CNGA LooseLeaf Aug/Sept 2019

17 LooseLeaf Aug/Sept 2019 colorad o nga.org Why does Arbor Valley borrow employees from other organizations? We have been in the industry for almost 40 years and have been working with partners for almost 40 years. It’s just the right way to do things—the most effective method available to share staff. We see a lot of the cost savings and productivity improvements from not having to go out, recruit and train staff, especially skilled labor, when we can temporarily borrow staff from a partner organization. Working with others, we can all complete more projects in the same amount of time and for less money, and that’s a beautiful thing. That’s the goal. Given the world in which we live today, labor—skilled and unskilled—is fundamentally in short supply and only getting tighter as the Front Range grows. Without working with partners, unstaffed projects would otherwise be delayed or canceled completely. Partnering allows us to get work done when weather, client demands, or other situations require more labor than the staff we have on hand. Plus, our partner organizations keep their employees working during their open times and earning by lending them to us or others. For example, this spring, Mother Nature gave us a very narrow window to safely dig trees from the field. Partnering with other organizations that were not yet able to dig in their traditional markets provided not only a skilled team to help dig trees in our fields but the necessary specialized equipment as well. They were able to get their teams working despite the wet winter in their area. Without the work, they may have lost crews to construction or other jobs and may not have had a chance to get them back. In the end, we were able to team up to get all of our trees out for customers despite the narrow window, and we kept their guys productive and paid. When done right, labor sharing at the beginning or end of the season helps everyone be more productive. As we prepare for the season to begin or put final touches on it, labor sharing really does increase efficiencies. What type of situation calls for hiring outside employees? The first one is when we need unskilled staff for temporary jobs. We use temporary staffing organizations like the Veterans Administration, refugee support groups like Project Worthmore, local workforce centers, and other organizations. To make it work well for everyone, we generally need to plan ahead and give two-weeks’ notice to the staffing organization. We keep these workers from a few days up to a few weeks for very specific projects to help us keep our overall labor costs in check. Our world is very seasonal, so we must be flexible in our staffing model. If we keep staff just in the case we might need them later, it’s very costly. We are trying to keep costs low, so we can pass those efficiencies on to our customers. For temporary teammates, training beyond safety is usually minimal, and we work to pair them up with our trained employees. Workers’ compensation insurance and other legal requirements are the responsibility of the partner organization. ? ? Sharing Employees Getting through Busy Times with Borrowed Labor Interview with Jim Browning, COO Arbor Valley Wholesale Nursery continues on next page » Photos courtesy of Arbor Valley Nursery