Hiring, Training & Retaining Millennial Landscaping Job Crews
As a landscaping professional, you know first-hand about the labor shortage affecting landscaping jobs in recent years. According to a Green Industry Benchmark Report, 92% of green industry businesses find it “somewhat or extremely difficult” to find good employees for their business.
With baby boomers retiring, there aren’t enough manual labor workers to replace them. However, the key to solving this labor issue lies within the millennial workforce, which is known to be made up of hard workers. Likewise, this generation has different views of the world and of work in general, which is why the following tips will help you attract and retain them at your company long-term.
Training + Incentives for Millennial Landscaping Job Crews
By understanding what motivates millennials, you can enlighten them about the positives that exist in the landscaping industry. For example, this generation values their physical well-being and could therefore be enticed to work in a physically active industry.
In addition, since millennials prefer active learning through hands-on experiences, why not offer to train them as part of an internship program? They can learn all the skills they need by shadowing an experienced worker in the field. Also, you can offer them a guaranteed job at the end of their training. To up the incentive, even more, pay them a salary throughout the training period. The latter would really make your company stand out to the millennial workforce.
Did you know that the number one reason an employee accepts a job is because of a company’s compensation and benefits? Therefore, make sure to outline your expectations of them and the benefits they’ll receive from the start. You’ll also need to implement incentive benefits to keep them motivated to stay with your company. For example, offer group insurance eligibility after a few months, a pay raise after one year of satisfactory work, or team-building lunches.
Millennials’ Transparency + Communication
Millennials want their voices to be heard, so favour open communication with them. To do so, schedule weekly meetings with your team to discuss their collaborative performance. This will also help to ensure that all projects are going as planned.
Additionally, schedule individual meetings once every few months, seeing as 80% of millennials prefer there to be an emphasis on personal growth within a company. These meetings will allow you to give feedback, go over individual goals, and create a plan tailored to each employee. As such, these meetings will motivate millennials to work on themselves personally, while improving company productivity through strengthened employee-boss relationships.
Continuous communication also helps practice active listening with a non-judgmental ear while employees voice their concerns. Ultimately, this generation wants to work for transparent businesses with a strong company culture.
Millennials’ Work-Life Balance
Millennials are less enticed by the typical 9:00 to 5:00 at the same job for 25+ years or just a pay cheque. They are looking for an employer that can offer a work-life balance so that they can fulfill their passion projects, focus on their health, and spend time with their family and friends. While compensation may be the number one reason an employee will take a job, work-life balance is the number one reason an employee will stay at a landscaping job.
Keeping your millennials happy is to encourage them to leave work behind when they’re off the clock. Don’t text them about work on their days off and certainly don’t pressure them to answer work emails on weekends. Be understanding when they need to take days off for family and personal obligations. Provide paid sick and vacation days so that they can take time off to recharge. Encourage them to spend time with their loved ones and never shame them for doing so. In the end, a happy millennial employee ultimately makes for a more productive one.
Millennial landscaping job crews are willing to work hard for an employer that they respect. By following our tips, you’ll find that it isn’t so hard to keep these employees as after all.
What is the greatest advantage of having millennials work for your company? Is it their ability to pick up new skills quickly? Or their ability to collaborate well on a team?
For more landscaping business know-how, you can read our blog posts on 5 ideas and resources to overcome landscape worker shortages and on how to share bad news with landscaping customers.
