How I Keep My Seasonal Staff Loyal

By Eileen Michaels, A Yard & A Half, Waltham, Mass.
I run a landscaping company outside of Boston. Because the work is seasonal, I don't have work for my staff during the winter, which meant for a long time I couldn't find skilled workers who'd stick with me. Then I happened upon a gold mine of expert El Salvadorian horticulturists, construction and maintenance people who were enthusiastic and prepared to make long-term commitments to my company.

I quickly learned that their culture has everything to do with why they are such incredible landscapers. But it is also completely different from my own. To keep them coming back year after year, I have built a flexible, family-centric work environment that is as much El Salvadorian as it is American.

Searching for a team
When I launched the company in 1988, I hired family and friends. That didn't last because none were interested in doing the work on a long-term basis. I then turned to high school and college students looking for summer jobs. But the time required to continually hire and train them prevented us from taking on new projects.

Finally, in 1995, I began recruiting through a temp agency. They sent me a worker named Geovani who was from El Salvador, where, I soon learned, landscaping is seen as a more prestigious job than it is here. His enthusiasm and expertise immediately impressed me. I bought out his contract with the temp agency and told him that I needed more workers like him.

"I know people," he said.

Over the next several months, he recruited family and friends, several of whom are from his village in El Salvador. They now form the core of my 20-person workforce. Some of them have permanent authorization to work, and others are permanent residents. We're in the process of sponsoring two employees for permanent work visas, and I also sponsored an employee who's a key member of our management team for his green card application.

I find myself constantly astounded by their capacity to leave their homes and navigate a foreign country and language. Many of them tell me that the conditions in El Salvador had deteriorated to such a point that they had to leave. Still, I wonder if I would be able to muster the same fortitude were I in their position. Indeed, my challenge as an employer has been bridging my world with theirs.

Reaching across cultures
From the beginning, I have had to search out solutions to several problems that grew out of our cultural differences. For instance, it was tough to convince the construction workers to wear safety gear. Maybe it was the Latin American machismo, but they didn't think they needed it. I had to lean on them for ages. Finally, I said, "People won't see you as professional unless you're wearing safety gear." They put on their hardhats.

Their culture is also open about subjects -- like salary -- that most Americans don't publicly discuss. Every payday, for instance, they'll pass their checks around as a kind of status symbol, especially if they've earned more than usual. Sometimes, that means I have to field questions -- and be prepared to be open myself -- about why one worker's check is bigger than another's.

Language, though, has been by far the biggest hurdle for me in managing my El Salvadorian staff. I speak little Spanish, so I'm dependent on their bilingual talents.

I make sure all of our project managers are fluent in English and Spanish. But I also want to ensure that talented Spanish speakers can move up in the company. To that end, I provide free English training courses in the winter when work is slow.

Stressing family and flexibility
Our workplace is another area that looks different from traditional American workplaces, thanks to the El Salvadorians. For them, life revolves around the children and home. So I'm not too rigid about schedules. When an employee needs to leave a job to pick up his kids from school, then it's okay with me for him to make up the time later in the evening. I just ask that my employees give me warning when they need time away.

Recently, I've adopted a policy that lets my employees occasionally bring their children to the job. This worked well when one employee gave birth to a baby boy. She brought him to our office three days a week, which helped her keep to a breastfeeding schedule, and because he mainly slept, she was still able to take care of her designing and planting responsibilities.

Looking back, I don't think of the adjustments I've made as compromises. Rather, my workforce has helped me become more flexible and open in the way I run my company. My reward is a staff that I can count on like family.

Eileen Michaels worked in management for a large corporation before deciding to turn her love of gardening into an entrepreneurial venture.
-- As told to Kathryn Hawkins

Resources:

• Learn about another workplace that succeeded through family-friendly policies.
• Find out why immigrants are good for the U.S. economy.