A Playbook for Hiring, Onboarding, and Retention in the Green Industry

Most people do not quit the work, they quit the messy start. You brought them on fast, but never gave them a clear plan, a welcome, or a future.

This ebook gathers practical advice from green industry leaders like Brian Fullerton, Sam Gembel, Denver Grabill, Kevin Scott, and Jason Cromley on what really worked to keep their best people and build crews that perform season after season. It is specifically speaking to the green industry, with insights that are catered to the challenges you’re facing everyday in your business.

Use it as a roadmap to turn your crew into a team that stays and a leadership bench that can grow with your business.

• Design a Day 1 that keeps people, not just fills a truck: Create a simple, professional first day that makes new hires feel expected, equipped, and part of the team.
• Build an onboarding system you can run every season: Training should be a consistent process so every new hire learns the work the same way.
• Give your best people a real path from apprentice to foreman: Map out clear roles, skills, and pay bands from apprentice to tech to foreman.
• Turn foremen into leaders who protect profit: Learn how to turn foremen into true production leaders who understand budget, hours, and margins.
• Use simple numbers to make pay raises and bonuses make sense: Connect raises and incentives to clear metrics so pay feels fair and sustainable.
• Run a spring kickoff that actually changes behavior: Use our kickoff agenda and weekly scorecard so standards, safety, and expectations stick all season long.

• New crew members don’t quit on Day 1 in their heads
  New hires leave when the system is confusing, the welcome is cold, and there is no clear future. This playbook shows how to fix that with simple, repeatable steps.
• Your foremen become your profit protectors
  When your foremen understand the numbers, own the schedule, and lead people well, jobs hit their targets more often and callbacks go down.
• Systems beat heroics every time
  Long-term growth comes from clear roles, consistent training, and simple scoreboards everyone can see, so your people systems keep working even when you are not on site.