Human resource priorities

By Terry Murphy,

Manager, Human Resource Development

Landscape Ontario

There’s no denying that labour shortages are a perennial problem in the landscape industry. Where do we find our future employees? It’s definitely a challenge. Owners hope to have enough quality labour to get the work completed. They fear losing good workers during peak season. And, it’s a battle to attract post secondary landscape students who have multiple employment offers.

The situation hasn’t changed much in 15 years and I think it could actually get worse in the next five years, unless our industry understands the root causes and takes action. The problem is complex. We have to deal with low wages, seasonality issues, competing trades, aging work force, and a younger generation that doesn’t seem to value hard work.

Think about this — there are more than 140 trades in Ontario and many are well known and established, such as electricians, carpenters, hairdressers, welders and mechanics. Who has heard of the landscape industry? Many people don’t really look at the landscape trade as a full time career. Have you ever wondered why?

Think about the average high school student in one of Ontario’s 800-plus high schools. How do they find out about our sector needs, and that great jobs exist in the landscape-nursery industry? Many schools have two or three career classes each term or more than 2,500 career classes across the province each year. Many teachers promote the university route, while others market the college pathway and others will encourage apprenticeship training. Nearly 50 per cent of high school graduates will go directly into the workforce, yet few will choose landscaping because they know nothing about it. They won’t know until we get more industry representatives into the classroom to tell students about our great industry. Every school needs to hear from an industry representative. Have you ever thought of calling your local high school co-op teacher and offering to hire a co-op student? There is no cost and you can get as much as three months of free labour. You could also call your local high school or elementary school and offer to speak to the students about our industry. If every member spent an hour talking to young people, explaining that our industry offers full time career opportunities and a comfortable living, then we could begin to fill our labour needs.

Successful SCIP safety program

The 2006 winter season saw 111 Landscape Ontario firms enrol into the Safe Communities Incentive Program (SCIP). This WSIB/LO-sponsored safety program teaches firms how to implement a safety process within their own company. It highlights a five-step safety management system. First, the company selects a policy standard and tailors it to their own needs. Management communicates the standard to employees and training is implemented as required. After three or four months of operation, the standard is evaluated to see if it is satisfying the safety needs of the firm. If not, then modifications may be made. When the safety standard is working successfully, the firm celebrates success and continues to maintain the standard. The process is simple but very effective and easy to implement.
Firms complete SCIP 1 by attending four morning training seminars and developing two standards for their firm. Not only is the firm satisfying their obligation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, but they are given a five per cent credit on their WSIB premiums. It is a win-win situation. If you haven’t been involved in SCIP, contact LO for more details or go to www.wsib.on.ca. SCIP is offered in each LO chapter area in February.

Strategic human resource planning

Can you name one company that has a sufficient number of staff, fully trained, satisfied and working at peak efficiency? Probably not! Can your firm use a fully trained foreperson who can supervise and knows exactly how you want things done? Most likely! I believe that it is within every firm’s ability to answer these questions positively but it won’t come without some long term human resources planning.

The education system is not producing what our industry needs in terms of fully trained labour — and probably never will. Here are the facts: horticulture is relatively unknown at the grade school or high school level. There are 10,000 landscaping firms in Ontario, and if each one needs one fully trained employee than we need to find 10,000 people. This is a very real requirement. This year, only 325 college students and apprentices will enter the industry.
Consider these steps in your long term human resource plan:

1. Assess your labour needs for the next five years. (How many people do you need?)

2. Hire one grade 12 graduate who wants a career working outside, even though they do not have any landscape experience.      These graduates are now available.

3. Develop a training plan that includes apprenticeship and on-the-job training. (Tax credits are available).

4.Complement training with LO winter seminars for continuing education.

5. Consider the above over a four- or five-year plan with little or no cost to the employee, with a reasonable bonus when the plan is successfully completed.


Now is the time to hire a high school graduate. You can enter the employee in the provincial apprenticeship program as soon as you know you want to develop him for the future. The employee could go to school in the winter of 2007 and the government will pay 85 per cent of the college course cost.

Landscape Ontario can help you with this plan. Contact me for further discussion. Remember by acting now, you are setting a plan in place that will give you what you need over a three- to five-year span.

Certified Landscape Professional (CLP) training

The CLP training module study guides are now available from CNLA. Landscape Ontario conducted training sessions this spring and candidates took the exams after the training. You don’t have to attend seminars and you are free to write the exams whenever you wish. Some managers have read the manuals, then attended the seminars and then wrote the exam. They found this method to be excellent preparation to write the exam. There are seven exams, one for each module. Contact Beverly Benjamin (ext. 354) at LO for more details. Future training will be announced in the fall.

Utility arborist apprenticeship program announced

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) has recently approved the formation of a utility arborist training program for tree climbers who work within 10 feet of energized power lines. Industry people who climb trees for a living are subjected to considerable danger when working in the vicinity of high voltage conductors and specialized safety training is necessary. This program will be 6,000 hours of on-the-job training with 22 weeks of in-school training. The target audience will be private contractors and municipal and electrical utility workers who do line clearing. MTCU is reviewing its grandfathering policy for this new program. It is expected to be in place within the next 12 months. You will hear more about this program in future months.

Ministry of Labour targets firms with accidents

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) continues to investigate firms with serious accidents or those with a higher than normal frequency of accidents. In an effort to reduce accidents and to focus firms on accident prevention, the MOL is visiting firms and conducting safety audits. The ministry has hired 200 new inspectors and its mandate is to review the safety programs for firms with more than three accidents in the last three years. Inspectors are looking to see if these firms have a safety process in place, which includes a company safety policy manual, a safety policy statement from the president, training and education on those policies, safety checklists, and a general commitment to making the workplace a safe one. We have had many inquiries in this area over the last two months. If you don’t have a safety process in place, you need to have one by law, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Getting involved in SCIP and Safety Groups will satisfy the MOL inspectors. If you need any assistance in this regard, please contact us.

Federal budget promotes apprenticeship training

The federal government announced apprenticeship tax breaks in the recent budget. Tax credits include a $2,000 employer annual tax credit for the first two years of an apprenticeship and a $1,000 cash grant to the apprentice. Also included is a $500 apprentice tax credit for new tools.

These federal tax credits are added incentives for employers to enrol employees in the provincial apprenticeship program. Remember that MTCU pays 85 per cent of the in-school winter training for horticultural technician apprentices. You may want to review your current employee roster to see who may want to enrol into this great training program.

For more information please contact Terry Murphy at 1-800-265-5656, ext. 317.