[concept]

What a pita it can be to develop employees, let alone hire and retain. We run an add 4 days a week in the paper constantly and we interview constantly. Then we have atraining system mainly designed to destroy the wimps within the 1st week cause there is no point in training a quitter.
Next we teach them
1what todo (Task)
2how well to do it (quality)
3how long it should take (time/quantity)
4how well they did (evaluate)
Somone wiser once said you manage systems and you lead people. The smoother you are delivering the message the better perceived it is.
P.S. I have been in business 20 yrs and about once a week i question is the sanity of staying in it.Who in the right mind would not.
Human resource is the biggest challenge a owner/manager faces in the day to day operations of a labor driven business. We sell time accomplished through labor not landscape jobs. The sooner you realize that your main focus is your employees,the faster you get results

[GLAN]

Wow Concept

Excellent post

[Heidi Cardenas]

I just read your post - it's a subject I've been struggling with too and just sent out a post about last week. Recruiting is tough no matter what your openings are, and employee sourcing and retention aren't easy. Having one or two experieinced people dedicated to focused recruiting and retention efforts does help, but it's still tough. We look for any edge we can get and try to maximize our roi on employment advertising and recruiting efforts.

[pineapple]

I love the subject line of your post!
My feelings exactly.

Labor has been the biggest hassle I have had in my business.

We do all the good stuff: repect, good pay, training, opportunities, get them vested in their part of the job, etc, etc.
I have run ads in papers, posted jobs in supermarkets, churches, community college, university, online, etc.

The only way I have found laborers is thru my other latino workers. Found a couple of great gardeners through the community college.

My foreman quit a few weeks into the season and I have had it! If I could do the physical work myself I would feel confident that we could meet our obligations and fulfil our contracts. However, I can't do that so I am putting my maintenance biz up for sale.

[fakie99]

yeah, the college around here has generated one good employee for me - it just seems so hit and miss. it is frustrating to do all the good things and still have employees leave, get incarcerated, dissappear, etc.

i think the option of "just hanging in there" is really the only way to handle it. eventually, i hope hope to have my system for finding and retaining top employees set....