As the landscape industry embraces more technology, including AI, automation and robotics to help with productivity, it is also impacting how companies recruit and who they are attracting to their organizations.
AI as an Efficiency Force Multiplier
As AI shakes up the workforce in other industries, one question is whether it will do the same in the landscape industry. However, for the landscape companies integrating AI into their processes, they see it more as a tool than a way to replace roles outright.
“AI has not replaced any roles but has made some positions more efficient leading to a delay in needing that one extra person,” says Dennis Evans,owner of Quiet Village Landscaping, based in St. Louis, Missouri. “Our goal with AI is to not replace people but make them more productive. It’s going to be a long ride, but what we have been able to do with it is encouraging.”
Mick Mulhall, president of Mulhall’s, based in Omaha, Nebraska, says AI is helping them understand exactly what they need to do certain tasks.
“The clearer we can be, the more we can make hiring a specific goal and not thematic, the more possible it is to align a group of people around doing it,” Mulhall says. “When we talk about ‘We have to hire a lot of people,’ that’s a pretty hard thing to motivate people around. But if we break that down into, ‘Hey, our landscape management team needs to add six people in the next four weeks.’ Now that starts to feel achievable.”
Mulhall adds that utilizing AI to support estimating and takeoffs enables them to grow the business faster.
Patrick Murray, co-founder of Local Roots Landscaping, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, agrees that by integrating AI, it has allowed them to speed up a number of their backend processes.
“It’s probably saved us a few overhead staff people at this point,” Murray says. “It hasn’t really changed our in field needs as of yet.”
Multiple companies have also found AI beneficial for recruiting efficiency.
“We use tools for salary bandwidth analysis, job-posting optimization, and candidate communication,” says Carrie Velkover, chief human resources officer for Visterra Landscape Group, headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. “These help our recruiters reach qualified candidates faster and focus more on relationship-building.”
Mulhall says they also use AI to improve the writing of their job descriptions and job advertisements to help tell their company’s story and articulate the value of joining their team.
Murray says they have been using HireBus, which is an end-to-end recruiting platform that recently rolled out AI features, including candidate phone screening via an AI agent.
“We give them our needs, and then the whole entire recruiting funnel and hiring pipeline starts with them,” Murray says. “They funnel people out. They do personality assessments based off a couple things, and then they end up on our calendar for interviews. We almost know beforehand if we’re going to hire them.”
Jennifer Thomas, director of recruiting, onboarding & culture for Southern Botanical, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, says they utilize AI for building a better interview processes or questions based on specific challenges that a team might be having.
“We do use technology to make our processes more efficient, but recruiting at Southern Botanical is still very personal,” Thomas says. “We definitely believe great hires come from genuine conversations and strong culture alignment, and that’s just something that no algorithm can replace.”
Attracting Candidates with Technology
Opting to be on the cutting edge of technology has also provided a competitive advantage to companies when it comes to appealing to the next generation.
“I think that our being willing and excited to adopt proven applied technological solutions, including things that automate certain processes, make ours a more desirable place to work for a group of people who are excited about that,” Mulhall says. “It actually is probably increasing the number of people that want to work for us.”
For instance, Southern Botanical and Local Roots have both been piloting robotic mowers in their operations.
“It’s also allowed us to take others and have them in more specialty areas,” Thomas says. “It hasn’t reduced our size, but it’s allowed us to pivot into a more focused execution of our work.”
Murray says their usage of their recruiting platform tends to cater more toward Gen Z because it is so tech-enabled.
“We generally run a very tech-enabled process on purpose because we want people who are joining us to be able to work with the apps that we have and the data collection that we have, and just the general system,” Murray says.
What Technology Won’t Replace Anytime Soon
While AI can speed up processes and automation can handle the more repetitive tasks of the business, it cannot replicate human connection and hands-on skills.
Companies still need employees to do the work in the field and create true personal touches with their customers in order to be successful. It is best to use technology as a way to support your recruiting efforts rather than replace them.
“In our business and a growing business, we were adding people,” Mulhall says. “I think automation, robotics, and things like that are more likely to accelerate the same thing.”
