Space to grow

After nearly 45 years in business, Para Space Landscaping, based in British Columbia, has learned the secret to its success starts with its employees.

President Jeff Foley says the team is the foundation of everything the company does — whether that’s training programs, paying for employees to earn accreditations, offering classes on life skills or even pricing jobs higher to fairly compensate its staff.

“It’s cool,” Foley says of being named part of the Best Places to Work. “It means a lot. I’m always proud of the work we do, but the bottom line is, the work is done by our team. I feel like our best asset is our team, and that really is the service we provide. It’s about amazing people who are really knowledgeable and skilled and who give our customers a great experience.”

All walks of life

One key component to the Para Space team’s success is its diversity.

With over 150 employees, 55% of employees are millennials, 8% identify as Hispanic or Latino, 18% identify as Asian and 40% of the company’s executive team is female.

“I think because our team is so diverse, it opens up our company to be more appealing to lots of different types of people,” Foley says. “We have a lot of people who come from a lot of different backgrounds. I think because they can see other people like themselves working here, and succeeding here, often in prominent roles, it helps us from a recruitment standpoint.”

Foley says this mix of life experiences and cultures has helped Para Space operate more creatively and contributes to the company’s growth.

“With diversity, you get a lot more ideas, and I think when you’re a company that’s trying to be innovative — having people with different backgrounds and levels of experience, and also differing opinions, can really help to lead to more innovation, and help increase processes and things like that,” he says.

Like Foley mentions, diversity doesn’t end with ethnicity but blends into work experience and backgrounds as well — as most employees come from outside the green industry.

Enter Erin Beynon, a landscape maintenance supervisor, who left a life behind the screen to join the company.

“I’ve been at Para Space for three years,” Beynon says. “I actually started mid-pandemic. Before, I was working in the gaming industry, and it was a lot of sitting at your desk for 15 hours a day. I used to do a lot of traveling for that job and then the pandemic hit, and I wasn’t traveling. I was sitting at home.”

It was while sitting at home that Beynon decided to finally pursue a lifelong dream and try a new career field.

“It is possible to play too many video games,” Beynon jokes. “I just really wanted to get into a new career, and I always wanted to landscape. It had been something that I always wanted to do but never got the chance to.”

With the pandemic raging on, Beynon thought landscaping would be a great way to be outside before the world returned to “normal” and she’d find a new path.

But Beynon isn’t the only example of diverse backgrounds. Nedy Calumno, an irrigation technician, also lived an exciting life before making his foray into the green industry.

“I’m from the Philippines, and I came here in 2017,” he says. “I never had any landscaping experience. I worked in scuba diving.”

Eventually, Calumno says his love of water was worked into his role within the company.

“Right now, I am an irrigation technician, but when I started here, I was in landscaping maintenance,” he says. “I decided to transition to the irrigation department because I love the work.”

“I thought this was just temporary, and let’s give it a shot,” she recalls. “Something temporary has turned into something permanent.”

Caring for the crews

Along with diversity, Foley says the culture is another critical element to Para Space’s success.

And the best thing Foley says he can do to promote the culture at the company is to ensure everyone is appropriately compensated — and sometimes that means justifying higher prices to cover labor costs.

“One of my goals as a business leader is to try and increase how our work is valued from a public perception standpoint,” he says. “I think that those of us that are in the industry recognize that a lot of what we do is fairly difficult. It’s also a lot more technical than some people recognize. So, I think when you stack that up against the other trades, I really feel like our work should be worth as much as everyone else’s.”

Foley says the company also strives to provide exemplary benefits and other perks to its employees as well. Some of those perks include fun-filled outings for the staff.

“We have a really active event schedule throughout the year,” Beynon says. “Para Space covers all of the event costs and it’s usually a pretty big mix. We’ve done go-karting, bowling, a yearly golf event and a family picnic. There’s a pretty good variety.”

Aside from all the fun, Beynon says she really appreciates the company’s collaborative culture.

“The culture here is great,” she says. “Everyone wants to do well, and everyone is super motivated. Coming in from an environment where I was at my wits’ end and working inside all day for a not-really rewarding career, to switch into this, was great.”

Beynon says she feels it’s that culture that keeps Para Space employees dedicated.

“If the culture is bad, you’re not really going to keep people around,” she says. “When the culture is good and people are happy, vibrant and social, that’s what drives the company to the next level.”

Foley says that’s why Para Space is more concerned about hiring culture fits than individuals with tons of industry experience.

“It’s no secret that staffing is tough these days,” he says. “We recognized a while ago that great people really want to work with great people. That tends to be the No. 1 criteria when we’re hiring. Lots of times we’re hiring people based on values.”

With most people coming in fresh, Foley says fostering a learning environment is essential.

“Because we’re hiring people based on values and things like that, we’ve had to develop a training and accreditation program,” he says. “I think that’s something that’s really valued by our team. For a lot of folks, they’re entering an industry that they don’t have experience in, and it gives them a great way to develop skills and advance their career.”

Career advancement

Training at Para Space has several levels and doesn’t just stop once an employee has been there for a few weeks. Education is ongoing and something all employees prioritize.

And because so many employees are working to better themselves, Foley says customers are willing to pay for the valued knowledge.

“It’s one of our differentiators as a company. When we’re bidding on contracts, we really talk to our prospective clients about the caliber of our team and how well accredited they are,” he says. “I think it’s something that sets us apart, and it gives our clients a lot of confidence in choosing us — even if we do cost a little bit more than the competition.”

But not only does this emphasis on education improve the bottom line, it helps with efficiency as well.

“It also allows us to operate a lot better,” Foley says. “We have a great on-the-job training program that allows us to get new staff members with not a lot of experience upskilled and proficient on the job really, really quickly.”

The training doesn’t stop there though; any employee at Para Space gets the opportunity to go back to school without ever leaving the company’s headquarters.

“We have Para Space University, which is kind of a micro-credentialing program that helps people develop some more advanced education within the industry,” Foley explains. “The effect we’ve seen from that is people are able to take on more significant roles and we’ve even seen people transfer from one department to another because of the education they’ve gathered.”

Para Space University is a series of seminars and short courses that are offered after hours. The program is voluntary, but Foley says its widely attended.

Calumno says it’s those seminars that helped him climb the ranks.

“At Para Space, we have lots of opportunities if you want to advance your career,” he says. “Irrigation was something I wanted to do, and I didn’t have any experience, but Para Space gave me this chance. They got me the qualifications and the training.”

And it’s never too soon to start training for the next level. Beynon says she took full advantage of the educational opportunities right away.

“I was already working for the company for about two months when I got an email from the company about an opportunity to go to school,” she says. “Para Space sent me to do a certificate program, which was really awesome. That expedited me gaining knowledge and expedited me being able to move up in the company.”

Shortly after, Beynon became a landscape lead.

“At the time I was thinking, ‘That’s good enough. I don’t need to go any further,’” she says. “But really as I gained more knowledge, I thought, ‘Why don’t I just be a supervisor?’”

Not everyone is looking to continually move forward. Some are happy right where they’re at.

“The company is always asking us about our future goals are,” Calumno says. “They want to move us up within the company, but for me I am happy where I’m at right now. I started from the very bottom and am now a senior irrigation technician.”

In addition to the industry-specific seminars, some help teach valuable life skills as well.

“There’s a bunch on fitness, nutrition, personal finances and dealing with stress,” Foley says.

“Most of our seminars are taught by our mangers, but for those ones, we bring in some external experts in those fields to help teach those ones.”

Satisfied customers spells growth

Para Space’s customers are also benefiting from the education and expertise developed.

It’s kept one client with them for decades.

“I’ve been working with Para Space for 20 years now,” says Terry Li, director of property management at Rancho Management Services. “Their standard of care is really high.”

Li adds he also respects the company’s hands-on approach to serving its clients.

“They’re very proactive, so I don’t have to worry about it,” he says. “There’s no finger pointing. It’s a very proactive type of management where I don’t have to look at the landscaping and go, ‘You missed this’ or, ‘You missed that.’”

Additionally, Li appreciates Para Space’s culture and emphasis on employee advancement.

“All their managers have been there for a while,” he says. “It seems like it’s always the same staff I’m working with, which is unlike a lot of landscaping companies. You know if someone’s going to be there, they’re going to be there for a while. You can tell they really promote from within.”

When it comes to cost, Li says Para Space earns their way.

“I take over a lot of mismanaged buildings, and if price wasn’t a consideration for some, they’d have 100% of my contracts,” he adds. “Some of my clients choose according to price, and they don’t see the value, but the smart clients get it. And they go with Para Space.”

Foley adds better serving their clients, who are expanding across Canada, is the focus for Para Space’s future.

“Maybe we’ll be starting some branches in some other areas that are developing. That would open up even more opportunities for people who are looking to advance their role or advance their career,” he says.

The author is an associate editor with Lawn & Landscape magazine.