Fired!
I fired so and so last week is not something I enjoy hearing from a new landscape foreman. Here’s why. Firing new workers is the easy part; it won’t earn you any medals, unless your father owns the company.
When you ask what happened, inevitably you get some sad story about the dude being too slow. Duh, he’s new and still learning the job. I expect new people to be slow, in the beginning, not forever. Now, I see two big mistakes new landscape foremen make, over and over. Let’s take a look.
Time parameters
When you send me out to complete a task without telling me how long it should roughly take, then logically, I can’t be slow. I need to know a target completion time so I can gauge my effort. Saying, for example, the guy is terrible because he took two hours to finesse one bed isn’t helpful. Ask yourself, when you assigned the task to him, did you tell him how much time it should roughly take?
If you didn’t, then it doesn’t make sense to call him slow. And, again, we can expect new workers to be slow and tentative because they’re still learning the job.
A few years ago the dude was selling kababs on dangerous Turkish streets and the switch to landscaping takes time. Check out my story below.
Vas, before Red Seal
Once, as a new landscaper I worked with a crew of five doing bedwork. We weeded and cultivated beds; and full tarps were placed into a wheelbarrow. The crew worked together because that’s how you achieve good results. Tools changed hands and we moved along.
Then the supervisor caught me standing by the wheelbarrow for a split second and he was angry. Very angry and I didn’t know why. Only later I realized that it was up to me to load the full tarps into the wheelbarrow. I was the new labour guy; and I was tentative because I wasn’t used to the work dynamic. I know better now and this story stayed with me.
Work together
Not working together is as much a sin as not giving out completion target times. You can only expect great solo work from the company owner who has a great stake in the work. Leaving a new worker by himself and expecting him to complete everything well and on time is extremely naive. It’s so naive it deserves to get featured in a blog post.
I can tell how inexperienced a foreman is when he does this: sends out a new worker by himself without set time completion targets and then fires him for being slow. That’s not management. That’s comedy.
For best results you have to work closely with new workers. That way you can train them and catch mistakes; and remind them how much time has elapsed. But that also means that the foreman can’t hide; and many do. Or they try to look busy while off-loading the work on new immigrants.
Conclusion
People get fired in all industries but firing a new landscaper for being slow is very suspicious. You have to work closely with new people so you can train them and correct their mistakes. New workers are usually tentative in the beginning so give them time to learn the job.
Never call anyone slow if you haven’t given them set completion target times. That’s naive and wrong. It tells the whole landscape industry you’re still a green foremen. Get more experience so you can train and improve your crew members. Firing people is the easy part.
