Employee Solicitation Right Or Wrong: Recruiting Employees

Clearly, an ethical question stems from employee solicitation: Is recruiting a competitor’s employees wrong or is it a fair business practice? Lawn & Landscape asked two respected contractors (and long-time friends), who have different views of this issue, to share their thoughts.

GEORGE MORRELL
President, The Morrell Group, Atlanta, Ga.

At the Morrell Group, I instituted a policy long ago that we would not solicit other companies’ employees. Times have changed, and we have modified that policy somewhat. Today, our policy is the same with one exception: If another company repeatedly attempts to hire our employees then it becomes a violation of the respect we have for that company, and it’s open season. We will treat them with the same disrespect they have shown us.

Years ago, the landscape industry was smaller and more intimate. We knew each other, and we were friends in many cases. Our businesses were local and few of us ventured outside our own cities. There was always the competition for work, but not so much for the people.

Today, we are no longer mom-and-pop businesses. We have become an industry recognized by Wall Street. Not only are local contractors soliciting my employees, but companies from all over the country, as well as headhunters, are calling on a weekly basis.

I like to think that I built a business based on fairness, openness and honesty. You have to have some guiding principles as you go down this road. If I could say that what I was doing was legal, moral and ethical, then I felt it was OK to do. The legal part is pretty well defined. Where things get cloudy is with moral and ethical issues. Then, the decision-making process becomes a matter of perspective, and what is right for me may not be right for someone else. I’m not judging people for their actions, I’m simply saying that some practices don’t feel right to me.

There is another very important facet to our policy on hiring, which, to me, is the core of the issue. All companies develop a culture, and that culture is really an extension of the leadership’s personality. When a prospective employee comes to you for employment and you hire, train and give that person an environment they are comfortable in, they develop a sense of loyalty and commitment to the company. Your chances of retaining a productive, motivated, long-term employee are significantly enhanced.

The process of seeking out a competitor’s employees and enticing them to consider your offer creates a negative environment to start with. Being too enthusiastic and over-selling the prospect is easy to do. This leads to high expectations from the new employee who can become discouraged upon joining your firm.

Attracting, hiring and training new employees when you need them is a daunting task. Doing this correctly takes a commitment of manpower and capital to set up a human resources system. There is an investment in training as well as a time commitment to get any new employee up to speed. Shopping from other companies and hiring individuals off-the-shelf seems like a great short cut, but it’s only a temporary fix. The real problem is probably a poor investment, or no investment, in your most important asset - your people.

The fact is that companies seeking skilled individuals may not have a choice but to seek help from other companies’ personnel. This occurs every day in corporate America, and when this is done right for the right reasons it can be successful. However, when you develop your own employees in a system of hiring, training and promotion, the chances of a successful long-term relationship are much greater.

DICK BARE
President, Arbor-Nomics, Norcross, Ga.

Back in the day of Adam and Eve, Adam noticed that a particular stand of grass had wonderful properties for playing baseball, so he patented it with the name Kentucky Bluegrass (that’s how Kentucky got its name). Soon, Adam’s sod farm got really big, and he asked Eve to quit her job at the Fig Farm to join him. Cain and Abel joined the sod farm next after giving their two-week notice to the Rattlesnake Round-up Corral.

Noah and his three sons soon noticed that Adam and Eve had a new Rockmobile (candy apple red, of course) and Cain and Abel had new chariots. Noah had a chat with his sons and they decided to get out of the boat business and into the sod business (which turned out to be a bad decision). They went out to the Ribs Sod Farm and made an offer to Abel to join them that he couldn’t refuse. Cain got so angry that Abel left the family farm that he slew Abel.

Adam and Eve were so upset over this whole mess that they drew up a code of ethics for the Garden of Eden. In this code of ethics, Adam and Eve stated that it is unethical and immoral to steal customers or employees. This code of ethics has been passed down for generations in the green industry and was adopted by many industry associations. However, other industries’ code of ethics developed after this standard was set, and somehow this particular rule got left out.

So lawyers, doctors, hotel managers, sports teams, and, in general, most other business people operate under a different law than our industry. But, things are changing. Traditionally, our industry has consisted of small mom-and-pop operations, and these companies have operated under the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule of Big Business, however, is: Do unto others before they do unto you. As lawn and landscape firms grow larger, we must get prepared to have our employees clubbed over the head and dragged off to someone else’s cave for an extra 25 cents an hour.

Let me cite some exceptions: If an employee is a company officer or has a fiduciary position (accountant, bookkeeper, etc.) in the company, he may fall under certain state laws regarding his solicitations of employees for a competing company.

When an employee is bound by a written and signed employment contract, he must abide by the rules set forth for quitting a company and trying to take a bunch of fellow employees with him.

Conversely, some states have laws governing free trade, which guarantee the right of companies to solicit employees away from competing companies, as well as allowing employees the free will to leave the company for a better job. These laws exist because, as an employer, you cannot be allowed to fire an employee and also prevent that person from being recruited by a competitor. We live in a free marketplace, and these same rules apply to customers as well.

If your customer thinks your company’s service is too expensive, he or she is free to go elsewhere for a cheaper price. At the same time, you as a company are allowed to raise your prices at will. You are also allowed (and encouraged by tax laws) to advertise, solicit, call or otherwise twist arms of potential clients to gain them as customers no matter who is servicing them now.