What factors should you consider when developing a recruiting system within your company? For numerous green industry companies, hiring and retaining employees constitute the foremost bottleneck. Nevertheless, we observe too many companies not giving this function the priority it deserves! Having said that, it’s crucial to allocate resources and attention to recruiting, just as you would to other aspects of your company.
Let’s begin with retention, as this may be the core issue for your company. If you are struggling to retain team members, then, of course, you will have difficulty keeping up with hiring demands. The Work Institute notes that employee turnover can cost 20-30% of annual salary, while the Harvard Business Review reports that companies with high turnover underperform the market by 3-5%. Retaining employees is key to sustained growth! Consider following some of these tips:
Training & development: Invest in skills that boost productivity & reduce turnover.
Open communication: Conduct regular reviews & address concerns promptly to prevent issues.
Employee recognition: Celebrate achievements & foster a culture of appreciation.
Performance-based incentives: Motivate & align employee goals with business objectives.
One of the major factors in retaining team members is maintaining competitive pay. Here’s a quick glimpse at some national median figures from ADP:
Landscaping Business – Sales reps: Median base salary of $67,600 and total cash compensation of $94,000.
Landscaping Business – Office managers: Median base salary of $56,200 and total compensation of $58,500.
Landscaping Business – Account managers: Median base salary of $70,500 and total compensation of $75,100.
Landscaping Business – Foremen: Median base salary of $62,300 and total compensation of $71,000.
Landscaping workers: Median base salary of $45,800 and total compensation of $50,400.
Remember, these are just medians. Factors like experience, location, and company size can impact salaries. Also, the cost of living in your specific region may affect these ranges. But this information can be a valuable starting point as you build your team. You can also do competitor research by searching existing job listings on websites like Indeed. Ultimately you need to make sure that your business can support the wage of the role based on your financial position.
Now that you’ve set your business up for success with employee retention, let’s dive into recruiting!
Reduce recruitment costs: Promote and develop from within!
Referral programs: Incentivize employee recommendations for lower recruitment expense.
Go beyond general job boards: Partner with professional associations or local colleges for targeted recruitment opportunities.
Highlight unique selling points: Showcase your company culture, growth opportunities, and competitive benefits in your job descriptions and outreach efforts.
Leverage social media: Create engaging profiles, advertise open positions, and use relevant hashtags to attract attention from potential candidates.
Check out more recruiting tips for the green industry from our latest interview with Tito Caceres of Bloom Partners Talent Solutions here. In the interview, Tito shared advice on developing a talent pipeline, metrics to track in recruiting, how to stay proactive in recruiting, and much more!
We will also be doing a webinar diving into the financial considerations that landscaping companies should keep in mind when hiring new employees. We’ll cover capacity planning, key benchmarks, labor efficiency targets, forecasting, and optimizing your workforce. Join us in this webinar hosted by Team Engine on Wednesday, February 14th, 12 – 12:45 pm EST, register for free here.