Monday, September 28, 2009

A model for the White House?

We've all heard the stories about the White House czars--no vetting, no accountability except to Valerie Jarrett. Obama's never run a business, never met a payroll, knows nothing about the difference between billion and trillion. Today the WSJ had a feature section on outstanding small businesses. Not that the federal government is small, but I think I saw one that was a good model for Valerie--I skipped over the businesses that featured buzz words like "teamwork," great perks, and open communications, and zero'd in on Mike's Carwash of Indianapolis. It's been around for 60 years, and I think their hiring practices are something I could recommend to both Governor Strickland and Ms. Jarrett. Mike's Car Wash has 437 FTE--261 full time employees and 352 part time. Here's how Mike's provides stellar service and stays in business: it hires the right people, then provides heavy training and when they work out THEN they get the perks as incentives.

Only one out of 100 applicants get hired.
Each candidate is interviewed by two people.
Testing of candidates finds those with strong social and reasoning skills.
Candidates are drug tested.
Managers are trained to spot the red flags of substance abuse.

Then once they've found the right people, vetting even the lowly entry level people, they have heavy training, education reimbursement (great PT job for college kids), profit sharing and incentive plans.

USAToday also had a smaller feature on small businesses today. We all know that small business is where the recovery lies--not higher taxes on the people who create wealth and employ other people. Someone show this to the President--or better, to Valerie.

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