Engaging With Employees

Written by Jennifer Polanz, Data Compiled by Industry Insights

I will be 100% honest. When we were brainstorming the open-ended essay question and settled on asking, “What are your strategies for scheduling employees to keep retention rates high and provide work-life balance?” I thought we might get some sarcastic answers. We have in the past, and for a generation of owners that worked long hours and didn’t really get a chance to have a work-life balance, I wondered if the question might be off-putting­—frustrating, even. 

Happily, I was wrong. We received truly thoughtful answers that show owners and managers are putting a lot of effort into finding the balance that works for both the business and the employees. I’ll get to some of their answers next, but first I wanted to share one response that really does sum up the 100 days of spring sales (let’s no longer call it “hell”): “Working at a garden center can feel a lot like a journey into space. For a long time, things are calm, almost to the point of being a little boring. But once spring arrives, it’s like we’ve entered the capsule and there’s no turning back. The season carries us forward and we’re completely immersed until our ‘ship’ returns to Earth when spring ends.”

So how can you help your workers find a little time for “shore leave” off the ship to keep them fresh for those crazy spring days? Here are some of the responses:

“Don’t micro manage, treat with respect and ask opinions; engage employees completely so they care and want to contribute. Full engagement is what we are after and largely that’s what we get.”

“During the peak season, we provide lunch on the busiest days. We have weekly team meetings for all to be involved and monthly celebrations with breakfast for birthdays and anniversaries, a gift for birthday and anniversary (larger items for 5th and 10th anniversary), bonuses for leads and being mentioned in a Google review favorably.”

“Using a scheduling app (Swipeclock Scheduling) that tells us if we have enough people to cover the work and allows people to take shifts.”
“Regularly acknowledge  contributions publicly and privately, offer rewards, bonuses, perks for achievements. Provide training, mentoring and clear promotion paths. Flexible schedules and wellness initiatives. Encourage vacation and downtime to prevent burnout.”

“Adhere to their schedules, respecting the part-time/seasonal staff that aren’t able to work everyday. For full-time staff, we make sure they know once they are off the clock or using PTO, they are not responsible for answering their team members’ questions.”

“We try to keep a set schedule week to week that stays the same, provide two days off in a row, post the schedule for the next month so it’s easier to plan ahead, and are very flexible with time off requests or hour changes.”

“Employees are scheduled five days a week and have at least two days off a week. PTO that encompasses sick, vacation leave. It is their time and they can use how they like.”

“Listening.”