Hire power

A quick question as you get settled in for the start of what I hope is a very successful 2014 season: How’s your bench looking right now?

I don’t mean how shiny are your new mowers, or how organized is your shop or what does your backlog look like. I mean: How are the people who run those mowers and sell that work doing? Do you have enough of them to do the work this year? Do you have any? Are they as excited to get back to work as you are? Are they as excited to do the same thing come the sweltering heat of August?

This issue focuses on how to keep your employees motivated without just handing them more cash. Turns out, that’s not always the most profitable or practical solution. To help explain the wheres and whys, we’ve got a great piece from trainer and HR pro Ellen Ely.

And as a companion to Ellen’s cover story, we’re launching a new column I’m calling Hire Power. It’s a practical and tactical piece we’ll run each month that outlines tangible things you can do to improve your own recruiting – and retention – of good employees.

When we asked for contractors’ top problems in our annual state of the industry poll, finding qualified candidates for open positions was the top answer. Anecdotally, good employees are the diamond in the rough for almost every landscaper I talk to. Our new column is just one small way to help you figure it out.

Later this month, PLANET puts on one of the best events aimed at recruiting in the industry. Student Career Days is a clearinghouse for up-and-coming college students to showcase their talents and meet with prospective employers. And while it’s a fine event, it’s not enough, and it’s not taken advantage of by enough companies.

At the end of the day, a couple of college students or a few interns aren’t going to solve your problems. Just like anything, you’re going to have to try a bunch of stuff and look in a lot of places to find the right employees.

That’s the true focus of Hire Power – how to find good people and keep the good ones you have. Just like a sales pipeline that’s never truly full, your recruiting and retention work pipeline is never complete. You always have to be filling it with prospects. No company is ever finished – not one that’s growing, anyway. Without fresh blood and new perspectives, your company will become stagnant and stale.

There’s no silver bullet to recruiting, but there are a lot of ways to improve what you’re doing. And the best time to start is right now.

– Chuck Bowen