Like a Boss: Completing Full-Time Work With Temporary Labor

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Like so many others in the industry, Tim Meehan, owner of Meehan’s Lawn Service in Brook Park, Ohio, has really struggled when it comes to finding laborers. He says that even getting potential hires to show up for an interview has been a challenge — not to mention finding workers that meet basic criteria such as having a valid driver’s license or being able to pass a drug test. But Meehan says he has found a solution through utilizing temporary labor — and it’s been a win all around.

After having many no-shows for scheduled interviews, Meehan arranged for a “group interview” with the 50 or so respondents to a Craigslist ad he placed. When the time and day rolled around for the interview, Meehan says not a single person showed. While using temporary hires hadn’t been an effective solution for him in the past, he decided to give it another shot — and he’s glad he did.

The key to success this time around has been partnering with the right staffing company. The one he works with now pre-screens all of the hires — handling the drug tests and the interviews — and the laborers just have to show up for the job. While he’s paying a bit more (for example, he might pay the staffing company $14 an hour for a laborer as opposed to the $10 an hour he would directly pay an employee), he says there is savings in the fact that temporary hires don’t count toward his worker’s compensation costs. He can also bring them on board for a big job but doesn’t have to keep them busy when times are slow.

“I also really like that the company we’re working with handles all the HR stuff,” Meehan says. “For instance, if we’re having an issue with a laborer, I don’t need to deal with the confrontation — the staffing company handles all that. Since they also do all the interviewing, it’s a time saver for me.”

So far Meehan has hired two of the temporary laborers as full-time employees and he says it creates a win-win scenario for everyone. Though he has to wait 60 days to hire a temporary employee (or else he has to buy out their contract for an extra cost), he says that everyone makes out well in the end.

“I’m happy because I have a new employee that I already know works well with us, the new hire is happy because I can offer them a little more than they were being paid, and the staffing company is happy because they can show that they’re able to place temporary hires in full-time jobs,” Meehan says. “It’s a win all around.”

Our Like a Boss series highlights some common business challenges landscape professionals face and how they conquer them.