I started my company at a young age to attempt to have a sustainable income doing the same thing I did for many other companies. I charged clients for materials up front with no up charges and receipts were handed directly to clients to show exactly what they paid for. I never lost a bid almost always coming in less then half of any competition and still made a good life for myself and others.
My employees were from all different walks of life, some were even drug addicted when coming to me for work. I helped employees get clean from drugs, I was able to provide housing, food and in some cases even provided new clothes until they were stable and ready to do it on their own. I gave rides to help employees get license to drive, helped set up bank accounts, repaired their houses to help with at home stress, And trained employees after hours to have a variety of skills to use in the world. All of my employees (when ready) were able to go to work for contractors at fair wages with the employers knowing I had trained several of the top employees at their companies. I couldn’t offer benefits so this was the next best thing I could do was find them a job that did. All of my employees were under the table which meant I had to pay the taxes on their income but I never hired an employee for less then $15/h when I first started and then as the company grew I had employees making upwards of $30/H, when they would have a good week (got far more done then expected) I payed a bonus, on jobs where the employees worked hard and did great I gave a job profit percentage up to 40% for small jobs. Holidays were never paid leave (I couldn’t afford it) but we’re optional, the employees without holiday plans were invited to join me on holidays just to make sure they weren’t alone. I’ve bought employees cars, paid for repairs, helped them to get medical insurance and scheduled appointments with them (no employee was required any notice for time off on the grounds that they just text or call at the next convenience to let me know they were ok).
I thought this was the best way to treat employees (like family) and because of this behavior I had the best jobsite performance, I had healthy well rested employees, and now I have hundreds of successfully trained friends living their best lives.
/rant