Pennsylvania Landscaping Company Retains 75% Of Staff Between Seasons Through On-Demand Video Training

The current skilled labor shortage is a non-issue if a landscaping company retains 75% of its crew members between seasons. This $5.2 million dollar Pennsylvania-based landscaping company uses Greenius on-demand video training software to develop their crews with a strong training foundation of safety and trust. Here’s how this landscaping company reduced hiring stresses, identified strong new hires in two weeks, and eliminated preventable equipment accidents through Greenius.

Pennsylvania Landscaping and Snow and Ice Management Business

Years in Business: 7 Years

Years using Greenius: 2 Years

Number of Employees: 21

Yearly Revenue: $5.2M

Services: Maintenance, Landscape Design, Lawn Care, Landscaping Cleanup, Snow and Ice Removal

How does your landscape company attract new hires for the season?

“When we go to hire new people, we say ‘Hey, listen, training is big for us and we have an actual program (Greenius) that we go through.’ It’s a big selling point for us showing that we care for the safety and well being of our crews.

Landscaping is a seasonal industry with high turnover. Have you had any issues retaining crew members?

“Retention actually has been our highest even though the market doesn’t say it across the industry. We had our best retention year across 7 years, and we retained about 75% of our guys coming into this season, which is awesome because, you know, it helps a lot with having that continuity in the company. We attribute some of that culture to our training and safety, and Greenius helps it become more structured.”

Has your company used video training for current crew members? If they have, are they buying into the process?

“Yeah, when we brought in Greenius, we kicked off training in the beginning of our landscape season last year, and we brought on Greenius as the training thing. So for the guys who have been here, it was just, part of, hey, this is what we’re gonna do, and this is what we’re gonna get completed. It wasn’t, hey, only you guys are gonna get the training. We all did it, everybody went through it, and you know, we use it to recertify every year again just as a simple reminder for everyone to make sure that we keep up on the training. 

We recertify the guys every single year, which has been awesome. The good part of it is making sure that they’re constantly staying on top of safety and training. Greenius is nice because it’s also for those guys who have been here, it is just a recap course to get them back current and refreshed.”

Would you say that the culture in your business has changed because of the training?

“The main feedback that we have from our employees is that they’re happy that we have training that shows that we care for their safety, and the safety of the people around them. They don’t view the training as a burden, it’s more of an actual benefit for them because they know everybody’s getting a very standardized training across the board and everybody’s completing those courses.

We use Greenius as a culture point for our company. You know, people quickly get weeded out of the company here if they’re not getting their training done in a certain amount of time. It shows because when somebody’s being constantly reminded that their Greenius training isn’t done, we do it in front of the group. Those are the guys that nobody wants to work with because obviously they don’t think safety is important.”

Has Greenius training reduced accidents, rework, and costs of equipment damage across the organization?

“Yes, reducing accidents and stuff like that has helped on maintenance costs and stuff, but also, our workers comp audit went really well this year. So I would definitely say that we have helped our landscaping budget bottom line by reducing costs associated with accidents and workers comp.

But as far as equipment damage, everything has gotten better. I mean, obviously, we have accidents. Accidents are gonna happen no matter what, but we’ve definitely reduced a lot of our, I guess, preventable accidents, preventable damage, just by making it a forefront thought in the guys heads to constantly be thinking about safety. Reviewing equipment safety on Greenius is often a huge help.”

Is your landscaping company more profitable after a couple seasons of Greenius training?

“It’s definitely helped with, and I keep mentioning employee retention, but it’s huge. When you lose somebody that you invested time into, and it costs something like 16-20% of that person’s salary to refine, retrain, and get them back in the field. You’re inefficient on that crew that you’re down through that person. So every single time that we can retain, we look at it as money in the bank, and to us, the training portion of it is not a cost, it’s an investment into the company, because the more that we do the training, the better it is for our guys.”

Schedule a 1-on-1 Demo with one of our Greenius Experts to learn how your business can become more profitable with on-demand training videos.

Greenius Case Studies

How An Ontario Landscaping Company Generates $1-Million Yearly Through On-Demand Training Videos

How OGS Landscape Sped Up Training And Boosted Work Productivity Through Greenius