Jeff,
When I was in Ohio I was in your shoes. We did not work year
round. It was hard to get, train and retain good employees. I had my fair share of good ones. However, most were as you described.
Luckily in Phoenix, we can do pavers year round. We have mostly Hispanic workers. We do not offer them any medical or 401K. We offer them something better (in their eyes and ours). We help them become legal US citizens. We hire the attorney and pay all the fees. It also ties them to our company during the long process. Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying they had to "make a deal with the devil". Its a win win situation.
BTW: All of our foreman have been with us for at least 5 years. I could only dream of those types of retention numbers in 8-month season Ohio.
Peace,
