ATA TURF TIMES: Pete Blank, MHR, CSP, CFT

How to recruit, train, and retain workers remains the highest priority of every industry, and the Turfgrass Industry is no exception. The post-pandemic era has unfortunately provided one of the most challenging times for employers when it comes to recruiting, training, and retaining workers. There is an ever-growing shortage of employees at both the entry-level and skilled positions. The workforce appears to be shrinking, and yet the amount of work continues to grow. During the last several years, due to pandemic restrictions, the Federal government’s multiple aid packages (known as the Coronavirus stimulus checks), and expanded unemployment coverage, many businesses experienced difficulty hiring, especially the aforementioned entry level and skilled positions. The turfgrass industry was not immune to these hiring shortages. Alabama Turfgrass Association members reported experiencing difficulty in filling positions beginning in 2020. Randy Spruiell of Mighty Green Lawn Care reported seeing a shortage of people applying for positions in 2021. He said, “Finding people to fill skilled positions has been my most difficult hiring problem.” And he’s not alone. Many ATA member companies have had to ramp up their benefit packages to include an ever-growing list of the following: higher starting wages than competitors; guaranteed 40-hour work week; salary level wages for some positions; incentive pay tied to years of service, production levels, training, or licenses attained; quarterly or yearly bonuses; medical/dental/vision insurance; retirement plans; set holidays and vacation pay.

While recruitment and hiring of new employees is extremely important, keeping the staff that you have on board is an even higher priority. The following statement should be the mantra for every organization within the Alabama Turfgrass Association in the upcoming year:

Retention is your best talent acquisition strategy.

What does that mean?

Recruiting new hires is important. Filling open vacancies is important. However, if you do not keep the good employees that you currently have, you will be running your organization like a hamster on a wheel…constantly running and running and never getting anywhere.

Yes, be sure to invest in recruiting strategies. Take your company’s recruitment campaign to local high schools, vocational/technical schools and college career days, as well as community job fairs. Place those ads on social media sites, your company vehicles, supply house bulletin boards, commercial signage, radio/tv, and in industry magazines. Consider placing ads in church bulletins or hiring a job recruiter. Do all the things that you normally do to recruit and fill vacancies.

But… always keep in mind that your current and future workplace culture is 100% more important than any of those recruiting efforts. Word-of-mouth about your work culture from those who are in the trenches, day-in and day-out, has more impact than any marketing materials you provide. Therefore, all ATA member organizations should make 2023 the year of retention through improving their company work culture.

So how do you do this?

First, let’s begin by looking at the current data on the industry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall employment of grounds maintenance workers is projected to grow 5% from 2021 to 2031, which is about as fast as the average for all occupations. About 179,600 openings for grounds maintenance workers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force.

The 2021 median pay for grounds maintenance workers was $35,460 per year. For first-line supervisors of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers, the median annual wage was $53,270. While these are good salaries, they will NOT keep a worker engaged and motivated in your company. That type of commitment only comes when the organizational work culture is supportive, enjoyable, and engaging.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on the business world, and because of this, virtually everything has been disrupted. According to an article titled “Employee Work Passion Drops Dramatically in the COVID-19 Era” published on July 18, 2022 by Training Magazine, employees in every industry are feeling more stress, lower engagement, and lack of passion for their work.

With all this knowledge, it is imperative that workplace culture is a priority for all organizations within the turfgrass industry in the future, in order to improve retention of employees. The main areas to help improve future workplace culture are as follows:

• Providing clear expectations for all employees
  
• Mandating that all supervisors / managers properly lead their teams
  
• Allowing career development opportunities for employees at all levels
  

1. Provide Clear Expectations for all Employees

A study from the Gallup Organization found that only around half of all employees know what is expected of them at work. Therein lies a huge problem with retaining top employees. How do you keep and retain your high performers if they do not even know what is expected of them? All supervisors should schedule time to sit down with their direct reports and discuss expectations with them. There are three different levels of expectations that all supervisors should discuss with their employees: organizational expectations, managerial expectations, and job-specific expectations.

The first is the organizational expectations. These should be top-down culture drivers that need to be shared with all employees. Organizations should have a mission, vision, and values that are shared with every employee at every level. This helps shape the company expectations for employees, and allows the employee to understand the importance of these values and decide if their personal values match up with the company values.

For example, Southern Grown Turf based in Roanoke, AL, lists on their website that they are an organization of “Skilled and Courteous Professionals.” That needs to be shared with every member of the company as an expectation. An employee may ask “How do we define ‘Courteous’?” There needs to be a standard answer that can be shared with all employees so they know what it means to be “skilled and courteous,” and why that is an expectation of Southern Grown Turf.

South Dallas Turf, based in Selma, AL, states that they provide “exceptional customer service,” and their website states “We know that you have many options when choosing a supplier for your turf, so we strive to ensure our customers are 100% satisfied with their experience working with us.” Does this mean that any employee is empowered to do whatever it takes to make the customer satisfied? If so, what are the parameters? Employees need to know what they can do to create that 100% satisfaction.

Sunbelt Farms in Harpersville has a webpage that states “we consider our employees to be like family.” They also highlight their partnership with non-profits and the importance of giving back. Is this information shared with potential new hires and current employees? An employee who wants to be treated as family and has a servant’s heart may be more engaged at work when they know that their personal expectations align with that of the organization.

The second type of expectations that need to be shared are managerial expectations. Different managers/crew leaders have different expectations of their staff, and it is important that the employee knows the expectations of their direct supervisor. A successful leader/supervisor will sit down with their employees and discuss the following expectations:

• What the employee must do if they are running late or need to request a sick or vacation day
  
• How should the employee best communicate with their supervisor (text, email, phone call, in-person)
  
• How to handle an angry customer
  
• How empowered are employees to make individual decisions without checking with their supervisor first
  
• How and where should employees spend their lunch and break times (if applicable)
  
• The pet peeves of their supervisor (share what the employee might do that would cause friction with the supervisor)
  

These are just examples, and not an all-encompassing list. But they give the successful leader an idea of the types of expectations that need to be shared with employees. Discussing supervisor’s expectations with their direct reports will not only minimize future conflict, but will also create a sense of openness and transparency that is needed in today’s leader.

One final thought on supervisor expectations: the supervisor should consider asking the employee “What do you expect from me as your leader?” The employee may share something that reveals their maturity level and understanding of working in the real world. This could be very valuable information that improves future collaboration and creates a work culture that maintains engagement and retention.

The final type of expectations are technical or job-specific expectations. These are simply how you, as their supervisor expect the employee to get the daily tasks accomplished, and how you prefer the work be completed in the most efficient and effective ways. Examples of technical expectations are: how to properly maintain and use tools and equipment, how to clean and store tools and equipment; when to do preventative maintenance on a tool or piece of equipment, and so on.

These are a few examples of simple expectations that should be discussed with each employee for using just tools and equipment. Similar technical expectations should be discussed for every major task category such as: how to properly mow, fertilize, apply pesticides, irrigate; and measure and document existing property conditions of new accounts, etc. These practices would help the employee in performing the best possible job every day in the manner that is expected. If technical expectations are never shared, and the supervisor just “assumes” the employee should know them, it may lead to conflict, confusion, and disengagement, which may lead to an employee looking for another job. Be sure to share these expectations early on during their first few weeks of training and orientation, and train all employees on the basics of their jobs.

2. Mandate that all managers / supervisors properly lead their teams

You can continue to recruit the best and the brightest employees for your turfgrass organization, but if your managers / supervisors do not know the basics of leading people, then all your recruiting efforts were for naught.

There are literally hundreds of supervisory skills that are needed to be a successful manager: coaching others; listening skills; handling conflict; communication skills; delegating skills; leading meetings; holding employees accountable; providing fair discipline and dismissals; looking within the company first when hiring new or open positions; celebrating with those being promoted, retiring or when reaching certain company milestones like finishing a huge project or getting through a season; change management; critical thinking; and more. While I cannot cover all of these, I do feel that the most essential leadership skills that will help you retain your top employees in the upcoming year is providing both constructive and positive feedback.

According to the Training Magazine article referenced above, feedback is one of the top four relationship dimensions that can influence an employee’s perception of their relationship with their manager / supervisor. Employees work better when they perceive an environment where they receive timely, relevant, and specific information regarding their performance. The study shows that managers sharing feedback has dropped significantly over the past 10 years.

Sharing feedback with employees has a significant impact on organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and perhaps most importantly…intent to remain. Many supervisors do not want to share constructive feedback with employees, or if they do, they deliver it in a manner that does not meet the employee’s expectations. Here are some helpful tips to help all managers / supervisors deliver feedback:

• Give constructive feedback in a timely manner. Do not wait until the end of the week, or the end of the year, to share constructive feedback. This is like a parent collecting a list of things that a child does wrong, and then telling them all the bad things at one time. Instead, provide what is called “on-the-spot” feedback. After all, you want the employee to change their unacceptable behavior or actions, and they can’t do that if they don’t know what they are doing wrong.
  
• Allow them to ask questions about the feedback. For example, if you tell an employee that they are “not doing it right,” they may not know what that means. Perhaps you are using jargon or words they do not understand. Perhaps there is a language barrier. After you have given the employee your “on-the-spot” feedback, it might be good to ask them to explain what they are going to do differently next time, and/or explain to you in their own words, what they heard you say. The only thing worse than not sharing constructive feedback is sharing it and then having the employee walk away with no idea what it means or what to do next.
  
• Be sure to give positive feedback as well. Do your best to “observe” your employees doing something right. If all you do is share the negative, it’s no wonder you are having a hard time retaining your employees. When they do something right, or something well, be sure to give them the recognition they deserve. For some, that may be in public, and for others, it may need to be private or in a one-on-one setting. But be clear about this! Managers who do not ever recognize or thank their employees are setting up a culture of low performance.
  

3. Allow career development opportunities for employees at all levels

According to the Training Magazine article referenced earlier, the top four dimensions that have the most influence on an individual’s intent to remain with their organization are meaningful work, growth, autonomy, and distributive fairness. While all of these are important, the one dimension I hear talked about the most in regard to employee retention is career growth.

Career growth in its simplest form, means an employee feels like they are working for an organization with opportunities to learn and grow in their current role, as well as the possibility of having a long-term career path. Many front-line supervisors are so thankful to have workers that they don’t take the time to provide growth opportunities. Yes, the work has to be done, but if an employee senses no future with the organization, they may start looking elsewhere for a better work environment. Here are a few ways that leaders can provide those growth opportunities.

• Provide stretch assignments that allow them to try new areas. If they are a landscaper, can they learn something in lawn care? If they are primarily a groundskeeper, are they capable of learning and preforming tree pruning and removals? If they operate large mowers each day, could they be trained to operate specialized remotely operated mowers or oversee the operation of completely autonomous mowers? Do any employees wish to take English/Spanish classes to promote better communication among the crews? Growth opportunities don’t always have to be vertical (promotions). Sometimes, the best growth opportunities are horizontal and allow for employees to be more well-rounded.
  
• Allow for technical learning and upgrading skill levels. While you may not have the funding to allow all employees to attend national conferences, there are plenty of regional and local events (such as the educational seminars offered by ATA including the annual Road Shows and the biennial Sports Turf Field Day and Lawn & Landscape Workshop along with the yearly Auburn University Turfgrass Research Field Day) where they can go to learn about the latest information on weed, insect and disease identification and control, fertilizers, pesticide safety, application techniques, new equipment, etc. In fact, just taking the initiative to send a high-performing employee to a conference like the Deep South Turf Expo may be just the spark they need to feel appreciated and decide to stay with your company.
  
• With smaller companies, there are only so many promotional jobs available. For instance, there may be several crew supervisors reporting to one manager. If that manager is not going anywhere, there is no room for career growth. It may be better to have that conversation with those crew supervisors and discuss their career expectations (which we discussed earlier). While some employees may be happy in their current role, others may have a propensity for growth, and if that is not available, their passion and engagement may be diminished.
  
• Some companies are purchasing the latest, most efficient, labor-saving equipment and offering to train their employees to operate this equipment. In other instances, companies are giving instruction to those employees willing to learn how to calibrate equipment and apply the latest in slow-release pesticides, time released fertilizers, plant growth regulators, etc. Many employees appreciate the new career development and added responsibility, along with the fact that their supervisors are looking out for their wellbeing, by buying equipment and chemicals that perform the same jobs more effectively, efficiently and safely with less time and labor.
  

No one can predict the future of the workforce in the turfgrass industry, but great companies and strong leaders can create a strategy to keep their high performers. It is all about designing a strong, positive and engaging workplace culture. Great leaders can do this in 2023 by focusing on communicating expectations, showcasing management skills, and providing growth opportunities. Doing these three things will create an organizational culture that will improve retention of your current staff and position yourself as an employer of choice, now and into the future.

Pete Blank is a professional speaker, trainer and author who is passionate about employee engagement and leadership development. To learn more and book him to speak at your next conference, visit his website at www.peteblank.com

The post Alabama Turfgrass Association – Recruiting and Retaining Top Performers in the Turfgrass Industry by Enhancing Your Future Workplace Culture appeared first on The Turf Zone.