Bayer research bolsters claims of labor challenges

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – In a recent survey of lawn & landscape professionals, Environmental Science, a business unit of Bayer Crop Science, garnered data that emphasized what nearly every lawn care company is struggling with – a lack of qualified folks in the field.

According to the survey findings, maintaining strong customer satisfaction doesn’t appear to be a key challenge for lawn and landscape companies. Nearly six in 10 survey respondents noted that they have die-hard customers. And to further underscore that confidence, 42 percent of respondents also ranked “an unhappy fan base” as having the least impact on whether or not their business is winning. The challenge with the most impact, according to more than four in 10 respondents, is “a shallow bench” or not enough team members.

“The lawn and landscape industry is built on leaders who understand what it takes to satisfy customers and to rally teams that can deliver on that,” said Rob Golembiewski, Ph.D., Green Solutions Team specialist for Bayer. “It’s a classic story of finding the right talent to get the job done – to push through the last yard, to win the next new account or to beat the elements and keep your fans happy.”

According to the survey, the ability to build and operate a team likely comes second-nature to lawn and landscape professionals, as 84 percent of respondents reported that they played a team sport in high school or college.

“As the Bayer Green Solutions Team, our goal is to get in the huddle, so to speak, to provide lawn and landscape companies with the tools and training they need to succeed,” Golembiewski said. “When customer expectations are high and teams are lean, building a strategy that improves efficiency and keeps lawn and landscape professionals ahead of the game is critical.”

Playing too much defense was also a common concern among lawn and landscape professionals. Survey respondents reported that they are typically taking on curative or reactive activities about 37 percent of the time, but they would prefer it to be even less (closer to 27 percent).

“It’s easy to understand why this preference for a strong offense is top of mind,” Golembiewski said. “With the right product portfolio and the right strategy at the right time, there’s a lot lawn and landscape companies can do to reduce repeat applications, callbacks and other activities that increase costs in the long-run.”

To get the full stats from the survey and to learn more about building a winning playbook, visit EnvironmentalScience.Bayer.US/winning-season. The Bayer Lawn & Landscape Survey was distributed to 4,437 green industry representatives who have opted in to receive email communications from Bayer. Of 537 total survey respondents, 220 were qualified and analyzed in these findings.