At Kubota we constantly hear that hiring and retaining quality landscape talent is one of biggest challenges facing employers in the industry. The seasonal nature of the business is one of the biggest factors for loosing talent between seasons, and it also requires professionals who are comfortable working in outdoor environments, on equipment, and often for long hours.
Hiring is not a simple process and retaining those employees can be even harder. There are a million and one ways to go about keeping employees happy, but at the end of the day there’s one thing more employers can be doing to retain talent: Give your employees what they need.
Understand Their Needs: The employees who make up a crew are the lifeblood of your business. It’s important to understand their needs. This can be in the form of pay, benefits, time off, or bonuses, but there’s another factor in the equation that is often overlooked, and that is how comfortable they are during their workday.
The Right Equipment for The Job: There are ways of decreasing fatigue that will ultimately lead to your employees feeling more energized to return to work each day. Take a look at a Kubota mower (or any piece of Kubota equipment for that matter) and you’ll notice two things: Kubotas are built for comfort, and they’re built for ease of use. We engineer based on direct feedback from people who use our machines in real-world job applications. At the end of the day, professionals want a machine that is simple to operate, comfortable (even fun) to ride on, and gets the job done right.
Creature comfort features like an adjustable suspension seat, wide operating station, cup holders, ergonomic controls, quality safety features, and thoughtfully engineered frames all contribute to the comfort of your equipment and ultimately to the satisfaction of your crew.
Create Brand Ambassadors: In addition, when your company is running good-looking, quality equipment it reflects well on your brand as a professional business. Ever heard the phrase, “look good, feel good”? When a fleet is comprised of high-quality machines like Kubota’s commercial line of mowers, it can give your entire crew a more professional appearance. Employees are your brand ambassadors. They are the ones who interact with clients and others who may live in the neighborhoods your clients live in. A clean, professional look for your equipment will have your crew feeling more like the empowered brand ambassadors they are.
Outfitting an entire fleet with high quality equipment is certainly an investment. But with services like Kubota’s Commercial Fleet Program, employers can save money the more they purchase.