By When Should an Employee Be Making Money for the Company?

In my last my blog—I mentioned I didn’t give each employee a sales and repair goal until their 9 month evaluation. The store opened October of last year and I knew how much each needed to sell to make their wage but I really didn’t know how well the store was going to do so I wanted to wait until I had more concrete data. From my understanding an employee should be paying their wage at six months to a year and by the time they are there one year they should be making money for the company. Now I understand some employees are not only sales associates but handle much more and take pride in the store as if it were their own. I do have a couple of employees like that—ones that will pack the showcases with gift boxes when they are running low, clean the microwave and fridge whenever they see a mess, run to the store when you need garbage bags, do everything and anything for the business—but there comes a time when they need to be making money or you’re at a loss…right? So—is there a standard out there? How long before they should be paying their wage? How long before they need to be making money for the company?