is not a Christmas bonus but tied to the company’s performance. Ables says he invests in offering these
different benefits because that’s what he wants to be known for in 100 years is how they take care of their people. “You got to put your money where
your mouth is there, and that’s going to take time,” Ables says. “It’s going to take resources, and it’s going to take money. You’ve got to be profitable to be able to pay for these things. So it forces us to do a good job with our estimating and our pricing and all that. Year by year, we’re just trying to get a little more generous as we can. That’s the underlying thing. It’s just it’s the right thing to do for our people.”
CASE STUDY: AHLUM & ARBOR Ahlum says for years they have talked about becoming destination company and they are at the point where they have to tell applicants they don’t have a position for them. “I hear many companies complaining about not having employees, but these days, they just don’t show up,” Ahlum says. “You have to work to attract them and then work harder to keep them. Offering different unique benefits attract this next generation of talent.” Ahlum & Arbor offers a number of benefits tied to their employees’ knowl- edge. For instance, they pay for employ- ee education and conferences. “Once they are a certified arborist, they will never not have enough CEUs working for us,” Ahlum says. “One of our values is knowledge and we want all of our employees to continue to grow. We challenge them each year, ‘What’s next?’” The company also has a program that
covers an employee’s college educa- tion in a green industry-related field. Ahlum says employees see the company putting resources toward them. Another program offered is an apprenticeship that takes a new hire to a certified arbor- ist in three years and has guaranteed pay scales. “It’s hands-on and book theory
learning and builds great, well-rounded employees,” Ahlum says. Ahlum has noticed the younger generation wants flexibility and to learn so they have started to cross-train their employees as well. “It helps build ‘the bench,’ but they also get the satisfaction to learn something new,” Ahlum says. He says one benefit that his team
seems to appreciate the most the gear stipend as they can pick their favorite rope, saddles and hard hat without having to pay for it. “We just increased our gear stipend this past year based on employee feed- back,” Ahlum says. “I know this significant- ly increased their morale and it helped with production! Anytime you have a happy employee production is better than with an unhappy employee!” Ahlum admits they have rolled out benefits that have not worked in the past, which is why they try to listen to their employees and hear what they want. “We use surveys sometimes to ask questions about this,” Ahlum says. “We don’t necessarily use a poll, but the anonymous surveys allow us to get a better feel for what they want if they do not feel comfortable talking to us about it.”
He also suggests asking why an appli-
cant took another role with a different company. It can unveil a benefit that people are looking for that you do not have.
CASE STUDY: RYAN LAWN & TREE One of the most notable benefits Ryan Lawn & Tree offers employees is the fact that they are an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), which empowers employees to own part of the company they work for and serves as a retirement fund. Only 6,358 companies in the U.S. are ESOPs. The shares are allocated based an em-
ployee’s salary and their tenure with the company. Employees have to be with the company for six years before they are fully vested. In addition to the ESOP, they also offer employees a 401(k). “We call it the get-rich-slow benefit,”
says Steve Klecan, director of operation- al support for Ryan Lawn & Tree. “We have many millionaires in our company because of the ESOP.” Rodney St. John, vice president of
agronomy with Ryan Lawn & Tree, admits that the ESOP benefit is harder for
younger people to understand its true value when recruiting, but the idea of being an employee-owner and the deci- sions you make influencing the company does resonate with them. “We hire about 5% of all applicants,”
Klecan says. “That is big to us to make sure that not only are we getting the right people, but they understand our benefits and that they’re part of the team here.” Phillip Fisher, COO of Ryan Lawn &
Tree, says their faith in the workplace also attracts a unique person to their compa- ny and they see it as a benefit that they feel free to express that faith at work. “You wouldn’t believe how many people that we get that come in and say that our mission statement the first three words are ‘To serve God,’ and how important that is to them and joining us at Ryan Lawn & Tree is why they applied,” Klecan says.
“You got to put your money where your mouth is there, and that’s going to take time. It’s going to take resources, and it’s going to take money. You’ve got to be profitable to be able to pay for these things. So it forces us to do a good job with our estimating and our pricing and all that. - Mark Ables, president and CEO of Ables Landscapes
National Association of Landscape Professionals 19
Photos: Ables Landscapes
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