This question comes up over and over again in the mover-communities on Facebook:  “How do I find good moving labor help for my moving company?” Today, Moversville Connect compiled the top answers to this common question in the moving industry. There was no simple, straight-forward answer, but here’s the main takeaway:

The best approach to finding good mover help is to always be hiring and soliciting for moving labor help everywhere you can. Make sure the task gets done, week after week and trust your recruiting / screening process to get the right people hired.

What are the best sources for getting moving labor help?

According to the mover-communities, here are the top sources for finding quality moving labor:

Hiring Within

When it comes to finding quality movers, many movers highly encourage hiring within your company. This means asking your current employees for referrals & recommendations from people they know. Some professional moving company owners have said that hiring within brings a higher quality of worker for 2 reasons. Number one is that it’s typical that good workers/people hang out with other good workers/people. And two, current employees will usually only recommend someone who can do good work since it’s a reflection on their own reputation.

Some moving company owners offer a referral program within their company that awards people anywhere from $100-$500 for those who bring in new employees that last anywhere from 1-6 months. Whatever breakdown you feel makes the most sense for your company is usually best.

Facebook Groups

The Brotherhood & Sisterhood of Professional Movers, The Movers Syndicate, The Movers Life.

These are groups of professional movers who already have experience moving furniture. They are constantly in the Facebook groups looking for work. Simply post your request in the group, what you’re looking for and where, and you should get responses. Of course, your location matters here. If you need contracted help on a long distance move to a location you’re not familiar with, these groups are great.

Online Job Websites

Indeed, Zip Recruiter, Craigslist

From what we’ve read, these sources can be a hit or miss depending on your location. It’s highly recommended here to post often and trust your screening process to get the right people. The more often you post the more candidates that will come to you. It’s not uncommon to get waves of unqualified candidates that will waste your time, especially from Craigslist, so make sure your job listings are designed to filter out those who are not serious about working for your company.

Groups / Connections

College athletics departments, community gyms, off duty firefighters, veteran networks.

These are great sources to reach out to. These kinds of people already know what it’s like to be part of a team and they understand work ethic. If you can hire a few people within one of these groups, you can have a referral program and begin to attract other like-minded people. One owner says that one good guy always leads to his friends. Treat him well and you may find the company he keeps is as good as him. His best guys always have “helper groupies” or friends from previous jobs.

Check out this interview with professional Chris Buck. Jae Burnham interviews Chris Buck on hiring and keeping employees.

What To Look For In A Mover: Qualities & Skills

How Much Should I Pay Moving Labor?

According to the answers from the mover-communities regarding how much you should pay your movers, your labor cost should be 28%-35% of your gross, and by no means should ever exceed 40% of gross. If you need to raise your prices or pay less in labor then so be it. These numbers do not include you being on the truck.

Always check the minimum wage qualifications in your state and stay up to date with the minimum wage requirements.

Drivers

It looks like movers are paying their drivers anywhere from $15-$25 per hour based on experience.

Some movers start their drivers on the lower side of that range and give them raises every 30-90 days based on quality work.

Some movers have said they pay less $ per hour on the drive time for long-distance moves. For example, if you’re paying $25 per hour for a driver, when that driver is doing a long distance move, on the drive time he is only getting paid $15 per hour.

Helpers

It looks like movers are paying anywhere from $11-$20 per hour for helpers based on experience. Some movers say that if they find a good fit for moving help, they will give them a raise within the first 30 days in order to keep them on board.

The takeaway here that we commonly see is that once you find good help, it makes sense to pay a bit more to keep them on board.

How Do I Keep My Moving Labor?

It’s not uncommon for business owners to treat their customers like gold but forget about their own employees. We’ve seen the comments over and over again, if you treat your employees well and keep a consistent message, it will keep them happy and will filter down to them treating the customer like gold. Keeping good employees relies heavily on the company culture and how well you treat them.

How Do I Train New Movers?

Training new movers can be done in a few different ways. Some company owners will throw them right into a job and have a great crew leader train them on the spot. Other movers will have dedicated training days where they will practice on furniture in the warehouse. Ultimately, you decide what is best for you and your company.

The Importance of Firing Bad Movers

Not only will bad workers do bad work, but they can influence your good workers to lower their own standard of quality work. We’ve read this a few times in the mover-communities that it’s actually more productive and more cost-effective for the moving company to have a fewer amount of good movers on the job than to have a larger amount of good & bad movers on the job. Owners have said that bad movers seem to influence the good movers to lower their standard of quality work.

Just as important as hiring good movers, firing bad ones is crucial to keeping your team motivated to providing quality service.

The Takeaway

There is no one source to get good moving labor help. You must do the work to find out what works best for your company. Getting good help is no easy task and one of the hardest aspects of the moving business.

Thank you to the members of the Facebook groups: 7 Figure Moving Academy & Moving Company Owner’s Unite that made writing this article easy for the Moversville Connect Team.

Photo Credit Above: NewView Moving in Arizona