Special thanks to this year’s program sponsor
Loren McIrvin of Allied Landscape not only made education and certification a keystone of his company’s career pathing, he provided technology to his crew to make sure each person had access to the education he built his career on. Photo: Allied Landscape
company connected and informed, says Wisnewski. Te company has spent the last year transitioning to electronic timesheets, providing tablets for each employee and GPS technology in the trucks for better routing. Investing in tech and infrastructure as well as improving compensation has made it easier to recruit new employees. For Saylor, following up with her team and junior man-
agers after a project is just as important as with the client. “I really like to communicate with my team and ask, ‘Are you happy?’” If there’s a question about another opportunity or a different department, the company has the tools in place to fit the employee to the right job. “We have a good staff out there because we are putting people where they like to be. We all know if you don’t like to go to work, you’re not going to be doing a good job. It benefits everybody in the long term.”
The Education Advocate
Loren McIrvin, owner of Allied Landscape in Livermore, California, grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, helping his parents with their landscape and construction company of about 20 people. He describes his father as the type of contractor who was great at talking with clients and orga- nizing installations, but he was sometimes a little hazy on the technique. His dad made an excellent salesperson but the errors got to him. “So for me at a young age, that made an impression on me,” he says. “I thought, ‘OK, I’ve got to learn the right way.’”
34 Irrigation & Lighting June 2023
He worked toward “getting every industry certifica- tion that was available,” he says. “I looked for any classes I could take and just really committed myself to education, and it really opened my eyes in terms of opportunity.” While certification programs, such as those through
organizations like the Irrigation Association, have al- ways been a part of his company’s infrastructure, it was a little more challenging making sure that his employees had access to education outside of those opportunities, he says. Among his challenges was the fact that he couldn’t assume that his employees had reliable Wi-Fi service at home or even a working laptop. “We put an iPhone in every employee’s hands,” he
says, to work around issues with access, and provided an email address for each employee. Tat opened the way for employees to pick up as much education as they were able and gave McIrvin a way to look for upcoming talent. Te company recognizes achievements in certifica- tion for employees and makes it easy to see how many colleagues have gone through the program and moved
“We’re very intentional about our employee experience. We’re not looking to build robots. We’re
looking for great attitudes.” – Loren McIrvin, Allied Landscape
irrigationandlighting.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
