WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Building on the work that been started, some of the 2019 enhancements that will be added to the industry workforce efforts will include:
• Women’s Recruitment Campaign – Multi-faceted elements of this program include videos, ads, digital and print pieces, and media outreach that will showcase strong, relatable women in the industry to entice young women to join what too many perceive to be a profession for men.
• Hispanic Recruitment Campaign – We will use similar strategies to more readily welcome Spanish-speaking individuals into the profession and translate many of the industry’s recruitment materials into Spanish.
• Educators and Career Advisors Campaign – We have already done a lot of work to connect with those who influence students, but the launch of the Landscape Management Apprenticeship Program will open tremendous additional doors in this area for the industry in 2019. As a newly recognized “skilled trade,” the profession will now be recognized differently by guidance counselors and high school teachers. IGI will connect the industry with these audiences through digital ad campaigns, written articles, speaking engagements, introduction of curriculum into schools and more.
• Proud Parents Campaign – Over the years ahead, we will launch our outreach to parents of students
in the industry, encouraging them to promote the profession by proudly sporting industry swag to share their admiration for what their children do and we will reach prospective parents of industry professionals through our Ditch the Debt campaign.
While aggressive messaging campaigns offer the greatest visibility and are the most essential component of our work to attract men and women to the industry, there are a lot of other actions being undertaken as well. For instance, IGI is working on a pilot program that has the potential to connect thousands of interested high school students and young adults—who want to work outside—with industry companies for career experience and the possibility of a job. Like other industries, we are also exploring what changes may be needed by this industry to invoke a truly changed recruitment model. Perhaps like the truck drivers who learned they needed to change route struc- tures to attract new hires or the welders who learned they needed to offer classes exclusively to women or the manufacturers that are promoting more flexible work schedules, we may also need to find the secret sauce of attracting future professionals by changing currently accepted business models. The 130 professionals who gather in the Washington, D.C. area in February will have just these kind of dialogues at the 2019 Workforce Summit. (Learn more about the Workforce Summit by looking under the Events and Conferences tab under the Learn tab at
www.landscapeprofessionals.org.)
Help Fund Workforce Development for the Industry
Change is not easy, and it is not cheap. This is particularly true when talking about change that is meaningful, lasting and essential. The NALP Foundation against others vying for the same workforce. The volunteers responsible for fundraising ask every company worried about the workforce shortage to support the work that is being done—not as a cheerleader but as a player for success in this game. It will take the strength of an industry united.
To learn more about IGI, its work and its wins, visit
www.landscapeprofessionals/igi or to support this essential work, go to
www.GivetoIGI.org. The NALP Foundation’s leadership is working to have the entire industry involved with this campaign, ensuring suppliers, contractors and state and national associations are standing
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THE LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONAL > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
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