I already wrote about the rake test: what a new guy does when nothing is assigned and he's run out of instructions. This is not that. Keep the two apart, because they measure opposite things. The rake test is about the downtime. This one is about what someone dodges when there's plenty to do.
Picture a big takedown. The tree's on the ground, the brush pile is standing, the chipper's running, and there's a stump's worth of chips to shovel. Everybody's in it. Everybody except one guy.
The watcher
The first face of this flaw is the easy one to see. He stands there while other people work. Not because he's confused about what to do next, there's a pile of brush in front of him. He's just comfortable watching his crew carry it.
The first boss I worked for had a line for it, and he said it often: "Being able to watch while other men work is a character flaw." Not a training gap, not a bad day. A flaw. I've never forgotten it, because it names the thing precisely. The problem isn't that he's slow. It's that he can stand there at all.
Being able to watch while other men work is a character flaw.
The dodger
The second face is harder to spot, and that's what makes him worse. He never stands still. He's busy all day. He just makes sure the thing he's busy with is the easiest job on the site.
There's brush to drag and chips to shovel, and he picks up the rake every time and does that instead. He looks like he's working. Glance across the yard from the truck or the customer's porch and he is working. The crew knows exactly what he's doing, because they're the ones in the pile.
The crew knows exactly what he's doing, because they're the ones in the pile.
I've seen countless guys do this. Pick the easy job over getting in the brush with their team, over and over, until it's just who they are on the crew. It's one of the worst traits a team member can have, and it doesn't show up on a resume or in an interview. It shows up on the third job of the day, when the pile is big and the rake is right there.
Same rake, opposite meaning
This is why the two tests stay separate. In the downtime, when the brush is cleared and the next cut isn't ready, the rake is the right tool and grabbing it is the right instinct. That's the rake test, and passing it says something good about a man.
While the brush pile is still standing, the rake is the wrong tool. Same rake, opposite meaning. The guy who grabs it in the downtime is keeping the job moving. The guy who grabs it while the pile stands is hiding behind it.
The guy who grabs it in the downtime is keeping the job moving. The guy who grabs it while the pile stands is hiding behind it.
So don't let a good rake-test result cover for a dodger. A man can pass one and fail the other. The rake test tells you whether he'll find work when none is assigned. This tells you whether he'll pick the hard work when it's right in front of him.
The cost isn't the output
If this were only about output, you could do the math on one slow guy and decide whether he's worth it. It isn't only about output.
The crew sees it. They see it every time, and they resent it, and the resentment drags everyone down. The guys carrying their weight start carrying his too, and they know it. The best people on your crew, the ones who hustle without being told, feel it most, because they're the ones in the pile doing his share. One person's character flaw becomes the whole crew's morale problem.
One person's character flaw becomes the whole crew's morale problem.
And it lands on you, because when morale goes, so does everything you built to run without you. A crew that resents one of its own needs a referee, and that's you, back on the job site, back in every conversation. That's how one easy-job dodger turns into an owner who can't leave.
What to do about it
Handle it like any other coaching conversation, out loud and early. Name it plainly: when the pile is standing, you're in the pile. Set the expectation so there's no mind reading involved, then watch what he does with it. Some guys simply didn't know the rake was the wrong tool at that moment, because nobody ever said so. Say so.
Then give real chances. Clear expectations, specific feedback, and time to change. The test was never whether someone falls short. Everyone does somewhere. The test is whether they respond when you correct them.
Put all of it on paper as you go. Write down what each role is expected to do, and have both of you sign off on every training. If you do end up letting him go, that record of the expectation and the correction is what holds up when he files for unemployment, and fewer paid claims keeps your unemployment tax rate from climbing. The same paper protects your workers' comp record when someone gets hurt doing something he was never trained or authorized to do.
If it still doesn't change after repeated correction, it's time to move him along, and you're not parting ways over the dodging. You're parting ways over the inability to be coached past it. Keeping him costs you the people who are worth keeping.
One plain line before you act: parting ways carries real legal exposure, and in a small company you're the HR department whether you wanted the job or not. Unemployment and workers' comp rules vary by state. Check with an employment attorney, HR professional, or your insurance agent first.
Freedom first, growth second
A crew where everybody gets in the pile is a crew that holds its own standard. Nobody has to call you about the guy on the rake, because there isn't one. That's freedom first: one less resentment simmering on a job site you aren't standing on, one less reason the phone rings.
Growth comes second, and it's real. A crew that hustles together finishes faster, because in tree work it's often less total effort to work hard in the moment than to let the brush and chips pile up. Faster jobs, more jobs, without you adding a single hour. It's just not the reason to fix it. It's what happens after.
Find the rest of your bottlenecks
Culture is one place the business leans on you. The Bottleneck Scorecard finds the rest in five minutes: seven questions, a score, and the one thing to fix first. No email required to see your result.