It’s almost springtime, which means it’s time to hire seasonal employees. Depending on where your location is, you might be in the middle of hiring this year’s temporary workers.
Today’s hiring climate is different from 20 or 30 years ago, meaning that you need to change your hiring approach.
Secrets to Hiring Good Employees
When you’re recruiting for new employees, you want to hire the best, who’ll work hard and stay with you permanently. According to Entrepreneur.com, 78 million people, which is 59% of the workforce, are hourly workers.
There’s been a yearly increase of 39% of hourly workers who quit their jobs when it comes to turnover. In a surprising statistic, there’s been a 314% increase in managerial turnover as well.
Entrepreneur.com suggests the following for finding workers near you:
- Start a referral program where you offer a cash or gift card incentive when a new employee brings in one to two successful hires. You could find yourself filling up your crews quickly using this method—although you may not want to put these referrals together on one team.
- Join local Facebook groups, and Yelp communities closed to the general public to find new hires.
- The best websites to find employees are Craig’s List and Indeed.com. Post on these sites every morning, so your job opening appears at the top. The keys to success with these two websites: tenacity and consistent ad re-posting every morning.
- If your community or region hosts job fairs, make sure you set up a booth. You can do stop-by interviews and gather applications saving time and money from putting out help wanted ads.
- Visit colleges, tech schools, community colleges, and high schools for summer help. You can put up jobs on their job boards.
- Don’t forget your local and community newspapers. If you have a Penny Saver, put in ads for help wanted. People still scan them—especially if they’re looking for seasonal work.
Read more: How to Find and Hire Great Lawn Care Employees
If this is your first season hiring lawn care workers, here are the basics of setting up a job ad:
- Create an accurate job description for each position you need to hire for the season.
- Advertise and recruit employees (see the above list).
- As resumes and applications start streaming in, review them and have your HR department (or your assistant) set up calls to screen applicants.
- Next comes the in-person interviews or interviews using Zoom.
- Invite supervisors and managers to the interview who’ll oversee this candidate on the field.
- Have the most promising applicants complete any skill tests or assessments.
- Perform a background check as well as contact all references.
- Work with your team, including supervisors, managers, and crew leaders, to make the final decision on applicants.
- Extend the job offer and start training.
How to Keep Employees from Leaving
Once you have your crews set up and trained, it’s frustrating when someone suddenly quits or walks off the job.
Like you, many employers want to know how to keep good employees. According to Gallup.com, your best asset to holding onto employees is your managerial staff.
For example, a bad manager makes the happiest employee unsatisfied with their job. Gallup found through their State of the American Manager Report that bad managers affected employees’ work satisfaction and their health.
So, do you use your managers as your secret sauce to keep employees from resigning? Here are the signs that your star employees may be thinking about moving onto another landscaping company:
- They take off work a lot
- They’re not performing as well as they used to
- Customers aren’t rating these crews as well as they used to
- There’s a decrease in the quality of work
- And all of the above means a loss of profit for your lawn maintenance company.
Watch more: How to Use Accu-Way™ on Your Spyker Spreader
Just like a disgruntled worker quits because of a poor manager, a great manager takes an already excellent job to a new level.
Gallup has also found that great managers have a natural talent for leading and inspiring those working under them. The study found that only 10% of people have excellent managerial skills.
Here are the characteristics of a born manager:
- They put the right candidates on the right crews or leadership roles.
- They set up accountability systems for all of their workers.
- They inspire their employees to care about people’s properties.
- They influence each crew member.
- They act as a coach and focus on their workers’ strengths rather than finding fault with their weaknesses.
- They decide where to move people or change systems based on people’s productivity rather than workplace hierarchy.
- They get to know their employees, which fosters trust and open conversation.
How Spyker’s Accessories Make Your Spring Lawn Applications More Efficient
When you take a break from interviewing new employees for the spring season, consider making up a shopping list for Spyker accessories to enhance your Spyker spreaders.
We carry various accessories to make your lawn care crews more efficient, whether they’re applying rock salt, herbicides, or fertilizer. Check out our section in our parts store.
If you’re in the market for a new spreader, then you can find your next Spyker spreader at your local dealer or these retailers.
If you have any questions about your Spyker spreader or accessories, contact our customer service today by calling (800) 972-6130 or filling out our contact form.
Source:
BusinessNewsDaily.com, “7 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process.”
