In April of this year, NALP announced that contractor members now have free access to comprehensive online training as part of their membership. Since then, landscape companies have already begun to reap the benefits of tapping into this suite of on-demand training for their teams.
Andrea Patti, co-owner of A Growing Concern, based in Santa Cruz, California, says she was super excited when she first heard the news about the free training.
“We bought all the manuals a couple of years ago, and I gave everyone their own set,” Patti says. “It was just a general invitation like, ‘Hey, we have this. You guys can self-study at your own pace.’ If anybody wants to do the online training, we can consider signing you up, but that would be expensive for all of our guys.”
Josh Little, landscape training and safety manager for The Budd Group, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, says at the beginning of the year they had started an initiative to do more NALP training so when they heard the announcement, they were thrilled. Instead of being limited to enrolling two people per branch per quarter, they were able to enroll all of their account managers and operations managers at once.
“It just opened up a really good opportunity for us to get our guys more training,” Little says.
NALP’s full suite of online training is a $4,000 value to put one team member through all the training, which includes the Landscape Technician Training Courses and the Landscape Business Management Training Courses.
The Landscape Technician Training Courses cover installation, maintenance, irrigation, turf installation, and safety and are ideal for new hires with no prior landscape experience. The eight Landscape Business Management Training Courses cover management and leadership skills, such as strategic planning and human resource management.
Improvements in Performance and Skill Development
Patti says six employees have already completed the training, and since then, they have felt more confident in their skills. She’s also tied an additional pay raise for completion of the training.
She says an added benefit is that the courses allow her to assess her team more accurately and identify where they are struggling and where they are shining through.
“It just helped me to understand each employee more accurately in terms of their skill development,” she says.
Little says they’ve beta tested it with their crew leaders who have shared with them how they are learning new information from the courses. He says their vice president has also signed up for some of the courses.
“We want to have a structure where from the top to the bottom, we’re all constantly learning every day,” Little says.
Patti says she appreciates how well organized the courses are, the quizzes at the end and that the program is available in English and Spanish.
“I personally have done some of the courses, and they’re really detailed, and some of them may be a little more than what our crew leaders need, but at the same time, it’s really good information for them to know something else they can put in their toolbelt,” Little says.
Morale Booster
Earning certificates from the courses also boosts employees’ morale as they feel invested in and that they are working in a trade as skilled as plumbing or electrical work.
“They have a sense of pride and ownership in their duties and their role as landscapers,” Patti says. “I think it just gives them a sense of being more knowledgeable and proud of their work.”
Little says at first there was some pushback from their team about not having time to do the training, but now it has become a competition between their account and ops managers.
“I’ve got ops managers coming to me now and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve done the LTC course. What else is there for me?’” Little says. “If you go in our Winston office, there’s the guys that have already been through it, they have their certificates on their cubicle wall. Some other guys who haven’t done it yet, now they’re like, ‘Hey, how do I get signed up for this course? Because I’m going to get a nice little certificate on my wall just like these guys have.’”
The Budd Group also has branch managers who are eager to have all of their crew leaders go through the technician training. Little monitors employees’ progress on the training dashboard and will share within their company social media when a team member has earned their certificate.
“The recognition and things like that makes them want to do it a little faster,” he says.
Company Consistency
Little says another benefit of the free training is it helps ensure training consistency across their branch locations.
“With having four main branches on top of quite a bit of site-based stuff, it’s really hard to keep consistency across the line of business, and so this is helping us bring that consistency back,” Little says.
Patti says she also appreciates how the Landscape Technician Training Courses provides a solid base for everyone on the team.
Little says he wants to eventually tie the completion of these courses to compensation as well and create more levels within the business.
“When a crew leader comes in, they have to take the LTC course in their respective line of business,” Little says. “If that’s maintenance, they have to do maintenance, with an option of doing all three. Once they do all three, they become a Budd Group certified crew leader. They have knowledge in all three areas of landscape that gives them another leg up, but also it’s going tie it into compensation.”
Advice for Others
Little says there is zero reason for NALP members to not take advantage of this benefit.
“There’s no cost associated,” Little says. “It’s great because you don’t have to purchase materials. All you have to do is literally sign a guy up and he logs in on his own device. If someone wants to do it at home, then that’s fine, but we don’t make them and we don’t ask them to. But why would you not do it?”
Little encourages other landscape companies to consider having the training conducted during work hours.
“A guy comes in, he works for you 8-10 hours a day in the sun and heat, doing physical labor, whether he’s mowing grass or he’s been carrying a string trimmer all day,” Little says. “He’s been carrying a backpack blower all day. He’s out here planting, digging holes, things like that. And now you’re going to ask him to give you another 30 minutes or an hour of his own time? That’s a big ask. When those guys get home, they want to be with their families, and we don’t want them to take time away from their families to watch a video.”
The Budd Group also provides office computers for their employees so they don’t have to read everything on a mobile device.
NALP contractor members can access this free training at NALP’s Learning Hub.
