42 minute read
NALP Experience: Four
Accredited schools can also afford to bring more students to attend industry events such as the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, thanks to discounts. Photo: Cuyahoga Community College
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By Jill Odom
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY,
Cuyahoga Community College, Joliet Junior College and Brigham Young University – Idaho have all renewed their Accredited Degree Program status and are now accredited through 2026. The National Association of Landscape Professionals Accredited Degree Program is the only nationally recognized endorsement offered to colleges and universities that confer associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in landscape management. It currently accredits 27 2- and 4-year landscape programs in the United States and Canada.
Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) received its initial accreditation in 1996, from the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA), a legacy organization of NALP.
“The stringent accreditation process allows the college to measure its program against industry best practices and ensures the high quality of instruction offered students,” says Jim Funai, Ph.D., an associate professor with Tri-C. “Seeking the accreditation shows a commitment to providing an education that meets the highest standards in the field.”
Joliet Junior College (JJC) first became accredited in 2004. Lisa Perkins, a professor with JJC, says they decided the accreditation program was a good opportunity to ensure program profes
The accreditation process focuses on a set of course-level student learning outcomes. Photo: Cuyahoga Community College
sionalism and make sure students are meeting the needs the industry is looking for in new graduates.
Grant Thompson, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Iowa State University, says the college received its accreditation in 2010. He says they value the perspective of NALP to indicate what knowledge and competency areas are valued among industry professionals.
“Accreditation is another way of keeping our promise to our students and their families that their tuition and hardwork towards earning a degree is worth it and that they should study with us,” Thompson says.
BYU – Idaho earned its accreditation in 2003. Reese Nelson, Ph.D., professor of horticulture at BYU – Idaho says the motivation for becoming accredited was to put their program under the microscope and see where they could improve.
INSIDE THE ACCREDITATION PROCESS
Accreditation is a voluntary, peer review process that is conducted by representatives of the higher education community and the landscape industry. It is a process that involves the development of a self-evaluation review as well as a peer assessment with the purpose of improving academic quality and accountability to the public. The institution as well as the specific program is reviewed in the process. The administration, staff, faculty, students, advisory committee and alumni are asked to provide input into the process. All aspects of a higher education landscape program are reviewed with the primary aim of ensuring students receive a quality education that will enable them to be successful in their careers.
“It does take some time to pull together the documents, the outcomes and assessments that are necessary and you have to write a self-study,” Nelson says. “But again, all those things will just make your program better in the long run.”
“It’s a difficult process but provides needed input from the industry that makes sure the program is not stagnating,” Perkins says.
Because landscape programs and institutions vary greatly the accreditation standards and process are designed to accommodate this diversity and ensure the quality of student learning. Rather than a standardized curriculum, accreditation focuses on a set of course-level student learning outcomes that have been developed and approved by the industry.
The student learning outcomes are distributed among seven competency areas of learning – Landscape Management, Landscape Installation, Landscape Design, Horticulture Science, Business Management, Computer Technology, and Internship. Currently there are 159
course level outcomes of which an accredited program is required to have at least 70 percent. This provides programs with the flexibility to focus on meeting local and regional needs while still adhering to the national standards.
Thompson says the accreditation program was enlightening as it allows you to look critically at your program. He says he appreciates the wide breadth of skills and competency areas that are outlined in the learning outcomes matrix.
“We check a lot of those boxes pretty clearly but there are certain areas more on the contracting side of things that we need to sharpen our skills in, but I think that there’s enough leeway within the learning outcomes that a lot of different programs can be accredited and will have their own strengths and areas that could be improved,” Thompson says. “It gives a lot of leeway and it’s not a one size fits all thing.”
BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAM
Once accredited, the status is awarded for seven years. Some of the benefits of being accredited include national recognition as a quality landscape contracting/horticulture program, significant discounts on select Landscape Industry Certified exams for students and faculty, and networking opportunities for faculty and students. Accredited schools can also afford to bring more students to attend industry events such as the National Collegiate Landscape Competition, thanks to discounts.
“Our program sends students to NCLC and has recently started attending LANDSCAPES and find the access to industry professionals unparalleled,” Thompson says. “It’s a great networking opportunity for our students, our faculty, and frankly the industry contacts are so welcoming and excited to meet us that it is one of the most cost-effective and time-effective means of connecting our students to career-prospects that our program can support.”
They also have access to NALP members for internships or full-time employment opportunities and access to the latest industry technology through publications and industry suppliers. All four of the schools say they use their accreditation status for recruiting and to stand out from the other schools that potential students are considering.
“When you talk to people who are looking at your program as a potential place to enroll, if we can say that we are accredited through the National Association of Landscape Professionals, that’s a boon,” Nelson says. “It is a recruiting tool and it’s particularly true when you’re talking with parents of potential students.”
There is often a need to show the value in paying tuition for dollars for an education and accreditation can help confirm a landscape program is meeting both the educational and practical criteria needed for students to be successful.
“It helps us communicate to them, not only are you going to get the science with us, because first and foremost our students are getting a horticultural science degree, but that you also have the practical hands-on skills, business skills, management skills and safety skills that they’re going to need when they graduate, so it’s part of showing that we are comprehensive and well-rounded,” Thompson says.
Perkins says that JJC takes advantage of the marketing material provided by NALP to recruit and assure students their quality of education meets the needs of the industry.
“Tri-C views the NALP accreditation as a seal of approval for the program and shares that information with perspective students,” Funai says. “As a two-year school, the status that comes with accreditation is particularly helpful given what we call the ‘community college stigma’ – essentially, the mistaken idea that community colleges offer a second-class education. The accreditation shows that the program meets or exceeds the highest of standards.”
WHY OTHER COLLEGES SHOULD PURSUE ACCREDITATION
All four schools agree other colleges with landscape programs should pursue accreditation. Thompson encourages other universities to look at everything upfront and know if they meet the criteria before starting the documentation process of accreditation.
“It’s a little bit of work but it’s work you should do anyways,” Funai says. “It makes you self-reflect on your program and where you’re at, and even the best of the best universities are going to find things where they’ve got some pretty big holes that they need to address. And to have someone come in from outside, they’re going to help you find those flaws. I don’t know why anyone would not take advantage of that kind of insight into what you could do better.”
Funai says an example of a gap is if the school’s curriculum is missing something that the industry really needs, such as a familiarity with landscape design software. He says the accreditation process also helps reinforce the validity of requests when they ask the administration for equipment such as better computer systems or a certain piece of machinery.
“Having the review team come in, who are a mix of educators and professionals from across the country, and create the snapshot review of what we do, who we are, how we design our program, what our students say about it, and then being able to say that to our university administrators and be advocates for us is a really useful tool,” Thompson says.
Thompson says the accreditation evaluation opens up discussions about funding and staffing to improve some of the areas that are lacking. Nelson says that the accredited status also causes the industry to view them as more capable and companies more likely to support their programs, with time, tools and equipment.
“You’ll be surprised by what a group of like-minded peers can see when looking from the outside,” Funai says. “This will help you build a stronger program, better prepare your students, and make great professional connections. None of us can build the strongest program on our own. It is wise to ask for guidance to keep the right goals in front of you.” TLP
The accreditation process allows schools to evaluate their programs and make sure they are preparing students properly for a career in the landscape industry. Photos: (Clockwise) Joliet Junior College, Iowa State University, Iowa State University, BYU - Idaho
By Lindsey Getz
WITH TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
ever advancing, the landscape industry is making a strong effort to keep up with what’s new. Many businesses are looking at ways in which they can leverage technology to improve efficiencies, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately contribute in a positive way to their bottom line.
At Level Green Landscaping in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Michael Mayberry holds the chief technical officer position — a role that most landscape companies do not have. But Mayberry says that by putting someone in charge of technology, you can ensure your business is keeping up. After all, technology is constantly evolving. Even solutions which have already been implemented need someone to oversee them to ensure they’re working optimally. Software that has been implemented to collect data is a perfect example of this.
“A lot of what I do is focused on the data that we’re collecting through our software system, which allows us to make good decisions,” Mayberry says. “A lot of companies collect data, but they don’t always know what to do with the information that they collect. It needs to be digestible in a way that it helps you make better business decisions.”
With around 1,000 accounts, Mayberry says that Level Green is producing so much data on a continual basis — all of which is recorded in their software, Aspire. But he is ensuring that data is able to be processed and utilized by everyone from owners to sales managers to operations managers — all of whom need to make decisions that impact profitability.
There’s no question that the implementation of software solutions can help lawn and landscape businesses to make better-informed decisions. It can also play an invaluable role in routing and scheduling — two critical aspects of planning for this industry.
Krisjan Berzins, owner and CEO of Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape in Alexandria, Virginia, says that with the implementation of software, he has virtually automated most of the company’s routing and scheduling.
“Of course, there are growing pains and we’re learning,” he says of the new undertaking. “However, intelligent routing — which commercial carriers have already mastered — could be a game changer for our industry. It can take a platform like Google Maps or Waze and fully optimize the scheduling in a way that is as efficient as possible with real time considerations.”
GOING MOBILE
With necessity leading the way in many cases, the pandemic has been a catalyst for most landscape businesses to implement remote operations. Pam Dooley, owner of Plants Creative Landscapes in Decatur, Georgia, who is presenting at the NALP Technology and Innovation Forum scheduled during LANDSCAPES, says that the coronavirus pandemic has “everyone rethinking the way they do business,” and that’s ultimately a good thing for the industry.
“Our team has been utilizing Google’s G Suite tools and software, including the Hangouts feature, for the last five years so adding the video conferencing component to support our remote team was a seamless transition,” Dooley says.
Berzins also says that going mobile has been an ongoing effort — even before the coronavirus pandemic has made it more of a necessity.
“All of our crews in the fields have tablets in their trucks that they’re using,” he continues. “One of the streamlined features that works really well for us is the ability to take a photo on site of an issue that a customer is experiencing and directly link it to the client’s account. Whereas the old way was to send a text message and then have someone in the office write
an email to the account manager, it’s now all streamlined through our mobile software. Everything is integrated. Say a tree fell in the backyard. There’s a photo and description of it that goes directly into the client’s account.”
Berzins says this has had the added benefit of contributing toward his goal of being a customer-centered company. It’s all about getting the customer quick answers and supporting them in their wants and needs — and technology allows for that.
“Utilizing a customer portal is one big part of that,” Berzins adds. “We’re even working toward a point where a customer can pull up their account and see exactly when we’re coming or what’s been done. We’d like to make the user experience really unique in a way that sets our company apart.”
In Walpole, Massachusetts, NatureWorks has also gone mobile. Company president Matthew Gramer, chair of the NALP Education Advisory Council, who is also involved in planning the Technology and Innovation Forum, says that using tablets creates an overall better process for his business.
“Now that we are paperless and Level Green Landscaping has a chief technichal officer to ensure the company is staying on top of the changing technology and that it is being implemented optimally. Photo: Level Green Landscaping
(Top) Krisjan Berzins, owner and CEO of Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, has automated most routing. (Bottom)NatureWorks was an early adopter of robotic mowers. Photo: (Top) Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape (Bottom) NatureWorks
“We have a full-time robotic mowing technician who completely oversees this service. Mowing is one of the mainstays in the lawn and landscape industry and it makes sense that we continue to explore ways that we can leverage technology to assist in that service. The technology keeps evolving but it’s pretty amazing where we’re at now. I can completely manage a fleet of robotic mowers from my phone.” - Matthew Gramer, president of NatureWorks communicating about our accounts through tablets, everything is a lot more streamlined and connected,” he says. “We can include any landscape plans or graphics in the account files, and they can be viewed at any time. Everything is a lot smoother.” Gramer had also moved to more of a remote business operation even before the coronavirus began to spread. “The fact is, a brick and mortar environment can add unnecessary costs to the client,” Gramer says. “So, a few years ago we moved to laptops and a work structure that is highly flexible and virtual. Team members can work from home or they can work from Starbucks. The question everyone is asking right now is, ‘How do we grow a business and leverage technology without adding a ton of real estate cost?’”
Mayberry says that he has been pushing for more virtual communication prior to the pandemic — both internally and externally. He feels the time savings are incredibly beneficial.
“Even just utilizing online meetings and allowing people to work remotely saves so much wasted windshield time,” he says. “Attending meetings remotely is really efficient — and we’d been doing more and more of it even before coronavirus made it a need.”
Level Green has even parlayed this into their typical ‘lunch and learns’ where they would visit a prospective client and provide lunch and a presentation.
“We just had one with 27 clients from one company over an online meeting platform,” Mayberry says. “We got creative in terms of the lunch part. We bought everyone a GrubHub gift card so they could still be treated to a meal.”
MOBILE APP TECHNOLOGY
Shawn Ryan, president of Environmental Designs, Inc., in Brighton, Colorado, is using mobile app technology to streamline processes. He uses iCREWtek, the mobile app companion to Asset from Include Software for his crews to punch in and punch out, to dispatch jobs, and to track all of the work being done.
“The app allows us to track everything and even include pictures — we use that a lot for snow depths,” Ryan says. “It’s been incredibly helpful for documentation purposes. It’s gone a long way in streamlining operations for us. It keeps our billing clean with clients and our payroll clean with employees, too.”
Ryan also uses a GPS tracking app, Azuga, to manage his fleet. He uses that app to track vehicle maintenance, repairs, and inspections. He also uses it to track things like driving speed and idle time.
Ryan believes in the power of app technology so much that he’s currently in the process of talking to an app developer for creating some internal apps that could track additional data, such as fuel usage. He says it’s all part of an effort to streamline as much as possible and go fully paperless.
“There’s a lot of inefficiency with tracking data on paper — and technology can help make us much more efficient,” Ryan adds. “But I also think keeping up with technology helps keeps us up with the times — and that’s important when it comes to recruiting. It’s hard enough to recruit the younger generations to our industry right now. But the last thing they want is to come to an industry that is behind the times. They expect at least some level of technology in the way that a company runs.”
TEAM ENGAGEMENT AND TRAINING
Dooley says that technology also has the power to improve team engagement and culture — both of which are passions of hers. She says that through cloud-based engagement, check-ins with her team have been a valuable tool.
“We do weekly check-ins where we ask employees to rate how things are going on a one- to five-scale. Everyone knows that if an employee checks in below a three, it needs to come right to me. In that way, technology allows us to keep a finger on the pulse of how people are feeling, and the struggles they’re facing at work and sometimes home. The check-ins allow us the op-
portunity to proactively help so people don’t leave.”
But Dooley says that technology can also play a key role in recruiting, onboarding, and training.
“When you utilize technology and you provide your managers with the same tools across the board, you’re really streamlining the process and making sure that everyone is on the same page,” she explains. “This is a great way to grow and develop a team.”
Mayberry agrees and says they’ve been utilizing technology for safety and training more and more.
“For safety training, recorded video makes a lot of sense,” Mayberry says. “That video can be stopped and repeated if they didn’t quite grasp a concept. A video can even be used as a refresher later on, if the employee forgets something.”
Gramer says he is currently using digital onboarding through an employee portal.
“The current environment with COVID-19 has made this a necessity,” he says. “Whereas we used to send forms via mail or have them bring them in, everything now lives in a portal. They sign their employee letter through the portal too, and it remains centralized in their employee folder on the portal. It’s just a simple way of how technology can improve the employee experience.”
GOING ROBOTIC
Another huge topic in evolving technology is robotics. NatureWorks’ Gramer was an early adopter of this technology and has incorporated automowing into the company’s portfolio of services. According to Gramer, almost 15 percent of the company’s properties now have at least some sort of autonomous mowing.
“We have a full-time robotic mowing technician who completely oversees this service,” Gramer says. “Mowing is one of the mainstays in the lawn and landscape industry and it makes sense that we continue to explore ways that we can leverage technology to assist in that service. The technology keeps evolving but it’s pretty amazing where we’re at now. I can completely manage a fleet of robotic mowers from my phone.”
Gramer says that he’s had a strong retention rate for his robotic mowing customers. For clients who like the idea of having the “latest and greatest,” Gramer says the “cool factor” of robotic mowers is an easy sell. Interested In “Clients like that their grass is always mowed, that it’s quiet, and that they have some really cool technology being More Technology put to use on their property,” Gramer adds. “It’s been received really well.” The robotic mowers stay put at their Trends? assigned properties throughout the season. They mow daily which helps ATTEND THE NALP INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY keep grass at the ideal height. The Forum at LANDSCAPES on Oct. 20. This full-day, mowers run on rechargeable battery interactive workshop was designed in response power, which clients also appreciate. to members’ requests for more education on how
Mayberry says that closely watching technology and innovation are impacting our industry. robotic technology has been part of The workshop will also feature sessions with four focus his role. areas: People, Productivity, Equipment, and Sustainability.
“I see robotics as the future of our The NALP Innovation & Technology Forum is also being industry,” Mayberry says. “Robots don’t offered virtually for those who aren’t able to join us in care what the weather is or how long Louisville. Please visit the LANDSCAPES website for full they have to work. And if you look program details. at the current situation, they don’t get infected by something like the coronavirus, so even with a pandemic, in other industries command a high there is no delay in service. I think this salary and might not be attracted to was the way of the future anyways, but a landscape company — so find that the current situation might be pushing person in your business now and build it even harder and faster. Robotics them up.” makes sense and the technology is Whenever considering new technoloreally improving. With the addition of gy, Dooley says that you should always artificial intelligence (AI) into some of consider the financial investment and these robots, they are going to be able weigh it against the value that the to detect problematic turf or maybe technology will bring. even calculate proposals. There are “We just did this in rolling out some exciting things on the horizon.” new business management softIMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGY we made that decision because we No matter what stage you’re at — or identified our weaknesses and found how you’re using technology — there’s the ways in which the technology could likely always room for more. If you’re strengthen those weaknesses for the a smaller business, you might not future. It’s weighting investment versus be able to afford a position that is value. As you look to make any decisolely dedicated to technology — like sion regarding technology spend some Mayberry’s — but he says that a good time thinking about how it might move starting point is to identify someone in you forward.” TLP your company who is already techsavvy.
“Chances are, there’s already JULY IS SMART IRRIGATION MONTH someone working for you that tinkers around with apps or Brush up on your irrigation knowledge likes working with with this comprehensive training guide. mobile devices,” The Landscape Training Manual for Mayberry says. “Try Irrigation Technicians serves as a reference to fan that fire from manual, employee training guide, or the the inside. If you try recommended study material for the to find an IT person Landscape Industry Certified Technician from outside of this exam. Plus, it includes more than 20 online industry, it’s might training videos. be out of reach. The fact is a lot of 6ISIT LANDSCAPEPROFESSIONALSORGSTORE FOR MORE INFORMATION people with my title ware,” she says. “It was expensive, but
The Viability of Remote Work
By Jill Odom
WITH SAFETY PROTOCOLS CALLING FOR INDIVIDUALS TO SOCIALLY
distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it has forced many landscape and lawn care companies to consider a work setup they had not explored much before: working remotely. While remote work isn’t possible for every position, administrative and office workers have certainly been able to work from home during the pandemic. The question is how many businesses plan to keep full-time or partial remote work as an option moving forward.
OFFICE SPACE AND OVERHEAD
One of the major considerations companies are weighing right now is if they should maintain their current office space or reduce it by allowing more employees to work remotely full time.
For High Prairie Landscape Group, based in Kansas City, Kansas, founder and CEO Robyn Schmitz says 80 percent of their workforce will work remotely or semi-remotely when they return to the office. The company offered remote work in an informal manner prior to COVID-19, but now they have polished their remote work policy and paradigm. “We learned that people are more productive when they’re in their environment,” Schmitz says. “We also learned that we assumed it would hurt communication between production and sales, but it didn’t. We have adapted to a completely new strategy in our five-year plan in regards to what we really need out of future facilities.” Schmitz says they are planning to reduce their office space based on what they’ve learned from having a hybrid remote workforce. “Our office design will have much more flexible space where offices don’t just belong to one person but would be available for anyone who comes in that day and needs the privacy of an office,” Schmitz says. Scott Fullerton, owner of Fullerton Grounds Maintenance based in
Kenvil, New Jersey, says they are building a new headquarters right now that is five times the size of their current office.
“I think I’m sorry I am,” Fullerton says. “It’s going to be nice; it’s going to be beautiful. It’ll be a place people want to go. But it’s a lot of expense when you see you really don’t need it. You really don’t. You can easily survive without an office space.”
He says he can easily see landscape companies downsizing to where they just have a shared office space and a conference room with other businesses.
Meanwhile on the other hand, Kujawa Enterprises Inc. (KEI) based in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, says once they feel good and right about coming back to the office, they will all come back and expect it to stay that way.
“We’ve always been rather flexible with our team when it comes to accommodating a work-from-home day here and there to help out a scheduling conflict or a sick child or similar situation,” says Chris Kujawa, president of KEI. “But as a rule, we really like to have our team here and interacting on a personal level as much as possible. It’s really a culture thing as much as anything.”
LandCare, headquartered in Fredrick, Maryland, says that for most of their team members, remote work isn’t really an option as they are most effective when they are onsite or with their customers. The company says they will continue to allow their employees to work remotely until schools and day cares resume operations to accommodate parents who need to be present for their children.
“For our office staff, we often allow remote working to accommodate special circumstances, and we have a handful of roles that work remotely full time,” says Mike Bogan, CEO of LandCare. “In a post-pandemic environment, we will continue with that policy.”
H. Jaclyn Ishimaru-Gachina, president and CEO of Gachina Landscape Management, based in Menlo Park, California, says they are working through the specifics of a rotating schedule for certain departments to accommodate distancing guidelines.
“We still have many questions to be answered,” she says. “It’s much better to have a well-thought out plan in one direction than one with too much backtracking and continual change. There has been so much change already.”
STAFF RESPONSE TO BEING REMOTE
Bogan says it’s hard to compare working remotely right now to working remotely during “normal” times.
“Many are sharing space, time and Wi-Fi with children and other family members,” Bogan says. “Some are trying to support students in remote learning, or caring for children throughout the day, which takes heroic effort to do while still trying to complete a full day’s work. If there’s joy in having the opportunity to work from home, for many it’s lost in the challenge and stress created from health and financial concerns for those around them and all the inconveniences of the stay-at-home directives.”
Ishimaru-Gachina agrees that their employees with school-aged children have faced the most challenges having to accommodating for work, school and family time. She says the office staff does like the later hours and not having to commute.
Kujawa says that their employees are dealing with working remotely, but no one truly enjoys it. They view the remote work as temporary.
“The team culture here at KEI is very important to everyone,” Kujawa says. “A person can surely ‘perform their tasks’ while remote. ‘Virtual’ is all well and good in a pinch, but it’s not ‘actual’ or ‘real.’ You risk losing a sense of spontaneity, collaboration, and the personal satisfaction of actual tangible teamwork. There’s a reason they put the word ‘virtual’ in front of these things… because they’re demonstrably different from ‘actual!’”
Schmitz says their team enjoys the convenience and flexibility of remote work but misses the opportunity to connect with clients and co-workers in person.
“I believe the idea of offering a partial remote schedule is intriguing and that we’ll see a lot of businesses adopt this idea moving forward,” Schmitz says. “We’ve learned that many people get more done with less distractions working at home. By combining the increased productivity of remote work with the culture boosting benefits of coming together, I believe many organizations will benefit.”
Fullerton says his staff enjoys the flexibility and freedom that comes from working at home as well. He expects them to want to do a mixture of in-office and remote work in the future.
“I have some employees who travel quite far to get here,” Fullerton says. “They have company vehicles so there’s actually a cost savings to them working at home.”
Peter Novak, president of Serpico Landscaping, based in Hayward, California, says his staff was happy to work remotely starting out but as the weeks have passed some of the staff have told him they are ready to come back to the office for a couple days a week.
PROS AND CONS OF WORKING REMOTE
When deciding if remote work is a good fit for your company there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to consider first.
Fullerton says there are huge benefits with working remotely from reducing travel and office supply costs to improving efficiency by being able to pull together virtual meetings much faster and eliminating office chitchat. He notes that going remote has allowed them to get everyone up to speed on technology.
“This was and still is the perfect opportunity to force yourself to adopt more technology,” Fullerton says. “Could you get around it? To some degree, but I wouldn’t. I would invest the time. It’s given us a great opportunity to learn the technology.”
Ishimaru-Gachina also sees the reduced commute time as a major pro as it decreases wear and tear on the trucks and there are less accidents. She says working remote allows for new efficiencies as well.
“I find the time for self-improvement,” Ishimaru-Gachina says. “I am listening to more webinars, reading books and industry magazines. I am making more time to call clients and colleagues.”
Offering remote work can also serve as a recruiting tool for more employees who want or need flexibility.
“I think having that as option would be another value add to the potential employment offer here,” Novak says.
“Some of the long-term benefits we see from offering remote work is the capability to use it in our recruiting practices, a heavier focus on our lead-measure performance metrics, and a new understand of how not important a big, fancy office is to an organization’s success,” Schmitz says. “We’ve toured landscape companies all over the country. Many of them have invested millions of dollars into large corporate offices. We believe that we will not follow that trend the same in order to keep our business even healthier. Why increase the overhead when it’s not necessary.”
As for the main drawback of remote work, companies are faced with the additional challenge of maintaining their company culture and re-enforcing it. Communication must also be very thorough to prevent misunderstandings.
Fullerton says lack of camaraderie
Maintaining Company Culture
Preserving a company culture DoorDash deliveries, and our private personal lives and to support each when the staff is scattered and Facebook team page is filled with other.” remote can be a challenge, but it’s shout-outs celebrating teammates Ishimaru-Gachina says not impossible. Most companies living the culture,” Schmitz says. communication has become more agree it just takes more effort “At LandCare, we highly value important than ever, as well as to retain that connection with and focus a lot on teamwork, colbeing empathetic and listening. employees. laboration and our culture - which “Whether it’s an idea to be more
Fullerton says maintaining a perincludes having fun together,” efficient or a happy moment with sonal touch is harder with remote Bogan says. “That’s a challenge their family, we need to listen,” work, but he says it’s more due when we are separated. Like most Ishimaru-Gachina says. “And (have) to the pandemic as they currently other companies, we’ve embraced a sense of humor. I enjoy a laugh don’t have the freedom to connect video conferences and use them and share when I can.” with one another even outside of for business and social interaction She adds an important part of work for the time being. to stay connected. Teams meet their company culture is support
Schmitz says they have strong online to hold weekly meetings and ing, training and developing their company culture but have had to discuss operations, but they are employees so they’ve been working be much more intentional about also meeting for training, learning, to get back to those basics of it since COVID-19. “We’re doing and sometimes just to have a cup training and developing in their new more remote happy hours, surprise of coffee to stay up to speed on normal.
High Prairie Landscape Group focuses on their team meeting key performance metrics rather than where they’re working from. Photo: High Prairie Landscape Group
and the inability to simply walk something over to a co-worker’s desk can make things a bit harder when staff is working remotely.
Kujawa argues that remote work stifles company culture, collaboration, spontaneity, creativity and relationship development.
“People are still social animals,” Kujawa says. “Connectivity happens on many different levels and in a variety of ways that can be subtle, but nonetheless, hardwired into our psyche. When our work environment is prefixed by words like ‘remote’ and ‘virtual,’ I believe we start to become remote and virtual as well. We lose something important and nourishing to our fundamental self. The lines that separate the work/life balance ratio that everyone is always looking for become blurred. I think some boundaries are good. It keeps people grounded and focused on the task at hand. Put me firmly in the old school camp of relationship building, people mentoring, and culture development being a faceto-face adventure!”
Ishimaru-Gachina says the lack of face-to-face interactions can result in a sense of isolation.
“It’s not the same sense of community when there are little physical meetings,” she says. “Company events such as branch BBQs, company picnics and maybe even the Christmas party have been cancelled. These are events that are historical and culturally ingrained and enjoyed by all…Zoom et al is good, but still not the same.”
Accountability can be another issue if proper performance metrics are not set prior to letting an employee work remotely.
MEASURING REMOTE PERFORMANCE If you are considering allowing remote
My mantra is an ounce of prevention will save a whole tree.
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work, it is best to have measurables in place as while some individuals thrive working from home, others do not.
Fullerton says which employees would be allowed to continue to work remotely would depend on their performance over the last month. He says if payables are getting behind that might be an indicator of an employee being inefficient at home.
Novak’s company uses Microsoft Dynamics, which combines their work order management system and CRM. He says they have built key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and track the productivity of various positions.
“At any given moment any of our branch managers could pull up the KPI dashboard in our system for those admin positions and be able to tell how many work orders have been created, how many work orders have been completed and closed, where’s billing at for the day, how many project RFPs have we gotten that day, how many have been processed by the admin staff person,” Novak says. “We can look at historical numbers over the last year, month or week to see trends in volume and compare the volumes.”
Schmitz says if role responsibilities don’t require physical presence, they allow remote work as long as key performance metrics are on track and daily updates are provided at the end of the day.
“We like for our team to focus on what ‘winning’ looks like versus their physical location, which is irrelevant for organizational success,” Schmitz says. Schmitz says every position in their organization should have clear set goals and performance metrics that focus on lead measures.
“For example, for our design/sales professionals, we have a target number of consultations and presentations a week,” Schmitz says. “They also have a goal closing ratio and sales goal. We track these and report weekly. As long as someone is on track, they are allowed the freedom to have control of their schedule. If someone is off track, we’ll have them in office where we can mentor and coach to build them up.”
Despite having additional stressors due to the pandemic, Bogan say their remote workers have remained highly productive and their commitments to customers and teammates are met effectively. TLP
Responding to a Crisis: Industry Manufacturers Provide Major Support During COVID-19
By Jill Odom
MANY INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES HAVE STEPPED UP TO HELP IN
various ways during the COVID-19 pandemic, including NALP supplier members. Businesses such as John Deere, Caterpillar, Nufarm, ECHO and Toro have all found different methods to give back to the community.
METHODS OF GIVING BACK
Nufarm has been producing hand sanitizer at several of their plants across the world and has been donating batches to local organizations such as fire stations. The company is also providing a Virtual Learning Series for landscapers on their website.
“Our goal with the Virtual Learning Series is to help landscapers and other industry professionals stay up to speed on current solutions so they can have a plan in place, whether they’re currently working or not,” says Katie Beth Groover, marketing communication manager for Nufarm. “We’ve kept the modules around 15 minutes so they’re easy to digest. We have about a dozen learning options spanning topics such as naturalized areas, PGR performance and when to choose a premium herbicide, which have been really popular.”
Nufarm plans to keep the series ongoing even after the pandemic. Groover says they have modules on grubs, chinch bugs and glyphosate alternatives coming soon.
“We’re always looking for ways to help the industry grow and improve, so e-learning was an easy choice for us,” Groover says. “We know a lot of our customers and partners have been impacted, so we’ll do anything we can do to help them in our downtime.”
ECHO says when it heard about the lack of PPE in neighboring hospitals it donated N95 masks.
“Donating the N95 masks seemed like a natural fit, we have product available as we just recently launched N95 masks as a new safety accessory,” says Wayne Thomsen, VP of marketing and product management for ECHO.
Both Toro and John Deere have started manufacturing protective face shields for healthcare providers.
“We have also recently formed a partnership with Plowz & Mowz, a company that offers on-demand outdoor home services through their website and app on expanding their HERO campaign,” says Greg Janey, CME, vice president, Toro residential & landscape business. “This campaign is centered around helping fund free lawn mows for healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. It’s just our way of saying thank you to a group of people who are giving so much to minimize the impact of the pandemic.”
Deere has also created a 3D printed clip that can be attached to a standard protective ballcap and used to hold a protective face shield in place. They’ve also created a 3D printed door opener that allows the user to “grasp” a door handle with an angled hook without touching the handle. Design files for both items have been made available through the John Deere COVID-19 Innovations Center.
“John Deere factory managers and other leaders have been in regular communication with their local healthcare providers and first responders,” says a John Deere spokesperson. “During these conversations, the need for protective face shields was identified. Because these individuals are neighbors, friends, and family members, these conversations led to quick and positive action!”
John Deere says it wasn’t a challenge transitioning to manufacturing the face shields. Currently, about 50 employees are assembling the face shields at the John Deere Seeding factory in Moline, Illinois. The factory normally manufactures planting equipment and precision ag solutions for a global customer base.
“John Deere teams have done an From top to bottom: Nufarm has been producing hand sanitizer and giving it to local organizations like fire departments. Meanwhile John Deere employees produce face shields for health care workers. Photos: Nufarm, Toro and John Deere
Toro has been manufacturing face shields during the pandemic as well. Photos: Toro and Nufarm
incredible job acquiring material to support the production of face shields, and our employees have been highly engaged in this process by providing their manufacturing expertise, innovation, and creativity to make the face shields,” the John Deere spokesperson says. “It has been an all-hands-on-deck approach, and it has been amazing to see our employees step up and take quick action to make this happen.” At the time of publication, John Deere says it has produced and delivered more than 314,000 face shields with plans to produce a total of 400,000. As for Caterpillar, it has created COVID-19 Resource Center to help users stay running and connected with online tools and training.
MONETARY SUPPORT
Caterpillar’s philanthropic arm, the Caterpillar Foundation, has committed $8.5 million to support global COVID-19 relief efforts. This commitment included a limited time 2:1 Foundation match on eligible U.S. employee and retiree donations. The response was overwhelming and, as a result, the Foundation increased its initial matching funds cap from $1 million to $2.5 million, bringing the Foundation’s total donation to $10 million.
“The Caterpillar Foundation is focused on building more sustainable and resilient communities, helping them emerge
“Supporting customers and communities is at the core of The Toro Company. It’s a part of our culture, so choosing a combination of employee matching and direct contributions was a natural way to give back and to support those in need during these unprecedented times.” - Greg Janey, CME, vice president, Toro residential & landscape business stronger together during this unprecedented time,” says Asha Varghese, Caterpillar Foundation president. “Our employees and retirees give so generously, and we are proud to amplify their gifts and support our many nonprofit partners working tirelessly to keep our communities safe and prosperous.”
The investment is distributed among a number of organizations including: United Nations Foundation / World Health Organization Solidarity Response Fund; King Baudouin Foundation Fund for Italy; Global Foodbanking Network Global Fund; Feeding America Response Fund; Boys & Girls Clubs of America; and Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund.
John Deere employees have also donated over $700,000 dollars to various food banks and support agencies across the country with the help of a matching donation by the John Deere Foundation.
The Toro Company has donated $500,000 to global coronavirus relief efforts as well, and its board of directors will forgo the cash portion of their compensation. Instead this pay will be donated to the Melrose/Hoffman Employee Critical Need Fund to benefit employees of The Toro Company. This fund, started in 2005, is specifically designated to assist employees and their families that are experiencing economic challenges.
Toro’s $500,000 will be distributed among organization such as American Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross, Feeding America, World Food Program, United Way Worldwide, and United Way organizations in communities where employees of The Toro Company live and work.
Toro says it will also match employee contributions to a nonprofit of their choice if they choose to personally give to designated COVID-19 relief organizations.
ECHO also donated to a regional food bank to support local families and has continued its partnership with Minor League Baseball (MiLB) to help collectively raise funds for Feeding America.
WHY IT MATTERS
When asked why they decided to help during the pandemic, the supplier members expressed a desire to come together and support the communities that have been there for them.
“This is an unusual time for all of us,” Groover says. “Businesses and individuals have been affected in a myriad of ways, and we all need to know that we’re supporting each other. It’s important that we all help however we can to keep spirits up and life moving along.”
“During a time where many people are suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been blessed with a trend of some strong sales and it only seemed natural to continue the trend by helping our local front liners and families,” says Thomsen. “ECHO has been a pillar of the community for almost 50 years and we’re always working with a charitable organization on a variety of ways to give back to our local community.”
Deere says it is personal for them to aid the hospitals and healthcare agencies in the communities where their employees work.
“Also, since some of our factories are located in smaller towns, they may not be getting the required PPE that larger towns may get, and so we are helping them with this critical need,” the John Deere spokesperson says. “It also became clear that we needed to support the medical facilities for military veterans. To date, we have orders for 123,200 face shields from 49 VA medical facilities in 35 states.”
“It is imperative that we come together during this time to support those most vulnerable in our communities,” Janey says. “In addition, we see it as our responsibility as a leading manufacturer across several different industries to contribute to the recovery of the global community. The Toro Company has been in business for over a century, and we are so grateful for the success we’ve achieved throughout our history. It wouldn’t be possible without our talented team members across the globe, our channel and business partners, and most importantly, our valued customers.”
All the supplier members say the response from employees, the industry and the general public has been positive.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned through the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that these tough times can bring out the very best in people, and the folks I have the opportunity to work alongside every day have proven that again and again since this all began,” Janey says. TLP
