patterns or can do a basic BBT dog or brush a dog out for you (ie a collie or pyr) then i would offer her 50 percent of that groom plus what your paying her already.
it sounds like you have a really great employee and that you treat her well.
good luck
Hound