Special Report: Labor Woes

EDITOR'S NOTE: This week's special online features on the state of the landscape industry supplement our annual State of the Industry Report, which is included in the October 2001 issue and will be mailed to readers next week. Click here for a sneak peak of the Lawn & Landscape Top 100 Companies of 2001.

The solution to current labor woes may lie in effective recruiting, with company environment spelling success for many recruiters.

For Bill Hoopes, director of training, development and regulatory affairs for Scotts LawnService, Marysville, Ohio, luring employees to his company starts at the top.

"We teach [branch managers] to become people magnets, and by that I mean that you create a very positive physical and social workplace environment," he clarified. "We worry about the attitudes of the people in the branch, and really do stress with our management that they must set a positive leadership example, trying to create a mutually beneficial working relationship with the associates."

Tony DeSantis, president, DeSantis Landscapes, Salem, Ore., explained that even when labor droughts occur, selectivity and flexibility remain important considerations to ensure dedicated workers. "When we look for people, the ideal applicant wants to be in the business, and isn't just looking for a job," he said. "Also, flexibility is huge - things aren't exactly the way we plan them. Guys in the field need to understand that things change daily, even though it may not fit exactly with their job description."

Roger Myers, chief executive officer, American Beauty Landscaping, Boardman, Ohio, compares industry recruitment to drafting players for a football team, explaining that when a team wins games and earns national recognition, players automatically want to be a part of that team. "The same thing holds true in business," he said. "You get the reputation and word gets out as far as who is a good company to work for. We now spend more time, energy and money in attracting more help than we do in attracting clients."

Many companies, in an attempt to solve labor shortages, have turned to local schools when recruiting. Myers ensures his presence at career days for local colleges and technical schools to "toot the horn" of the green industry.

Hoopes mentioned early recruiting improved selectivity when matching employees to his company's environment. "We hire early for attitude, then train for skill," he noted. "The first key is a good candidate-job fit - a square peg in a round hole doesn't work, and if you're reduced to what you call panic hiring when you're out of time, you're dead. We try to find people who want to be here, not because they're agronomic geniuses, but because they believe what we believe."

The current labor force requires companies to go the extra mile in order to convince potential employees of a comfortable work environment that is conducive to productivity, said Myers. "All these things become sales tools, in a sense, to attract and convince this recruit that they're in a good place," he claimed.

The author is assistant editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.