Did you know hiring the right talent for your landscaping team will affect your company’s bottom line?
You probably already know that answer. However, you may be tempted to hire the first to fill out an application because finding the correct folks to work on your crews is challenging.
In this blog, you’ll learn top strategies for hiring a landscaping team that will work hard, show up on time, and stay loyal to your company.
Remember, December through February are the best times for hiring new talent for the upcoming spring rush. It gives you time to train them and see how they work within your company’s culture.
Understanding Your Landscaping Needs Before Hiring
Before hiring a landscaping team, you must examine your company’s needs.
Are you busy enough to add another crew? Conversely, is this the first time you’re hiring a landscaping team?
You’ll also need to define what the job description will be, the salary, and any benefits. Plus, you’ll be taking time from working in the field to train new hires working in a crew and teach them how to use the landscaping equipment.
Granted, if you hire during the winter months, you can use that slow time to train new employees well before the spring season starts. Of course, you’ll need to provide on-the-job training if you expect your new hires to help with snow and ice management during the winter.
Read more: It’s Hiring Time: What’s Your Recruiting Plan to Keep Up with Spring Landscaping Jobs?
5 Steps for Hiring a Landscaping Team
Once you’ve established that you need to grow your landscaping teams, you need to look at your budget to see if you have enough cash flow to hire the people you need for these teams.
Before you post job openings, refer to Jobber’s five steps for hiring a landscaping team:
- Do you need permanent field crews, seasonal help, or a mixture of both?
Depending on how busy you get in the spring and summer, you’ll probably hire a mix of permanent field crews and seasonal help to round out your landscaping team.
Jobber says that if you’re hiring your first field crew, you may want to hire part-time workers, which is more cost-effective. As your landscaping business grows, you can start hiring full-time employees and seasonal help as needed.
Conversely, you may want to hire a sub-contractor to take care of jobs that require more lawn care tasks, such as aeration and overseeding, lawn fertilization, and weed control.
Remember to scale your business so you have enough workers to handle the workload without too much overhead.
- Create landscaping job descriptions.
What is a job description? It includes the position details, job summary, the type of person you’re looking for, job tasks, work experience, and job requirements.
It should also include vehicle licenses, different landscaping certifications, and other relevant education and experience.
- Post your job description on your website, social media channels, Facebook’s job searching groups, and at your local trade and high schools.
Depending on where you live, you can think of other ways of advertising your job posts. For example, your local weekly newspaper has a “Help Wanted” section where you can buy advertising space for a small fee.
While you want to start with experienced employees when hiring a landscaping team, you can find seasonal employees to round out any positions in the middle of the season.
Also, network with other home service companies, tell your vendors you’re looking for employees, and ask your current employees if they could recommend someone.
- Go through the resumes and pick the best candidates to interview.
Jobber recommends picking out resumes that seem like a good match and scheduling interviews with the most qualified applicants.
Jobber’s article, “How to Hire Lawn Care Employees and Landscapers: 5 Steps,” provides nine interview questions to find the right candidate to add to your landscaping team.
During the interview, describe why your landscaping company is a great workplace. You can include company culture, company gatherings, the emphasis on teamwork, and how you reward loyal employees with bonuses at the end of the year.
Finally, when ready to offer the job, call the candidate’s references. Also, do a criminal background check and a motor vehicle report to ensure your new candidate is squeaky clean.
- Now, it’s time to offer the job and onboard your newest crew member.
Call your best candidate and offer the job over the phone. Additionally, send an offer letter that’s attached to an email. Jobber says the offer letter should include the starting date, work duties, pay, and benefits.
When you’re hiring a landscaping team, you’ll need to meet with your new employees before their start date to gather the following:
- Their Social Security Number (SSN)
- An IRS I-9 to verify the person’s eligibility to work in the U.S.
- A signed IRS W-4 form to deduct income taxes
At this initial meeting, you’ll also give the new recruit their uniform, any company vehicles, equipment, landscaping software set-up, and other work supplies.
Summing Up: Bringing Together a Landscaping Team
Whether you’re a start-up or you’ve been in business for years, it’s vital that you set up your new landscaping team for success.
Hire a manager or supervisor to run the team daily. Ensure that this team leader has the skills and personality to motivate and make quick decisions in the field.
When you take the time to interview, do criminal and motor vehicle checks, and call the candidates’ references, you should feel confident you’re hiring the right people to join your landscaping team.
Introduce Your Landscaping Team to Spyker Pro Spreaders
If you want to wow your landscaping teams, introduce them to Spyker Pro Spreaders.
At Spyker, we have spreaders, lawn rollers, and sprayers to help your landscaping teams create healthy lawns and landscapes.
Since winter is here, our Spyker ERGO-PRO Walk-Behind Salt Spreader has premium materials and features to withstand harsh weather and ensure the job gets done faster, easier, and safer!
You can find our Spyker lawn sprayers and other landscaping products at your local dealer, online, or at the Spyker store.
Spyker Customer Service: For warranty, service parts, or help at any time, reach out to our team by calling our toll-free number (800-972-6130) or by emailing customerservice@brinly.com. Replacement parts can also be ordered online at Spyker’s website.
Sources:
FieldRoutes.com, How to Find Landscape Employees for Your Growing Business.
Huckleberry.com, How to Hire an Employee for Your Landscaping Business in 7 Simple Steps.
Jobber.com, How to Hire Lawn Care Employees and Landscapers: 5 Steps.
