BUSINESS Presenting a company to an employee as a step in their


career rather than just a job to show up to starts during the interview process, notes Scott. It’s incumbent to show applicants that if they join the


company, “there is a trajectory of success, new skills, new pay and new responsibility for further growth,” says Cesare. “We can connect the dots going from a new employee to an established employee to a supervisor over the course of two to three years. “Tat paints a picture where the employee can say, ‘If I


invest this effort in an equilateral way, I can benefit short term and long term in making my skills more marketable.” Glatt says he worked with an irrigation company that


offered promotions within the first two weeks regardless of experience level. “Tat promotion is going to be contingent on your abil-


While pay is important, pay attention to employees’ other needs such as growth and development opportunities or job flexibility.


ity to show up, be teachable and wear a clean uniform,” he says. “If you do those things and demonstrate the right values we’ve established, then within two weeks, we’re go- ing to promote you right away. Tat promotion goes from provisional technician to junior technician. “Two weeks after that, we can promote you again as


long as you can show us certain skills. For this company, that meant the employee being able to change an irrigation head on their own.” Tat sets up an experience of quick wins, says Glatt. “If you’re going to say this is somewhere where you can


build a career, then an employee is wondering ‘What does that look like? What is the education I get? What oppor- tunities do I have?’” says Glatt. “At the same time, ‘What are the expectations that I’m expected to live up to? What does quality performance even look like?’ All of these ex- pectations are usually not discussed. As a result, employees think that there is no growth opportunity because it’s never explained to them.”


Stand apart


Tere are several ways a company can set itself apart from others so that it is more attractive than comparable employers. “Tat can be physically what it looks like in


your business,” says Scott. “It can be the amount of time you spend not only interviewing but also how you onboard somebody. Spend a lot of time onboarding a couple of days upfront. Spend time training them over the first few weeks and months.” Distinguishing one’s company apart


from


others comes down to establishing the company as a brand, says Cesare. “Are we customer service-oriented? De-


tailed? Expensive? Torough? Prompt? Neat? What’s our company brand relative to the competition?” he notes. Tose factors not only differentiate one company from


another to customers, but it also trickles down to the em- ployee or applicant level, Cesare adds. “Te external brand is replaced by the internal culture that hopefully attracts employees,” he adds. It is increasing- ly important for executives and managers to have strong business ethics.


36 Irrigation & Lighting Late Fall 2022 “If we don’t have good role models at work, if our bosses


are sketchy, if our managers and our executive team and our supervisors do not have moral integrity and truth – that will disenfranchise workers very quickly,” he says. “Te ex- ecutive team must be very sincere in their role with the em- ployees and treat them as humans rather than mere assets. Te frontline supervisors have to take an active interest by being strong ethical role models by being decisive, compe- tent and actually caring about their employees.” “Most companies’ job postings just list the job descrip-


tions and responsibilities,” Glatt points out. “Here’s what you have to do, here’s the experience you have to have, you have to have a driver’s license. Tat’s not very appealing. What’s appealing is talking about the opportunity and the fact that the employee works for an important company and would be part of the mission and vision.” Another factor with proven impact on bringing in new potential employees is discussion and promotion of active corporate social responsibility, or anything that the com- pany does to help the environment, strive for diversity and inclusion, and help the community, says Glatt. “Basically, our ability to serve anybody besides just our-


selves in terms of making a profit,” says Glatt. “If you tout those things on the job description, then you can expect a 30% increase in job applicants.” With a significant lack of younger professionals in the


landscape irrigation industry as older ones near retirement, that creates the need to mentor and support younger pro- fessionals. Tat presents opportunities for helping young- er employees view irrigation and lighting as a true career with potential for longevity, notes Scott. Connect with local high schools, universities and agricultural schools to encourage potential new hires. Include young people in the recruitment effort and use the platforms through which younger people get their information. “Younger employees are going to want to go online to


learn about a benefit, an opportunity or training,” he adds. “Show your new employee you’re cutting edge in your tech- nology.”


Citing a Gallup assessment, Glatt notes among the


managerial objectives proven to retain employees is mak- ing sure they feel cared about, have the resources and in- formation to correctly do their job, ensure they feel their co-workers are committed to quality and their managers care about them as a person, and that their social needs are being met at work, says Glatt. “Most importantly is that they’re being grown and de-


veloped,” adds Glatt. “Ninety-three percent of the time when millennials change job titles, they left their company to do so, which means when someone’s looking to move up in their career, they’re not seeing that opportunity at their company except for 7% of the time.” “Every company I know would gladly pay more for better people,” says Glatt. “But they’re just not having that discussion to make sure their employees know, and so their employees are leaving their company.”


Carol Brzozowski is a freelance writer with a specialty in environmen- tal journalism based in Coral Springs, Florida. She can be reached at brzozowski.carol@gmail.com.


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