A new hiring strategy works better for selection and retention

Ben Fisk founded Fisk Lawnscapes, Colorado Springs, in 2002 while still in high school, with a $50 lawn mower purchased from Goodwill. He mowed lawns during that summer. He enjoyed helping customers’ yards look better and was motivated to learn more.

Early years
Fisk, a confessed “big reader” and a “learn-by-doing” person, started to branch out in his landscape offerings as he learned more. He partnered with a landscape architect throughout the early years and learned a lot about design. Additionally, he took classes to learn more about plants, including native plants, making use of many local educational resources.

During the first few years of the company, Fisk enrolled at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and majored in business. His commitment to learning and growing were reflected in the hours he put in. Fisk continued to work on crews in the field during the day, while taking classes from about 4-10 p.m. that were followed by homework. At the time his landscape business consisted of one landscape crew and one maintenance crew.

Now, having grown the company to nine crews in 17 years, Fisk has insights to share.

Hire the right people

Easier said than done, as Fisk knows firsthand. “I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned,” he says. “When it’s not a good fit, sometimes the kindest thing to do is let people go.”

He admits to struggling to find a way to hire “the right” people. For Fisk, the right people mean having the desired skills as well as a fit with the culture. The company has had a mission statement, a set of core values and a code of conduct from the beginning. Each points to ethics and standards Fisk wants his employees to abide by, both to create teams with integrity as well as provide excellent customer service.

In 2017, with high turnover of employees at the tech level, the cost to the company to rehire and rebuild teams, and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, reached a critical level for Fisk. He needed a better way to find and retain the right people.

He borrowed ideas from the 2016 book, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues. The essential virtues identified in the book for strong cohesive teams are people who are humble, hungry and smart.

Forget about job interviews

The premise of the three essential virtues resonated with Fisk. How does an employer assess these qualities—humble, hungry and smart—before hiring? That was Fisk’s challenge.

For example, he explains that ‘smart’ isn’t just about certain skills or knowledge, “it’s also about EI—emotional intelligence. I want employees to have a good experience working with each other and for the company, and to feel like they belong.”

In spring 2018, Fisk decided to eliminate the interview process and rolled out “hiring days.” For a hiring day, about 50-60 applicants are screened and 12-15 are invited to participate.

“It could be called a ‘working interview,’” says Fisk. “We give them a project to work on together, and assess their drive to work a task as well how they work with others and solve problems.” The work project—at our business location—includes physical work to assess ‘hunger,’ such as using a pick or shovel to dig up yuccas within a set amount of time, as well as team exercises.

He emphasizes that it’s a big deal for his company to do things right for the customer

and to be humble and take responsibility when a mistake is made. By observing candidates during the working interviews, Fisk feels he and 4-5 evaluators, who are supervisors or foreman, get a good sense of who is a good fit for the company.

Confirming commitment with commitment
It’s one thing to be hired and another to commit to longevity. Before being hired, Fisk says he asks candidates at least three times during the working interview if they are willing to commit through Oct. 31. He tells them he commits to paying them a season-end cash bonus if they stay as promised. “Commitment is a two-way street.” The company also recognizes people and teams throughout the season in other ways such as with gift cards, cash bonuses and paid time off.

By the end of the 2018 season, the company’s first year using hiring days to screen employees, Fisk was happy with the outcome. “Turnover was minimal, and people showed up wanting to work.”

Moving forward
As the 2019 season got started, four new hires from 2018 are now either foreman or candidates for foreman. A few returned as techs, but not all. By early May this year, Fisk Lawnscapes had held three hiring days and hired 12-13 people, filling most of the crews.

“So far, our hiring day solution has worked well,” says Fisk. He also recognizes the value of ongoing personal and professional development to strengthen the company. Employees get an education stipend, and the company will pay for certification.

“We blend crews, putting less experienced people with those more experienced, to promote on-the-job learning,” says Fisk. “You can’t grow a company without growing the team. The entire company rises when you raise the bar on leadership and development.”

This story originally appeared in the July-August 2019 issue of Colorado Green magazine.