Looking for Labor

With the H-2B guest worker program in serious trouble this year, and its long-term viability seemingly tied to comprehensive immigration legislation, landscape professionals large and small alike are looking for alternative labor solutions. Even if a contractor doesn't participate in H-2B, the impact of companies not getting their guest workers this year will have a trickle-down effect. Labor will be at a premium, and finding ways to recruit and retain workers needs to be a top priority for all companies.

A labor crunch, though, transcends workforce dynamics and will impact all areas of an operation. Equipment, customers, crew size, service offering and other considerations come into play as companies look for ways to continue to provide a high level of service with potentially fewer employees.

HOW TO SQUEEZE OUT MORE WITH LESS

"Because we expect to be short on labor this year, we are less aggressive with sales," explains Eric Cross, CLP, CLT, president of Duke's Landscape Management in Hackettstown, NJ. "So far, we expect to get 18 of the 45 H-2B workers we requested. We may get 18, all 45 or maybe none—but we have contingency plans in place to accommodate any of the three developments.

"Last year, we finished our cleanups late in the season and our employees logged a lot of unprofitable overtime," Cross continues. "That's something we want to avoid this year. We have experienced some success hiring high school and college students, and work closely with a couple of area schools. That all helps. Hiring retirees doesn't work so well for us, since our employees are required to do a lot of heavy lifting."

To make up for any possible labor shortfall, Cross says he may go from a three- to six-person crew on larger accounts. The move will save his company one driver. Being able to get the work done with possibly fewer employees is one issue. The other issue is growth, and right now, aggressive growth is not his company's number one priority.

Where labor will be the main challenge this year for lawn maintenance contractors like Cross, residential design/build contractors are staring down the barrel of a housing slowdown. "In residential design/build, though, there is still money to be made in the high-end market," explains Heather Schuster, president of Terra-Firma Landscape in Muskego, WI. "We may not have as many clients as in previous years, but we will still have work."

Schuster's company fields four installation crews and one maintenance crew, so labor is still an issue. "I no longer hire college students because they can't work when we're the busiest," she adds. "We've had some success hiring high school students to come in to wash trucks, clean the office, and take vehicles to a nearby fuel station. We don't want our regular crews spending time doing that."

Schuster says she's heard stories about some companies having success hiring retired workers who job share. In one instance, two retirees share a delivery route. The move satisfies their demand for flexible work hours, and it gets the job done for the company. Would it work in a landscape environment? Possibly, but it would depend on the application, and it certainly would not make up for a substantial labor shortfall.

The truth is, there is no single solution for companies looking to replace a depleted labor force. "In the maintenance industry, we are labor-driven and there are no ways around it," says Mike Russo, CLP, president of Russo Lawn and Landscape in Windsor Locks, CT. "We have been approved for 10 guest workers this year, but I'll believe it when I see the workers. If we don't get them, we will have to become more aggressive hiring local workers. They will fill a seat, but in all likelihood will not have the skill sets that our returning guest workers would have."