Obtaining Employee Buy-In

After reaching the point where hiring employees is a necessity, many business owners quickly realize that people don’t perform work in the same fashion or push themselves to the same level that owners do. The key then becomes ensuring employees are trained on systems and motivating employees to be productive.

The first step in getting employees to buy in to company programs and procedures for Second Nature Lawn Care, Nashville, Tenn., is to start them off with a competitive salary. No Second Nature route foreman makes less than $26,000 as a base salary, says Co-owner Wade Walden, adding that the company currently has 20 employees, which includes 13 technicians, three salespeople, two office workers and two owners. Then the company gives route foremen a 2-percent commission based on met goals. For instance, if a technician’s goal is $750 for each day and $3,750 for the week, they can earn 2 percent of their weekly goal as an incentive, which equates to about $75 extra a week.
“So they can add to their checks just by doing what’s required of them,” adds Co-owner Steve White. “Then if technicians exceed their weekly goals, we pay them 10 percent over what they do – they earn more based on production. So, if they exceed their weekly $3,750 goal by $100, they get 10 percent of that, which is $10, as an added incentive.”

 As well as this incentive, weekly Tuesday meetings include five or 10 minutes where Walden and White share some sort of inspiration message, whether it’s an article from a magazine, a positive story from the field or even a personal story. Then the meeting moves on to an educational session where based on a rotating list, a senior technician will conduct a five- to 10-minute session on a seasonal or safety topic.

In addition to standard vacation days and health insurance, employees receive two weeks off in the winter as a break right around the Holiday season. “As we’ve grown, we’ve been able to attract better quality employees,” White points out. “You just have to be receptive and talk to people and build relationships and inform them of the benefits you offer. We advertise in the local newspapers, put ads in college papers that have degrees in the horticultural field and gain employees through referrals from our current employees.”