How do I find and keep quality employees?Should I pay my employees more? Get your top staffing questions answered by Ken Hutcheson, President of U.S. Lawns, in our latest Ask the Expert event. He will be live for a two-hour Q&A session to answer questions about your staffing challenges and other hot topics.
Who? Ken Hutcheson joined U.S. Lawns in 1995, nurturing the company into a multi-state franchise operation. Since becoming President in 2002, he has grown U.S. Lawns into the largest commercial grounds care franchise in the nation.
When? Tuesday, October 11, 2016
What Time? 12:00-2:00 P.M. ET
Where? Here! Bookmark this thread and join Ken right here for the live chat event.
As the largest online community for landscaping professionals, LawnSite invites you to the third installment in the Ask the Expert series, where you can get advice from industry experts in a live Q&A forum, brought to you by U.S. Lawns. Stay tuned for our next Ask the Expert event on November 9, 2016.
You must be a registered user of LawnSite to participate in the Ask the Expert events. Create your free account now.
Hello and welcome to the latest LawnSite Ask the Expert event, sponsored by U.S. Lawns. You must be a registered member to participate in today's Ask the Expert event. Click here to create your free account now. Also, please remember to refresh the page to keep updated with the comments on the thread.
These live Q&A sessions are a chance to get your burning business questions answered by leading green industry experts. Today, we're honored to have Ken Hutcheson, President of U.S. Lawns, back for a two-hour session on staffing issues and other hot topics.
Born and raised near Orlando, Hutcheson graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Horticulture. From there, he cultivated a thriving business in interior plant design, which he franchised in the 1980s. Ken joined U.S. Lawns in 1995, nurturing the company into a multi-state franchise operation. Since becoming President in 2002, he has grown U.S. Lawns into the largest commercial grounds care franchise in the nation. Ken is an esteemed public speaker, renowned innovator and franchising expert. He sits on the Accredited Snow Contractors Association (ASCA) Board, and has been honored with the prestigious Lawn and Landscape Leadership Award. In 2013, he achieved his longtime dream of completing the Boston Marathon.
Here in Wilmington NC it is almost impossible to find people that actually want to work, no matter what we offer as incentives. We have run out of places to even place an ad for employees.
I feel your pain. Good employees are out there. However, they are typically working for other companies (not all are in the landscape industry). The challenge is letting them know you are hiring. Once they consider you, what do they see? Ask yourself this question, "would I work for me?"
Our business is going through alot of growing pains but is up 66% this year. With these growing pains there isn't enough moneys to fully compensate our top employees, but I see this getting better next season
Ken, we have a continuous presence on Craigslist, we post in the local unemployment office, several staffing agencies and a community board posting. We offer our current employees a bonus if they bring in someone as well.
All great ideas. It's important to take a broader view of the situation. I've found most companies don't treat employee recruiting with the same level of commitment as customer recruiting (sales). In today's competitive environment these are equally important. A good employee recruiting program should include all of the typical media channels, including; digital, print, radio, direct mail, and grassroots efforts.
I'm trying to train our employees to move them into a crew leader position. We can't seen to find good crew leaders off the street. Most people we interview for crew leaders are over qualified and we cant justify their wage
Training is important. Very few companies invest in their employees. For training to be successful, it must be consistent and well executed. Done right, it shows the current employees you value them and shows prospective employees your the best place to work.
It is completely 'hit or miss'. We have found two of our best guys there, however there have been a dozen or so missteps.
What methods are you using to attract new employees?
Ken
Do you have a policy in place that address employees and they missing time?
This seems to be my biggest problem here at the end of the season.
It has became a snowball effect starting with a new employee that no longer works for us because of this reason.
Policies are important, but human nature responds better to positive reinforcement and recognition. Try rewarding your employees that show up consistently. You can provide weekly or monthly incentives based upon attendance.
First and foremost, make sure you as the owner are committed to a culture of training. If you are not consistent in your training schedule, you send mixed messages to your employees. For example, you don't stop training just because you are busy or short handed. If you commit, follow through.
Any ideas on how to attract and retain the younger generation of workers in our business. It seems as if there is a big disconnect with this era of employees. We are located in three different states in the Southeast and are constantly trying to recruit at local colleges, technical schools, and posting adds in newspapers as well as social media.
We have interest in the positions and get as far as hiring some and then they find out it is a job where you actually have to work to get paid. At this point the work ethic and attitude completely changes and demoralizes the entire staff.
You're right. This can be a challenge. You may want to consider adjusting your target candidate. Some of our most successful employees are a little more mature than you're describing. Widen the circle. At the same time, you can't ignore the younger generation. We find they require a higher level of engagement. Set the right expectations. Answer the question "why" before it's asked.
Something to consider; if you are not getting referrals from your current employees you may want to look in the mirror. Is there an organic problem within your organization? Are your employees happy? Retention is as important as recruiting.
A question for the group; what type of turnover rate do you have?
Target candidate adjust almost on a daily basis. Through the course of the growing season turn over rate greatly increases. It goes from having desirable employees through the winter and spring months to whatever we can get in the door to do the work in the dead heat of the summer.
We have been utilizing the GANTT system and breaking the jobs down to an understandable level from our aspect. We take the supervisors and train with them on almost a daily level. We are on the jobsites training the crew laborers for the supervisor. Even with the job broken down with times, map that depict where to park the truck, where to start, what pattern to follow, and times each task should take, it still seems to be "Rocket Science".
There seems to be no sense of pride in a job well done or responsibility in the work force today.
Does any one have any idea on how to overcome this dilemma?
There is no silver bullet. It's a complex situation with many moving parts. It sounds like you are doing more than most. One area you may want to focus on is the crew leader position. Right jobs, right equipment, right employees. That's what it takes for a crew leader to be successful. Does your crew leader recognize the importance of the people on the crew? Does he treat them with respect? He is rewarded for employee retention? Or is his focus solely on getting the job done on time. You set the tone.
Seem like I go through about 5 to get one. Some last a couple days and are let go because of different reasons, others just quit by never showing back up.
Hi! We seem to not be able to recruit laborers. We offer competitive wages and benefits. However, that does not seem to attract laborers. We've also used Craigslist, Zip Recruiter, & Green Industries and haven't had any luck. Any other tips would be of great help! Our competitors seem to poach our employees and offer an additional dollar if they leave us. Unsure how we can overcome this obstacle.
I have an interview with them asking alot of questions. If we decide to try one of them we then put them with a crew leader for training and evaluation. After the first week with the training crew leader we move them to a crew that we feel will be a good fit for them and the crew, or we let them go if they can't meet our standers.
Sounds like a good process. Lets dig deeper. Do you put your employees in uniform on their first day? Is your equipment well maintained? What about your facility? Is it clean and safe and conducive to a good work environment?
As we all know efficiency on the job comes with repetition. First and foremost job quality is to be obtained over the amount of time it takes to get performed.
There are incentives in place for the crew leaders if jobs are both of acceptable quality and within budget guidelines. Most of the time we struggle with the quality due to the fact that we are short on labor, therefore the people that show up on a normal basis work to the point that they are beat down. We literally have tried to hire three or four extra people to try to counter act the absents and still at times by the end of the week end up with not enough to fully staff the crews.
From talking with other companies in our area our starting rate for non experienced crew members is higher than any other, our crew leader rate is the same or higher than most other companies. Throwing more money at the situation does not help.
We go as far as to have drinks and frozen popsicles in the freezer for them at the end of the day and quarterly cook outs where everyone can gather and socialize.
Once again, all good ideas. Very similar to our "Best place to work" initiative. Better pay is only the beginning. Its about establishing a culture of pride and camaraderie. What's your overall team dynamic like?
I've looked at perhaps posting on builder sites, we have tried sign-on bonuses as well as referral bonuses, but as you stated earlier we might have a problem if our own employees aren't happy. I think it is safe to say that our employees have held us hostage. When an employee threatens to leave if we don't give them more money, we give in and throw in a little extra. How can we change this?
I appreciate your honesty. Changing a company's culture is tough. That's what the off-season is for. We've seen some success stories where companies have turned over most of their staff during the off-season and started fresh in the spring to establish a different culture without the baggage. I'm not sure I would recommend that, but understand, someone is establishing the culture in your business. Is it you, or is it your employees? As an owner, I certainly hope its you.
We don't give new employees full uniforms of the first day, we give them tee shirts the first day and full uniforms after two weeks. Our equipment is in great shape. We have a clip board in our well kept shop for the crew leaders to post anything they want or need. I can't remember one time this year that they haven't gotten what they wanted.
Have you asked the employees that are leaving, why? You may surprised at what you hear. Are you confident your crew leaders are treating the new employees respectfully when you are not around? Is the new employee given the worst tasks on the job? I said this earlier, you may want to consider offering incentives to your crew leaders for retention.
High level answer ... tell a compelling story. Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. Is that your story? Do people want to associate with your business.
On a more tactical level ... we've seen great success with a grassroots type campaign. Get back to the basics. Are your trucks and trailers logo-ed. Are your employees in uniform? The type of work that you do and your quality sends a strong message to the market. There is also great opportunity on the digital front. What does your online message say about you? Targeting messaging is also important.
I would love a list of best practices for hiring and retaining employees. Something that has worked for some other companies. We are a small company on the cusp of being able to really expand if we could only stay staffed. Any ideas and tips would be appreciated.
im late to the party...I apologize if this has been addressed. My issue right now is getting current employees to expand their skill set. Outside training, workshops, classes, certifications, etc.
At U.S. Lawns, we strongly believing in developing our employees. We recognize that we need to take a base level worker and convert them to a professional gardener in a short period of time. To accomplish this, we offer both classroom and field level training and certification. We also host a series of group, regional and national meetings to further advance the skills of our team.
For you, I recommend reaching out to your local suppliers, your ag department, and NALP. These are great sources of information.
I have asked some of the better one's why they left. I get all types of answers from them from money, different field because the work in our industry is so demanding to less travel to and from the shop etc. I had only one tell me it was because of their crew leader and he has been addressed about it. Seem like the pool we have to draw from here that they dont need a reason so to speak. It to hot, i need to babysit, wife didn't want me to work ect.
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Lawn Care Forum
7M posts
202.7K members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to lawn care and landscaping professionals and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!