MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Faces of the Industry: Meray Elofson By Jill Odom
GETTING INTO THE LANDSCAPE INDUSTRY WAS A HAPPY ACCIDENT FOR Meray Elofson. “I’ve always been drawn to companies that are working towards something that’s bigger than themselves,” Elofson says. “I think that’s a big reason why I stayed in tech as long as I did, even though it’s crazy. I think as humans, we innately need to feel like a part of something that’s bigger than ourselves. For me, that is the most important thing that I’m looking for when I’m deciding where to build my career and what kind of companies to work at.”
She says this is one of the aspects that stood out to her when she interviewed for Mulhall’s, based in Omaha, Nebras- ka, is how much the senior leaders talk about their purpose of beautifying the community and how they feel personally connected to it.
Elofson has been with Mulhall’s for two and a half years now. She says she enjoys working with her co-workers the most. “I know that’s such a cliche answer, but it is just crazy the kind of people that this business has drawn,” Elofson says. “A lot of people, especially people who work in our crews or even on our etail side in the garden cent , really wo
our crews or even on our r retail side in the g den center, really work here because this is what they want to be doing, not because they want to wo specifically
e because
this is what they want t be doing, not because they want to work at Mulhall’s at Mulhall’s specifically.”
As the talent and engagement manager for Mulhall , Elofson
the talent and engagement manager forMulhall’s, Elofson
focuses her time on building processes that are simple and engagement oppor- tunities for the team all the way from their managers to their frontline staff. “A big focus of my job is training our managers to be better managers,” Elofson says. “Like any other kind of HR profession- al, there are very few of us. There are many more managers out on the field and the more that I can lead my team in making sure that we are communicating and training and empowering the managers to be able to do their jobs even better as the managers that is really the best use of our time.”
One engagement program she’s
introduced to the company is their spring kickoff, which features station-based training. Elofson says that the kickoff is 70% culture building and 30% technical training. Crews come back in the mid-af- ternoon and the CEO shares some of his vision and then they break up into groups and rotate through various stations that cover different topics like how to use a string trimmer. In between the educational sessions,
they have a recess period where team members participate in a fun team-build- ing activity like a wheelbarrow race. She says her degree in marketing has helped her in her role as well. “A lot of what HR does is actually
internal marketing,” Elofson says. “You have to get buy-in from these people in order for them to get excited about it, especially when it comes to managers. They’re all so busy. If you want to launch an initiative, you have to do the ‘What’s in it for me?’ with a lot of them. That is the basis of marketing to customers as well.” Elofson says the language barrier has been her biggest challenge. She says she wishes that she took a Spanish language course in college.
10 The Edge //January/February 2025 “One of the biggest things that I’ve
learned within the last two-plus years here is that with the language barrier, it takes way longer to build trust with your team members,” Elofson says. “For my job, I need them inherently to trust me that I’m doing things in their best interest.” Elofson’s role has evolved since joining the company to include recruiting efforts as well. She attends many career fairs and she says many of them never knew they could study horticulture and that there is a career field for landscaping. “I never thought about the fact that landscaping companies needed people like me in HR and marketing and all those things,” Elofson says. “You never think about how a landscaping business needs marketing.” She’s also noted at recent career fairs that more female students are study- ing horticulture. She encourages more women to not be intimidated by joining the industry. “Everyone’s opinion is valuable, but when there is such homogeny within a group of people when you are the one that’s different, I think your perspective is even more valuable because you’re the only one that has that perspective,” Elofson says. Elofson says she’s also learned from others by connecting at industry confer- ences. She says she’s learned a lot from Brigitte Orrick with Davey Tree and how they think about internships. “Based on those conversations I was
able to have with her, we actually had our first intern and our first internship experience this summer, which was a really big step in the right direction for us,” Elofson says. In the next five years, Elofson says she
is excited about the opportunities and possibilities of the business as it’s on an interesting trajectory. “I’ve grown to love this industry, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity in it for different kinds of voices and perspectives to hear honestly,” Elofson says. “I would love to continue building my career here at Mulhall’s.” TE
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