Basic Training: Training Programs

Training is also the key to employee empowerment, which can be a small company’s greatest advantage against its larger industry counterparts, Rolsky noted. “When you empower employees, you give them the ability to make decisions,” he said. “That all comes back to training and education.”

MAKING THE CASE. With contractors facing constant pressure to turn a quick profit, training frequently takes a backseat to more immediate workday concerns. To ignore or delay training, however, is a colossal mistake that will come back to haunt those who neglect it, according to experienced contractors.

“Training doesn’t have to happen every day, but it has to be consistent,” Mike Angles, vice president, McFall & Berry Landscape Management, McLean, Va., observed. “It’s not something you can put on the back burner. It’s much easier to train the right way than to retrain.”

Like any piece of equipment purchased, training is a necessary investment, added Vedere Dutes, support services manager and trainer, Stiles Landscape Company, Pompano Beach, Fla. “How can you not justify the time commitment?” he pointed out.

“You’re talking about the future of your company. If you don’t train, how will you keep employees? Training teaches those guys to become future foremen, supervisors and managers.”

Training also lets employees know that they are valued. “We all talk about cost of acquiring a new client vs. trying to start over,” Rolsky noted. “The same logic applies to employees as well. From day one, you want to show employees that you care and want to invest in them and commit to their long-term future. Training does this.”

Increased safety is also a critical argument for training, according to Carrie Andree, human resources and safety officer, All-Phase Landscape, Lakewood, Colo. Before All-Phase’s training program was implemented about three years ago, “there were a lot of employees who didn’t have the slightest idea how to work safely,” she recalled. When the company’s program was put into place, however, the benefits were tremendous: fewer lost time claims and savings on workers’ compensation and health insurance.

TRAINING TIPS. To stay committed to a successful employee training program, here are nine points to ponder.

1. Make a commitment to training part of the company’s mission. A dedication to training should be part of a company’s core values, according to Rolsky. “Good mission statements makes this point and make (the importance of training) part of the employees’ mindset,” he said. For smaller companies in particular, the trickle-down theory holds true: the president or CEO must constantly “champion” the training cause, Rolsky advised.

Green Drop Lawns, Calgary, Alberta, conveys its corporate commitment to training through its SECRET program, which constantly reminds its employees to “Satisfy Every Customer Respectfully Every Time.”

“We use it both internally and externally in every decision that we make,” said Brian Gibson, the company’s vice president.

2. Pay for training and provide incentives. To let employees know they should take it seriously, training should always be paid, according to Andree. “Even if they haven’t been out in the field, they have been working,” she said. “They should be compensated - that’s their incentive.”

Incentives don’t always have to be monetary. Both Stiles and All-Phase have recognition program in place, which give out annual safety awards, recognizing such accomplishments as injury-free crews.

Angles warns against putting too much stock in incentive programs, however. “When you have 225 employees and only 10 people reach their incentives,” it can be bad for morale, he pointed out. After all, “it’s everyone’s job to work safely.”

3. Have a dedicated trainer. Having one point person, ideally not working in the field, to track training efforts is a valuable investment, according to Angles. “When you have employees who are in the heat of the battle, you need someone on the outside to make sure the wheels keep turning,” he advised.

Andree pointed out that a company with more than two crews should have a dedicated trainer, “because that’s two different supervisors sending out two different messages. You need to have someone spearheading that information.”

4. Use a variety of trainers, if possible. “The best tool for learning is being put into the position of having to teach someone else,” Rolsky noted. “Teaching others forces you to anticipate the questions and gain command of the information.”

For this reason, “You want as many people involved in training as possible,” he said.

Trainers teaching a topic outside of their area of expertise will polish their skills and look at things from a fresh perspective. “They’re given the ability to judge the process and see things others wouldn’t,” Rolsky said.

As Dutes observed, training can have a positive, chain reaction effect within an organization. “Teach one person to teach others,” he urged.

5. Be hands-on. Hands-on training that actually shows how to do something is often the most effective kind. “You can’t just sit there and show pictures,” Andree said. “We can hand out earplugs, for example, but if they don’t know how to put them in, they’re not worth much.”

As part of his approach to training, Rolsky will make an example of an incident, such as a lost gas cap off of a blower. “I’ll say ‘Guess how much this costs to replace?’ And whoever gets it right, gets an envelope with some money or gift certificate in it,” Rolsky related. Doing this makes a memorable point and lets employees know how their actions affect the company’s bottom line, he said.

6. Keep training relevant. A common mistake is not making training relevant to what workers are actually doing, Andree pointed out. In her program, she is careful to keep training topics season- and task-specific, so workers can immediately relate their training to the actual job responsibility. “If I’m seeing several strained back injuries, I might do a session on proper lifting techniques,” she described. “If we’re doing a job with more trenching than we’re used to, I might do a session on trencher safety.”

7. Be bilingual. With a predominantly Hispanic workforce, contending with a language barrier can be a contractor’s most significant training challenge. This issue is one that contractors must overcome, according to Rolsky. “If you are not figuring out a way to deal with this issue, you’re going to be left behind,” he warned.

To effectively communicate, contractors should use bilingual employees for key positions such as human resources manager and translate as many training materials as they can, Rolsky urged. “If you want to make sure someone understands something, it needs to be in their language,” he said. “If you don’t have something in their language, it says, ‘I don’t care about you.’”

8. Follow up and hold everybody accountable for training. To make sure their efforts aren’t futile, contractors need to have a tool to evaluate training. Dutes likes to observe employees out on a job to make sure their training has transferred through to their work habits, he said, adding that he takes detailed notes that serve as a record and a way to address any problems that crop up.

In addition to employees, trainers should also be actively held accountable for training. Andree does this by checking periodically to make sure her field supervisors are holding their mandatory training sessions.

9. Don’t overwhelm. A common training mistake is providing too much information, too quickly, according to Gibson. “After you go through, it’s important to have some time to let everything sink in.”

Dutes follows a similar approach and tries to keep his employees actively engaged. “Always be very brief with training,” he suggested. “If you do any talking, keep it to 10 or 15 minutes and have the guys communicate with you.”