Employee turnover in the landscaping industry is a major obstacle for all businesses, and the transfer of knowledge isn’t happening due to retention issues and the ongoing labor shortage. This means that quality of work is taking a hit because proper landscape training programs aren’t being put in place industry-wide. We’ll check out ways to curb the effects of the labor shortage by exploring the introduction of standardized training programs for your landscape business.

Training programs for a landscape business are structured plans to help upskill and develop your employees. Skills development ranges from overall health and safety practices on site, how to safely and efficiently use landscape tools and equipment, and leadership skills to help manage crew members.

Training timelines are dependent on the business, but training programs can sometimes take as long as a week before a new employee steps on a job site. Even with what businesses feel as adequate training, 52% of landscape businesses reported having senior crew members closely supervise new employees regardless of mistakes.

Businesses often train employees on-the-job, but those teachable moments can crush efficiency metrics for both the entry-level laborer as well as the senior crew member leading their training. As an alternative, landscape businesses have begun using on-demand video training to help bridge the gap with training new and current landscape employees. 

Landscape business training programs help reduce liability, equip your team to produce high-quality work and can help you attract the best crew members. Let’s dive deeper into a few of the key benefits.

Mistakes are a profit killer on a jobsite. Frequent mistakes are typically made by untrained and inexperienced crew members, or those who have developed poor work habits from prior work experiences. Robust training programs should reduce the risk of frequent mistakes through standardized instruction. This ensures everyone on site receives the same high quality training while providing the same consistent and high results.

Broken landscape equipment kills efficiency on a jobsite and can demolish a sound budget in an instant. While equipment damage happens through typical use, careless mistakes are easily avoided through proper training. Give your crew members the knowledge they need to properly use tools and equipment and maintain them throughout an entire season.

Hiring new crew members is time consuming and difficult in this current labor shortage. Eighty-four percent of landscaping businesses say it’s their biggest challenge, and 32% reported retention issues having lost a significant amount of their staff members the past year.

Landscaping businesses can avoid having to hire replacements on their crews if they can manage to retain their current employees. Remember, it costs between 16-20% of a new hire’s salary to refine, retrain, and prepare a new hire before effectively working in the field. At the end of the day, issues with retaining staff is a troubling landscaping trend that’s within your control.

Retention issues typically stem from leadership friction, lack of professional development opportunities, and physical injury. Training programs can help by educating and empowering your management and crew to effectively lead, utilize tools and equipment efficiently, and perform safe work on a landscaping jobsite. Having a strong training program and professional development opportunities can also improve crew member retention.

Your landscaping crew cares about their health and safety. Creating a culture of accountability and safety within your workplace requires buy-in from management down to laborers. Having everyone complete the same standardized training within your landscape business can promote that culture. Knowing that everyone completed the same training increases trust and can give crew members peace of mind on the jobsite. 

Establishing a training program into your landscape business is far from a plug-and-play option. It takes time and careful consideration to give your staff the skills needed to drive the most profitability for your landscape business.

Fortunately, there are on-demand training platforms that can help you build a high-performing team and easily train, retain and manage your crews. Greenius, the number one training software for landscaping companies, makes it simple and easy to train and develop staff and crews, whether you’re in the office or in the field. Greenius helps you deploy automated training programs to make sure your teams get the training they need and includes 360- degree performance reviews so you can measure results. 

Training landscapers is an investment (in both time and money), but it ensures your crews are representing your business properly through high quality work. 

Stay flexible with training programs by implementing an on-demand video training program within your business. Greenius has a team of experts that will guide you through how a comprehensive on-demand video training program can fit within your landscape business.