They are like ghosts in the machine. Someone handed me a list recently of all of the staff we've hired over the last three+ decades. Its almost 400 people. I went through and highlighted the problematic pinheads that I wouldn't wish on anybody. There were quite a few. Then I followed up by highlighting the good people that were - and are - consistent, creative and caring. As you might expect, that's a much longer list. My feeling is that - in perspective, even the most dramatic problem will fade in your memory over time. People are people, with all their flaws and wonders and inconsistencies. I do think that if we can recognize the emotional needs and personal interests of those that we work with, we can build relationships that encourage dependability and a greater sense of responsibility. But landscape contractors have a helluva time finding and retaining good quality staff. It has the sense of a problem that will never go away. When green industry employers get together, we all share up to a certain point - what we are doing and what methods we find successful. Then again, sharing these ideas can have the flavor of "finding gold up in them thar hills" - that is - if we do find a solution that works, the last thing we want is to see our competitor in our secret hiring spot. At my firm, we hire a number of different types of workers, from Nursery techs to production workers, design talent and outdoor craftspeople. We ask a lot of them.
From administrative office staff to designers and of course our production people, our folks wear a lot of hats. Office staff are juggling all of the many accounts and administrative tasks - from HR functions to accounting and marketing and lead choreography. Our designers often serve in part as project managers - not only seeing people and prequalifying potential clients but also putting together estimates and plans - and implementing the project with our production staff….. And our production people are working outside in all kinds of weather, pushing rocks up the hill in the rain - as I say. It's not necessarily a pleasant job - but we look for folks that can see the craft inside it all… We hope to instill a sense of enthusiasm with our production staff and hope that they can see the beauty in what they are able to assemble and get a sense of accomplishment from the ability to create habitat and remedy some of the negative effects of development in creative endeavors with plants and rock and rock, light and wood and water. Entering my curmudgeonly years, I know it's almost a trope to say that "folks don't want to work very hard anymore". This may or may not be true. I expect back in the biblical times there was some old codger who yelled at his son for writing on papyrus - when he could have been hammering out his message on a stone tablet.
Such is the nature of progress. As in all things, moving forward can be a mixture of positive and negative. You gain something - you lose something. What we gain in automation - we perhaps give up in attention span. All that noted, today's topic speaks to all of this and is about the labor force - or lack of it. So let's get started...
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