The pendulum swings from an employers' market to an employee's market due to recruiting challenges that are developing
for various positions in different regions of the United States. Green Industry service companies must give closer attention
to the retention of their employees.
Some of you invest extravagantly in your valuable employees, perhaps providing them with off-site company training or management
summits in beautiful resorts. Or, by offering more competitive salaries.
Certainly, offering a competitive wage is key to recruiting and retaining good employees, but it's not the only reason why
employees stay or leave an organization. The good news is that you don't have to be extravagant to generate employee loyalty.
You can increase your employee retention ratio by adopting the time-tested employee retention strategies that leaders in the
industry have developed. Once your company chooses a course of action, be sure to stick with the plan.
Why good managers leave
|
Before we get into specifics, realize that nothing is going to work unless you first secure employee buy-in. In other words,
find out what's important to your employees. Do this before building your employee-retention strategy.
How do you start? Consider a simple employee survey offering a few different plans and work from there.
What are some of the common strategies used to keep good employees? Here is the short list: employee recognition programs,
offering ESL (English as a Second Language) programs on site, initiating management training programs, cross training front-line
employees to increase their value, recognizing top performers at company gatherings and/or developing financial bonus incentive
programs.
You can't use one or several of these strategies. These strategies benefit the company as well as the employees!
How, specifically, do some of the industry's top owners and managers secure employee loyalty?
"Treat your people with respect and dignity," says Bill Arman, president of Landscape Development, Inc./Maintenance, a 200-employee
firm, part of the $80 million Landscape Development, Inc./Construction, based in Valencia, CA. "Recognize that each person's
role in the organization is an important piece of the whole."
"Listen to people's input. The people that are closest to the ground often have the best solutions and ideas. Be humble. People
like working in an environment where even the leaders are regular people like them. Be grateful. Demonstrate your appreciation
to a job well done. It's not all about money."
Arman adds that employees need to see an opportunity to advance their careers. Management can help them by providing opportunities
such as certifications, licensing, education or stretch assignments. "People get bored and need a change of scenery, new challenges,"
says Arman.
While Arman says it's vital to recognize excellent performance, they should never tolerate poor performance.
"We formulated management agreements that are performance based, rewarding success in both the short term and the long term,"
shares Mark Brower, owner of Merchants Landscape Services, Inc., a 200-plus-employee multi-branch company, based in Santa
Ana, CA. "With these performance-based compensation packages, Merchants' managers control their own compensation. In the short
term, they're compensated for successful performance in enhancement sales, new contract sales, as well as monthly profit sharing.
"In the long term, Merchants' managers are able to participate in the growth and subsequent increased value of their branches.
This creates a long-term package that grows year after year. A successful Merchants' manager becomes a long-term partner with
the company," explains Brower.
