Sneller Snow Systems’ solutions for snow turnover

Another well-known challenge in the snow removal industry is employee turnover, says Dan Sneller, vice president at Michigan-based Sneller Snow Systems.

“Sidewalk services is the position that has generally some more turnover than some others do,” he says.

Because of this, Sneller says he expects turnover and plans ahead for it instead of being surprised by it when it happens.

“As our sale season is continuing, and end of the fall we develop our routes and we know how much a plow can do on a route,” he says, “typically, we route our plows for about a six-hour route, and our sidewalk guys for a three- or four-hour route.”

Labor hours are then assigned.

“We know how many people we need,” Sneller says. “Then for sidewalks we just hire more people than we are going to need because we know that a certain number of those people are going to drop out in the first few events, and then after that we’re left a core of good, reliable people that stick around.”

Most individuals are hired for a specific position, but some cross-training does occur.

Sneller has sidewalk crew members specifically trained on that focus, then he has salt truck drivers and plow operators who focus on those responsibilities. However, individuals called floaters are available for any task, he says.

“There’s a group of guys here that if we are short on a couple salt truck drivers, we’ll have them drive the salt truck tonight,” Sneller says. “Maybe the next event, maybe there’s more of a need for them helping out on sidewalks or bringing some sidewalk product out to a site that needs to be replenished, and just available for miscellaneous tasks.”

The individuals are usually year-round employees, he adds.