Higher pay is not always the solution.
It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been in business or how savvy your business plan is unless you have skilled, dependable employees to carry out those plans and properly represent your company. Good workers are the backbone of any successful company. Unfortunately for owners and managers in landscape businesses, hiring and retaining quality employees is one of the most challenging aspects of running a company – even in a down economy.
“There are few things that can guarantee success for a growing company more than having great employees,” says Bill Cook, owner/president of Human Resource Associates, a management-consulting firm contracted by the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET). “And there are few things that can cause a company to fail quicker than losing them.” Replacing one good employee can have a real cost, equal to one full year’s salary for that employee, Cook says.
We talked to leaders of two businesses varying in size to find out how they recruit and retain the best employees and what challenges they are facing in their fields.
All agreed money is not the No. 1 factor that attracts an individual to a job or keeps him or her there. Here’s how they hire and keep the best.
Subcontracting helps small company thrive
ART OF THE LAND
LAKEWOOD, COLORADO
5 EMPLOYEES
