August 15, 2011
Leadership and the challenging spring of 2011
By Sally Harvey CLT, CLP
Education and Labour Development Department
This past spring will be one talked and written about for many years. Open up any newspaper or magazine, and the focus is been on the weather. It reminds me of my father-in-law, who was a great farmer, but never satisfied with the weather. It was too hot, too rainy, or too something for the crop of discussion, or the task at hand.
I, too, transitioned in to farmer mode this year, as the weather caused unreal delays in getting on to the landscape site with my company. Projects were behind, clients were not signing on because of the cool, wet weather, and staff and equipment were ready to go, but not able to accomplish anything according to plan.
The poor weather rapidly transitioned into summer-like conditions, as soon as the election came and went. Suddenly, clients rose from their winter cocoon ready all at once to get started yesterday. More STRESS!
Yes, we have all had a particularly stressful start in 2011. This includes business owners in every sector, to all levels of staff, who were trained and oriented in preparation for a great season, yet the weather delayed their much-anticipated start. Some were kept busy, while others were sent home to wait.
Once the weather turned and the season started, we were slow getting out of the gate. Once the client approvals drove in, it was scheduling mayhem.
In June, I received numerous calls from owners cancelling their attendance at various meetings and events, due to internal human resource issues. I have never heard from so many of our members relaying that they lost critical staff this spring, soon after the craziness started. And it wasn’t from competitors, but to completely new career paths. Our short term expectations as owners this spring did not match the career vision and goals for several key employees.
Many were caught off guard. In early spring we had excess staff due to the weather, and then quickly were clearly short-staffed when the insane rush arrived. As owners, we have seen this before. We were tired, but knew we would survive and get our clients taken care of. However, we did not all have the time to share our wisdom with our staff. We did not encourage and coach as we would have liked to. They could not see past another exhausting day or week. Many departed, leaving significant operational gaps in several firms.
Never before have I witnessed this exodus! It reminds me of the doctor crisis, when the government imposed an income ceiling.
Let this be a lesson for the future. All staff, whether in the landscape horticulture industry or the medical field, want and need to be assured that they have a solid career opportunity with their employer.
We know that there is a shortage of skilled labour and this is projected to increase as boomers retire and as the green industry grows. We also know that we have much work to do to attract and recruit new workers who have different lifestyle needs to fill the skilled labour gap.
More importantly, it is clearly time to develop staff retention strategies to support and sustain our existing skilled workforce. A revolving door does not build a strong foundation in an industry that is so dependent on human capital. In response to this need, Landscape Ontario will expand the opportunities for development in regards to human resource management aimed at owners and supervisors at Congress and with the winter seminars.
I also encourage you to challenge the Certified Landscape Professional (CLP) designation. One of the seven manuals is the human resource management module. The manual and seminar will teach and remind you and your management steam of the basic foundation for solid HR practices, as they apply to your landscape horticulture business. If you have not already, start the journey today. Register at: http://bit.ly/pxJNJM.
Many of you participated in the survey last month. I encourage you to attend one of the four, half-day sessions in August, either in Ottawa, Sudbury, Toronto or London. These sessions are free and professionally facilitated by John Butcher, who has been tasked to work with our industry to find solutions to barriers. We anticipate that employee retention strategies will be one of the barriers. I urge you to register to participate to be part of the HR solution. Go to www.horttrades.com/labour-market.
The goal of the WR program is to help employers and injured workers to maintain their employment relationship throughout the recovery/rehabilitation process. The intention is to ensure dignified return to work for the injured worker.
Most injured workers can return to some type of work even during the recovery period. Returning to daily work and life activities can actually help in the recovery process. Worldwide research shows that the longer a worker is off work due to injury or illness, the less likelihood there is of that person returning to work. Ultimately the program produces workers who return to decent, safe, productive and sustainable employment.
There are new expectations of employers:
For more information on employer obligations in regards to Work Reintegration go to http://bit.ly/mOLdtO. To find the WSIB site, go to www.wsib.on.ca/en/community/WSIB.
Contact Sally Harvey should you have any questions at sharvey@landscapontario.com.
Education and Labour Development Department
This past spring will be one talked and written about for many years. Open up any newspaper or magazine, and the focus is been on the weather. It reminds me of my father-in-law, who was a great farmer, but never satisfied with the weather. It was too hot, too rainy, or too something for the crop of discussion, or the task at hand.I, too, transitioned in to farmer mode this year, as the weather caused unreal delays in getting on to the landscape site with my company. Projects were behind, clients were not signing on because of the cool, wet weather, and staff and equipment were ready to go, but not able to accomplish anything according to plan.
The poor weather rapidly transitioned into summer-like conditions, as soon as the election came and went. Suddenly, clients rose from their winter cocoon ready all at once to get started yesterday. More STRESS!
Yes, we have all had a particularly stressful start in 2011. This includes business owners in every sector, to all levels of staff, who were trained and oriented in preparation for a great season, yet the weather delayed their much-anticipated start. Some were kept busy, while others were sent home to wait.
Once the weather turned and the season started, we were slow getting out of the gate. Once the client approvals drove in, it was scheduling mayhem.
In June, I received numerous calls from owners cancelling their attendance at various meetings and events, due to internal human resource issues. I have never heard from so many of our members relaying that they lost critical staff this spring, soon after the craziness started. And it wasn’t from competitors, but to completely new career paths. Our short term expectations as owners this spring did not match the career vision and goals for several key employees.
Many were caught off guard. In early spring we had excess staff due to the weather, and then quickly were clearly short-staffed when the insane rush arrived. As owners, we have seen this before. We were tired, but knew we would survive and get our clients taken care of. However, we did not all have the time to share our wisdom with our staff. We did not encourage and coach as we would have liked to. They could not see past another exhausting day or week. Many departed, leaving significant operational gaps in several firms.
Never before have I witnessed this exodus! It reminds me of the doctor crisis, when the government imposed an income ceiling.
Let this be a lesson for the future. All staff, whether in the landscape horticulture industry or the medical field, want and need to be assured that they have a solid career opportunity with their employer.
We know that there is a shortage of skilled labour and this is projected to increase as boomers retire and as the green industry grows. We also know that we have much work to do to attract and recruit new workers who have different lifestyle needs to fill the skilled labour gap.
More importantly, it is clearly time to develop staff retention strategies to support and sustain our existing skilled workforce. A revolving door does not build a strong foundation in an industry that is so dependent on human capital. In response to this need, Landscape Ontario will expand the opportunities for development in regards to human resource management aimed at owners and supervisors at Congress and with the winter seminars.
I also encourage you to challenge the Certified Landscape Professional (CLP) designation. One of the seven manuals is the human resource management module. The manual and seminar will teach and remind you and your management steam of the basic foundation for solid HR practices, as they apply to your landscape horticulture business. If you have not already, start the journey today. Register at: http://bit.ly/pxJNJM.
Barriers to skilled labour
As you may have noticed in past articles, Landscape Ontario, in partnership with Humber College and Ontario Parks Association, was awarded a grant project by Employment Ontario. Research will examine the challenges and barriers to skilled labour development in our industry. It is a Labour Market Partnership Project.Many of you participated in the survey last month. I encourage you to attend one of the four, half-day sessions in August, either in Ottawa, Sudbury, Toronto or London. These sessions are free and professionally facilitated by John Butcher, who has been tasked to work with our industry to find solutions to barriers. We anticipate that employee retention strategies will be one of the barriers. I urge you to register to participate to be part of the HR solution. Go to www.horttrades.com/labour-market.
Worker reintegration
WSIB introduced a new Worker Reintegration (WR) program in Dec. 2010 that applies to all workers, including those in the construction industry. This means that the return to work for re-employed or injured workers is now integrated under this new WR program. It has a strong focus on work retention.The goal of the WR program is to help employers and injured workers to maintain their employment relationship throughout the recovery/rehabilitation process. The intention is to ensure dignified return to work for the injured worker.
Most injured workers can return to some type of work even during the recovery period. Returning to daily work and life activities can actually help in the recovery process. Worldwide research shows that the longer a worker is off work due to injury or illness, the less likelihood there is of that person returning to work. Ultimately the program produces workers who return to decent, safe, productive and sustainable employment.
There are new expectations of employers:
- Increased active participation and communication between all stakeholders.
- Maintain open and regular communication with injured worker as soon after injury as possible and throughout recovery period.
- Attempt to identify and provide suitable and productive work.
- Employers have the duty to accommodate work /workplace to the extent that it does not cause the employer undue hardship.
- Co-operate with WSIB
For more information on employer obligations in regards to Work Reintegration go to http://bit.ly/mOLdtO. To find the WSIB site, go to www.wsib.on.ca/en/community/WSIB.
Contact Sally Harvey should you have any questions at sharvey@landscapontario.com.