[VoodooChile]

One of our winter office projects is to draft Formal Job Descriptions for next season's available Laborer, Landscape Technician, and Landscape Construction & Maintenance Foreman positions.

I've seen this suggested in several trade journals as a means: 1) to clarify management expectations of employees, 2) to provide specific goals as well as pay grade incentives for employee advancement, and 3) to protect against employees undertaking legal retribution should discipline/firing occur.

Specifically, I've got one guy who has worked for us these past six months, has the goods necessary to become a foreman, and has expressed great interest in growing with the company. Before our relationship grows any tighter, I would like to formalize expectations for our mutual benefit.

Does anyone have any job descriptions that they would be willing to share publicly, or pm to me? I am looking for a template, to avoid having to reinvent the wheel.

Does anyone know of any threads that pertain? My search came up empty...

Thanks in advance for any help!

[jwholden]

Voodoo,

What is the difference between a laborer and landscape technician? I didn't think you applied chemicals, which I assume the term landscape technician is attached to.

[Stonehenge]

Could be the ALCA testing. Just a hunch.

[VoodooChile]

Kinda slow to respond, cause the holidays have us too busy to check in but sporadically...

Laborer is an unskilled position anyone can fill who is reliable, has a valid drivers license and transportation, can repeatedly lift 50#, and can follow directions. Laborers walk behind wheelbarrows, spread mulch, and dig holes.

Landscape Technician is a skilled position that would require not just physical strength and motivation, but also the knowledge of the best way to perform a landscaping task, i.e. the knowledge to point a wheelbarrow the direction it will need to go when full, before filling it, the best shape and way to dig the hole, the most efficient method to spread the mulch as well as knowing not to pile it up the trunks of trees or on top of perennials.

Obviously, there is a big gray area between unskilled Laborer and skilled Laborer, a training and a trained Landscape Technician.

An applicant with ALCA training, HA! Never seen one of those with our 2-4% unemployment. But would be happy to provide the training for someone who would stick around...

[VoodooChile]

I should add a time line.

Unskilled Laborer to Skilled Laborer: one month, long enough to demostrate they can handle the job, with a $1/hour bump in pay.

Skilled Laborer to Landscape Technician in Training: three months, with another buck bump.

Landscape Technician in Training to Trained Landscape Technician: five more months, to round out a full season of landscaping (typically nine months of twelve in southern Wisconsin) with a buck bump.

[Stonehenge]

Wow - Two bucks/hour bump in a single season? Sounds generous. Best I ever offered was $.50/hr bump after 1 month, then annual increases as applicable.

[Green4Me]

Great discussion here. Maybe we should use this thread to flesh out the various job descriptions with the input of the GTX members.

For instance, does a person reach the technician level once they can do all the tasks usually encountered during a season, including pruning, irrigation work, stone work, maintenance work, tree and plant installation, etc. All that in 6 months seems like a lot to become proficient in and to qualify for the level of techncian.

Back to a basic question. In my mind a laborer performs the most basic of tasks with supervision. A technician should be able to perform standard tasks with direction only and pretty much work without direct supervision. Then a foreman should be able to direct and produce the work on a project with input from management, but not necessarily with management presence on the job. Is my thinking correct here?

Voodoo is on the right track I think, if a basic laborer starts out at $8.00 per hour. Here in Oregon if a person can perform the work with minimal supervision and is reliable, a $ 200 jump in pay would be worth it to me, but I don't know what would happen next year, maybe then go to smaller increases or make it up in bonuses if the crews perform? Compensation is always a tough questio

[VoodooChile]

Chuck Sinclar sent me this link, which has a ton of useful templates: Lawn and Lawnscape Personnel Documents Login necessary.

Stone, generosity is necessary to keep good help around in this labor market. Like I said, unemployment is pretty low down here, always has been since I entered the market in 1993. For a while, the only guys to apply had multiple DUIs with no license. I don't use Hispanic labor (don't speak Spanish, don't do the volume of work to maintain a optimally sized Hispanic crew and to provide the hours they seek). Usually, it's me and two or three other guys. We generally bust our humps for 40 hours a week, no more, and for that to be worth their while, they have to make a decent wage.

So we start at $9, and bump to $10 if they survive the probationary period. I don't have a problem paying a trained reliable guy as much as $12.50/hour if they are productive, reliable, and want to come back next season. And of course, all businesses suffer from the lack of good employees, and that is reflected in labor costs across the board. True, there are plenty of low ballers, paying guys dirt, but I am not competing too often with rusty pick-up contractors much anymore.

Green4Me, you make some good points. There is plenty to know, more than 6 months will teach. Only a real quick study is gonna master it all, but if progress is being made toward mastery, I'd be happy. I would definitely bump a returning employee half a buck for coming back. Compensation is a tough line to walk, for sure.

[guido]

http://www.khake.com/page21.html

Check out that link, it has a lot of links and information that would help you , if not hand you the descriptions you're looking for.

Maybe we can work this together as a group here so we can all benefit from this?