Temp Help

[grassfarmerlol]

Any ideas here.I have a person who is in charge of personnel and he owned a greenhouse and thinks he is a expert on athletic fields and campus maintenance-(need feedback on this what the difference is).Also our summer help is being replaced by temp workers which means constant training-any tips for me here.Thanks Tom

[foreplease]

If your help has not done this kind of work before it will be a real slow process. Start with small tasks and get them doing everything in a particular way (yours) from checking the oil in the machine, picking up trash before chopping it up with a mower, to not leaving grass clippings on sidewalks. Try to get them to buy into or take ownership in how you are improving things as a team. In the beginning you have to treat them all the same. You can show them in week two the guy who performed the best got a better or more interesting job the next week.

Are they just being sent to you or do you have a hand in choosing them?

Good luck...the explanation to the greenouse guy might be you don't so much need help with handling the grass as the help.

[grassfarmerlol]

Actually they are being replaced by students for 3 months-(not in the field)-then temp service.

[grassfarmerlol]

Why does everyone with a lawn know how to grow grass?-LOL

[foreplease]

Why does everyone with a lawn know how to grow grass?-LOL

It is a phenomenon not unlike the person who is an outstanding home cook thinking or being told by friends and relatives "you should open a restaurant."

Caring for one yard (that you also own) is altogether different than an athletic field or campus. The needs and traffic it must support are quite different, to begin with. Our liability - not in the legal sense but in terms of conditions that must be provided - and responsibilities are many. You cannot consistently deliver an athletic field in good condition with one trick or method any more than you can run a restaurant with one recipe.

[MarcSmith]

I feel your pain. I pick up temp help every spring and fall, and while its nice to have the extra hands, there is a learning curve. I'm going to One-up you on the supposed "experts" We have a biology teacher and one of the classes he teaches is a basic forestry class...Any time we plant something he doesn't like he sends an email to the university president.

He feels that the entire campus should be 100% native plants.... Sigh....

I had to fire a guy today. Falsification of I-9 documentation. hes got a new born and been married a little more than a year....Been with me 3 years...His card came up for renewal and he turned in a counterfeit Doc...oopsie....

[grassfarmerlol]

Tell the biology prof that you mix kool-aid and it's a physical change-can i run the class-lol
Yip-just when you think you got it bad-at least your still working--sorry to hear about the help-especially with a new born

[MarcSmith]

Tell the biology prof that you mix kool-aid and it's a physical change-can i run the class-lol
Yip-just when you think you got it bad-at least your still working--sorry to hear about the help-especially with a new bornI'm not too sorry, the way I look at it. the guy lied to me for 3 years... I don't give much compassion to people who lie to me...

The bio proff, is a royal PITA.....They getting plans together for a a new Science building. and they will be having a teaching garden. I said "you can't maintain the 200 sqft you have now, howe do you expect to maintain your new 5k sqft gardens"
....he said "You Guys" and I replied..."i don't think so" most universities that have teaching gardens are usually maintained by the students/interns...as part of their educational requirement..

Yeah happy to have a safe job...