Mike Andes advises lawn-care business owners facing high turnover and poor-performing hires to "take extreme ownership" of their hiring and management processes. He recommends examining recruiting, screening, interviewing, training, and company culture (mission/vision) as levers to retain and motivate employees, rather than blaming generational traits. He references Jocko Willink's book on Extreme Ownership as a guiding principle.
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All right, Definitely hiring. We have never been busier, but no one in my area wants to work or they only last one day. So I would, first of all, take extreme ownership. That's referencing a book from Jocko about taking ownership of stuff that happens to you instead of happening to you. It happens because of you. So ask yourself, what did you do wrong in the hiring process? Did you not set them up for success? You not trained them correctly? Should you have weeded them out in the hiring process? Like, if I have to fire someone I look at, like, how did they even get in the system? Do we not interview them correctly? Did we not screen them correctly? Correctly? Did we not train them correctly? Do we not inspire them enough? The mission of the business should hold them, and the vision of what you're trying to do should hold them to the culture. And if that doesn't happen, I take responsibility for and see how I can improve, because I can't change their behavior. I can't change whether or not you think millennials are, you know, can't work or anything like that. But what you can do is have a vision, a mission, a why for your business. Have a culture that is hardworking, and you're teaching people how to improve their careers and not just come to work and punch a time clock.
