The Neighborhood Cup in Aliso Viejo has had about 25 employees come and go in the year that it’s been open.
“We do have a lot of turnover,” said Jennifer Secofsky, who owns the coffee shop along with her dad.
Much of the turnover is because many of the student workers go home in the summer, she said.
“Few leave because they don’t like it,” she said.
Secofsky said she’s worked to make the coffee shop a warm and friendly place where musicians perform and artists show off their work.
“But we’re a coffee house and we’re competing with Starbucks,” she said. “They pay $9 an hour.”
That’s a big challenge for many small business owners: finding quality people to work for low wages.
Secofsky said she can’t offer her workers much more than $7.50 an hour, which is a bit above California’s minimum wage of $6.75. She isn’t able to pay Starbucks-like benefits, either.
But there are some fringe benefits at the Neighborhood Cup.
Neighborhood Cup offers flexible work schedules, free coffee and half-price specialty coffees. Secofsky gives bonuses such as gift certificates when the coffee shop breaks sales records. Workers also get a couple extra dollars an hour in tips.
Secofsky finds most of her employees through Craigslist.com, an online classified ad board that’s free in most areas of the U.S., including OC.
Craiglist.com is a popular site for many small business owners.
Stephani Gresham, owner of Xpecting, a maternity wear boutique in Costa Mesa, also swears by the site. Her most recent ad resulted in 15 responses. She interviewed a few and hired one.
Craigslist does bring in a few flakes, she said. Gresham said she goes with her gut during interviews.
Like the Neighborhood Cup, Xpecting pays more than minimum wage,$10 plus bonuses that depend on sales.
“I want employees to stick around,” she said.
It was hard for Lori Nadeau, owner of Orange company A Lady’s Touch Professional Window Washing, to find workers until she got some religion.
Nadeau started recruiting employee candidates at churches. Her theory: Churchgoers have a strong work ethic.
She lets the pastor know she has jobs available and she posts her card on the church bulletin board. It’s worked for her, Nadeau said.
Small-business owners tend to use all the resources they can to find workers.
“One of them I got by telling the UPS man that I needed (a worker),” said Shirley McNiel of Imprinted Memories in downtown Orange.
McNiel said the UPS deliveryman spread the word during his stops about the open position. She pays $8 an hour to start at her company, which sells and makes personalized gifts such as mugs and mouse pads.
McNiel said it’s especially tough to find people in Orange because some stores pay workers in cash.
“It’s not fair,” she said.
McNiel said she offers her workers a fun place to work. She’s also flexible. McNiel doesn’t offer benefits,all of her workers are part time. She does offer an occasional free cookie, though.
Getting people to serve up mochas, ring up mugs, wash windows and sell designer jeans with stretchy waistbands is easy compared to what Drew Boyles asks of his workers.
They pick up and haul away junk. And occasionally they stand on street corners in blue afro wigs to advertise his 1-800-Got-Junk business.
Boyles, based in Huntington Beach, owns three 1-800-Got-Junk franchises in OC, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Besides being able to do physical labor, workers need to be articulate,to be able to say, “‘That’s going to be $300’ with confidence and feel good about it,” Boyles said.
Boyles, who pays $9 an hour to start, admits he’s made mistakes on the hiring front. When he first opened 1-800-Got-Junk nearly three years ago, Boyles found out one of his drivers was dealing drugs on the side.
“All it takes is a couple of knuckleheads and your business goes down the tubes,” he said.
About a year ago, after he stopped driving trucks himself, Boyles seriously began thinking about the best way to recruit,and keep,quality workers.
“We were having too much turnover,” he said.
So instead of waiting for people to respond to an ad, Boyles goes to the source,places where potential candidates might hang out.
He speaks to college classes and recruits at firefighting academies. The academies are full of great candidates, he said. The firefighter trainees are smart, they like physical work and they usually have some wait time before starting training programs.
Boyles gives employee referrals,$200 for every person hired, he said. Workers also get to keep stuff that they find.
“We try to push that,” he said.
One worker picked up a poster that was signed by Neil Armstrong and sold it on eBay for $600. The company also has an 1890 grand piano that needs to be restored.
“We get all kinds of crazy stuff,” he said.
Boyles interviews in groups of three to 12 candidates. It saves time, he said. But more importantly, “the cream rises to the top,” he said.
He gets to see who listens and picks up concepts, and how they interact in a group.
Boyles also borrows a bit from his former employer, Starbucks Corp., where he used to be a district manager. Starbucks employees tend to feel part of something bigger, he said. It’s nothing spoken and it’s not written in the human resources manual, he said.
Starbucks gives workers the feeling that the company isn’t out to just make a buck, he said.
So Boyles keeps a board in the office with all of 1-800-Got-Junk’s charitable activities.
“People have to feel good about where they’re working,” he said.
He also shows his workers a career path. They can grow from being a driver to a route supervisor to an operations manager.
“Show them this isn’t their last job,” he said.
Another principle he goes by was picked up at a conference: “Feed your tigers, whip your horses, shoot your dogs,” Boyles said.
That means give the good workers plenty of opportunities, guide the would-be stars and fire under performers.
“I’ve reflected on everything I’ve learned in the past,” he said. “Now we’re actually starting to roll.”
