BEST OF THE WEB: Filling in the Gaps

Employee retention is something landscape contractors often struggle with as owners of labor-intensive and, in some regions, seasonal enterprises. A recent Lawn & Landscape Online Message Board discussion focused on how contractors can recruit and retain quality employees, despite their business type.

In one such situation, Patrick Johnson, owner of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Reflective Gardens, asks fellow contractors how he should proceed after his foreman quit without any advanced notice. "I can’t believe he did that," Johnson writes. "So now I’m all by myself with all of this work to do. I had lost another employee a couple of months back and have been using a temporary service with decent results. But it’s always a crapshoot with that."

Johnson continues by saying he’ll likely have to use a temporary hiring service again. "It really doesn’t seem that bad if you request the same person for a week who is a good worker," he says. "Eleven dollars an hour, which includes workers’ compensation and taxes – not too bad. Now it seems like I’m free to ‘start over’ with labor. What would you do in my position?"

LOST LOYALTY. The green industry is a competitive marketplace, meaning contractors are constantly vying for quality workers. Johnson’s situation could be avoided by networking and clearly defining expectations from employees, note Message Board participants.

Johnson was aware his foreman was launching his own landscape company while working at Reflective Gardens and writes that one day he just "quit cold turkey" without showing or calling. Contractors can help prevent such situations by outlining their expectations from new hires in writing, suggests Jim Meloche, owner, Treasured Earth, Novi, Mich. From the first day, contractors should list the consequences if these expectations are not met, make sure the employees buy into the program and enforce the company rules once they’re established, says Meloche.

Meloche faced a similar experience when he told his last crew manager to improve the company’s efficiency. "I have learned that those are absolutely meaningless directives for not only the employee but for me as a business owner," Meloche writes. "Here’s why: Everyone’s concept of efficiency is different – way too much is left to interpretation when using phrases like these.

"So it becomes necessary to boil down the concepts of management and efficiency into very specific functional requirements for these concepts," Meloche continues. "Then action plans for when those requirements are not met must be derived."

Meloche recommends that contractors develop a handbook to address these issues. Contractors can do this by documenting specific expectations, such as asking foremen to provide written man-hour reports after completing each job, giving crew leaders three months to reduce crew preparation time by five minutes, and analyzing vendors’ products and recommending to crews which ones should be used exclusively, Meloche says.

"These are not only concretely measurable and tangible requirements, but the consequences for not meeting them will be outlined as well," Meloche says. "We pay very well for a project manager, and they should be fully capable of executing these instructions, but it is our job as owners to identify the requirements rather than have them interpret them. If requirements are not specifically outlined, the employee’s buy-in not obtained and the process for dealing with non-conformances not identified, we get what we deserve."

Chad Stern, owner of Chevy Chase, Md.-based Mowing & More agrees that contractors should spell out their intentions to employees before enforcing them. He relates an incident in 2003 when he hired his first employee and discovered how critical it is to clearly state objectives. "I found out that when you send a person to weed flower beds you cannot just tell them to ‘make it look good’ – you have to tell them to weed all weeds, cut dead perennials, pick up sticks, remove large piles of leaves and blow-off all hardscapes," he says.

THE REPLACEMENTS. No matter how much contractors drive home goals and expectations, turnover is always a reality. As a safeguard, contractors should be constantly looking for prospective employees, suggests Ken Reis, owner, Turf & Shrub Management, Dartmouth, Mass. "It’s tough for any business to have a right-hand man leave," he writes. "Loyalty is something most do not understand the meaning of – this not only goes for employees but for employers as well and definitely customers. I believe a small business owner needs to be like a shark – constantly looking for food. It is a dauntless reality."

Stern recommends that contractors ask their hardest-working employees for references of people they know who are seeking employment. Terry Duran, owner, Preferred Property Maintenance, Fremont, Calif., also recommends asking current employees for references. "The easiest way to get good employees is to approach your other crewmembers and ask them if they have a friend or family member who needs work," he says. "If this doesn’t work, approach other employees from other firms and ask them the same question."

At least half would likely listen just for their "own selfish reasons," Duran says.

Contractors may also want to consider recent horticulture school graduates, says Bryan Taynor, president, Bryan Taynor Landscape Design, Gahanna, Ohio. "If they know they will be your right hand in time, they may stick it out, and you can train them how you like or offer the right person a stake in the business after they have invested so many years," Taynor says.

Another contractor suggests using immigrant labor to fill employment gaps. "It will soon dawn on you that Hispanic labor is the only way to go," writes Chuck Twist, president of TNT Landscaping and H.O.L.A. Labor Consultants, Stillwater, Okla. "How long will it take before you get so fed up that you’ll start closing down shop if something doesn’t change? There’s where I was before I started hiring Hispanic labor."

Twist says that it took him about 10 years to realize the benefits of immigrant labor. "Things seem to be fairly manageable as long as you are still out there always working with crews," he writes. "But just wait until you try to get out of the field and start trying to delegate the work so you can work on growing your business to it’s potential.

"I want to hear from you 10 years from now. Just let me know that you are still in business without hiring foreign labor and that you are not still working in the field most of the time. I’ve yet to hear anyone in this business complain about immigrants working in the United States who weren’t working in the field most of the time."

Reis explored using immigrant labor but says he’s worried that he will have trouble getting these workers certified for pesticide applications because of the language barrier. But contractors can work around this by using Spanish-language pesticide application manuals, Twist explains, adding that some states provide tests in Spanish.

But Meloche writes that immigrant labor cannot be used as a cure-all to labor problems. "You guys don’t get it," he says. "Expectations management is the key to controlling your labor destiny. Not that immigrant labor is bad, but it’s a Band-Aid fix for what we’re really talking about here."

Johnson agrees, but also sees the benefits of immigrant labor. He says, "I think with the right training, pay and incentives," Hispanic laborers can thrive in this industry.