Would you pay someone?
Carol, Carol's Garden
Everyone needs help at some stage. What you need to decide is whether to try to get free help or to pay for it.
Free help in the form of friends, family and volunteers - all come with strings attached. They might need board and lodging, some kind of payment in kind, or only want to do jobs they like rather than what you need doing! Or you spend so long showing them what to do, you could have done it yourself. Paying someone does focus your mind.
Until a couple of years ago, I did pretty much everything myself. If I picked flowers for a wedding and there was a bucket left over that I didn't use, I would just think, ‘oh well, I’ll give some to my Mum and put some on the table’. Now, I’m paying people. So I look at that bucket left over and work out what they have actually cost me to get them picked. Never mind the actual flowers. Suddenly it looks much more of a waste!
Nothing has really changed - I should have been valuing my own wasted time as at least the same value as paying someone else. But I didn’t. So that’s the crux of it. If someone else could do the job, but you think its not worth paying someone to do it, even at NMW (UK National Minimum wage) - and then do it yourself, then you are valuing your own time at below NMW.
When would you pay someone?
They can do it better than you - eg. a specialist of some kind e.g. website designer, tree surgeon.
They can do it quicker than you - eg. a stronger person spreading mulch.
Two of you can do a job in less than half the time of doing it on your own e.g. I like to have two of us planting up beds - one on each side - so we don't have to get up and down so much or reach right over the bed.
You can’t physically do it on your own e.g. re-skinning a poly tunnel, picking for a very big order.
The extra income more than pays for the cost of the person eg. if I pay someone 6 hours at £8/hour = £48 they could pick £500 worth of flowers that I could not otherwise pick.
Having the option means you can take on work you otherwise couldn't manage eg. a large wedding which is more than you can realistically do alone.
Whoever you have on site to help you, you need to have Employers Liability Insurance, provide a safe working environment and train them to use any equipment you supply. The only exceptions to this are specialist contractors or freelancers who are working under their own direction rather than yours and using their own equipment eg. tree surgeons.
Volunteers and family
(Claire's family team of son, Will, husband, Ashley and Mum and Dad (Sue and Mick), quite a few years ago, Will is now as tall as Ashley!))
Most of us start off with unpaid help from family and friends. This is simple enough, and they may well be happy with a bunch of flowers or a drink. But you do still have some responsibilities to them, especially if they are working under your direction. You will need to provide a safe working environment, with due care to Health and Safety, and possibly to have Employer’s Liability Insurance.
Other sources of volunteer help include:
Local helpers - people who want to be outdoors, or enjoy gardening or flowers, but don't want the responsibility of a paid job. They generally help on days/hours to suit them.
Volunteers provided by organisations eg. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOFers) or Workaway. You can offer work placements where people will gain experience, skills or knowledge, in exchange for working for free for you. They usually work a limited number of hours per day, and you provide food and lodging as well as all equipment and training needed. If you are happy to host people, they can be a very rewarding resource, although it all depends on the person you get!
Internships or professional volunteers - People who ask to spend time with you to learn specific skills or experience. The terms can be entirely up to you and them.
Contractors and freelancers
These are people who are self employed or employed by another organisation. Your relationship with them is a ‘Contract for Services’ rather than a ‘Contract of Service’ ie. they have more control over when they come, they govern their own work and generally provide their own equipment. They will invoice you for work done either on an hourly basis or for a specific job. They are responsible for their own NI, tax and statutory benefits.
Your only responsibilities are:
To provide a safe working environment as far as is under your control.
To provide employers liability insurance if they are working under your direction eg. a freelance florist working on a wedding for you would be doing work as prescribed by you, so would be under your direction to some extent. You should cover them under your own insurance. A specialist tree surgeon would generally be working under their own direction and would need their own insurance.
Agency staff are sometimes used in horticulture - especially short term seasonal pickers. These are people who are employed by an agency and all of their terms and conditions are covered by the agency. Your contractual relationship is with the agency only, you don't usually choose who is sent to work for you. You just need to have insurance cover and provide a safe working environment. Payment is often on piece rates eg. per bunch picked.
Employing people
There is a lot of legislation governing the employment of people in the UK. On top of the need to provide a safe working environment, you will also need to consider the following:
If you are going to employ anyone earning more than the Lower Earnings Limit for NI then you will need to register as an employer with HMRC.
You must provide any employee (employed for more than 1 month) with a written statement of their terms of employment - conditions, rights and responsibilities and duties.
You will need to consider if you need to make NI contributions and provide a pension scheme.
You must pay in line with National Minimum Wage.
You should take steps to check the person has a legal right to work in the UK.
You may need to do safeguarding checks, if they are to be working with
vulnerable people.
You will need Employers Liability Insurance.
All employees are entitled to statutory minimum paid holiday, paid rest
breaks, and possibly statutory sick pay.
The main options are:
Standard employment - for anyone earning more than the Lower Earnings Limit for NI contributions (in UK for year to April 2020 this is £118 per week). This is a standard employment contract and all of the above considerations apply including NI and PAYE. There is plenty of advice and guidance on current requirements and practice on gov.uk
Employees earning below the Lower Earning Limit for NI contributions (currently £118 per week) - you do not need to register as an employer with HMRC, but you do need to provide a written statement and provide statutory minimum paid holiday and breaks and other requirements listed above. You do not need to make NI contributions on their behalf.
Zero Hours contract - where employees have no obligations or rights to work, but are ‘on call’ for when work is available. They will be paid for the hours they actually work. All other requirements as above still apply, but as their contracted hours are zero, you will need to calculate holiday entitlement on the actual hours worked. If they regularly earn more than the Lower Earnings limit you will need to treat them as a standard employee
Casual Harvest workers - there are special rules for outdoor casual harvest workers, who work for you on a daily basis (paid at the end of the day) for no more than two weeks in any tax year, with no contract for future hours. In these cases, you can pay more than the LEL without deducting NI or PAYE. You do need to keep records of the people you pay. See gov.uk for details.
Motivating yourself and your team
Not everyone is motivated by the same things. You cannot ‘motivate’ someone who does not want to be motivated. All you can do is to create the right environment for them to motivate themselves. You can, however, de-motivate people eg. by not paying them as they expected, or not treating them fairly.
Maslow described a ‘Hierarchy of Needs’:
As our most basic physiological needs are met, we look to the next ‘level’ of the hierarchy for motivation. Our most basic needs are for food, water, warmth, rest, security and safety. If we are short of any of these, they tend to become the prime motivator - all we can think of is getting warm, or something to eat. If all our basic needs are met and we are relatively comfortable with our existence then we will look to the higher psychological needs for our motivation. We might want to make friends at work, to enjoy a sense of achievement, or pride when we talk about our work to friends. The highest level of motivation is for a sense of fulfilment - we are wanting to be creative and to feel like we are achieving our full potential. First world motives, if you like.
So, the key to helping your team to motivate themselves is to listen to what they want from their work - why are they working for you, now? If they need to pay their rent, feed themselves, then their primary motivation is likely to be money, convenient hours, ease of getting to work etc. If they are well provided for, but lonely, their motivation might be to meet interesting people they can have fun with. Sometimes this is a higher need to them than being paid at all.
I have shown below some of the motivations of people who have worked here (I’ve changed their names as some of you might know them!):
Jane: is well qualified, but does not enjoy conventional working environments. She does need a regular income and likes to do a full day when she is here, to make the most of her time. She works hard and is very loyal. She is motivated by involvement in decisions eg. about the flowers we grow, she likes to be given responsibility and to be trusted to supervise other people. I share a lot of information with her. She understands the need to work efficiently and can be left to work alone. We grow food as well as flowers here and I encourage her to take any spares, as I know money is tight. I pay her for every minute she is here, even if it’s to feed the cats when we are away. Her main motivations are in the Esteem section, with a little of the Basics too.
Sarah: Is very comfortably off, has teenage children and hasn't worked for many years. She has had some health problems including serious stress- related migraines. She is motivated almost entirely by the environment, being part of a team, the flowers, and the opportunity to meet people. She is also keen to be recognised by her friends as doing something interesting and being part of our business. I do not give her as much responsibility as Jane, but involve her with workshops etc where she gets to work with new people. Her main motivations are Psychological. I hardly ever ask her to work alone.
Suzie: Was local, and had had a very traumatic period in her life. She had private means and did not need to work to earn money. She asked if she could help me in the garden. She came in the early years here and wanted some time alone in the garden. She liked working with the animals and doing some work with me too, but was not keen to meet new people. She worked hard and liked being outdoors whatever the weather, but wanted to come to suit herself. She did not want to be paid or to have any expectations on her. She had no specific experience with flowers and did not really want any responsibility. I could usually find work for her to do, but this was limited. I didn’t feel I could criticise her if she did anything wrong, Motivating her was all about finding work that she liked, and not putting any pressure on her. She definitely built confidence in her time here and we worked together well. Although I was very grateful for her help, I felt I couldn’t rely on her, so wasn’t too disappointed when she decided she was ready to move away and to go back to a more normal job.
So what about you?
You can apply the same analysis to your own motivations.
Do you have urgent short term financial needs?
Or is it more about creating a sense of purpose in your life?
Or a creative outlet?
Understanding this will help you to identify what you really want to get out of your business and to make sure you get what you need from it. Businesses can run away from you sometimes - and turn into something you didn't intend. Keeping a clear view of your motivations can help keep it on track.