November December 2023 - 6

INDUSTRY NEWS
from americanhort to you
Nurturing New Hires
Industry experts share employee development best practices
BY CINDY WHITT, AMERICANHORT MARKETING AND
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Your company is only as good as your people, and your
people are only as good as the training you provide.
The success of any organization hinges on the growth
and development of its most valuable asset - its
employees. A well-structured employee development
plan can help companies reduce turnover rates, increase
employee retention and ensure that their workforce starts
on the right foot.
AmericanHort explored employee development in a
recent webinar program moderated by Neal Glatt of
GrowtheBench.com and a panel of industry experts,
including Liz Lark-Riley, senior customer relationship
manager, Mahoney's Garden Centers; Heather Ruiz,
director of People and Culture, Natura; Jennifer Moss,
CEO, Moss Greenhouses; and Monique Allen, founder and
creative director, The Garden Continuum.
KEYS TO EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT
Through their experiences hiring and managing
employees, they established keys to employee development:
orientation, onboarding and on-the-job training.
Orientation
Glatt noted employees are never more engaged than
on their first day, so managers should cultivate their
potential. On the first day, new hires should have a chance
to meet everyone on the team and learn how their role fits
within the company.
Lark-Riley believes creating a structured first day is
important so new employees are not overwhelmed. She
provides time to meet with department heads and takes
them to lunch to get to know them personally.
" We've found that if we can give people a really good
first day (with) an opportunity to meet everyone, " LarkRiley
said. " Then that sets us off on the right foot for a
really great working relationship going forward. "
Ruiz takes the time to share the company's mission,
values and goals. She said new hires can become more
invested in their role by understanding a company's
history - and it creates an emotional connection to core
values in an organization.
6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 GPNMAG.COM
Onboarding
There is a difference between orientation, which is
meeting colleagues and completing paperwork, and
onboarding, which should be the start of job training.
" We create an entire schedule for the first 30 days,
broken down by minutes. It can be 45 minutes of training
here (or) 55 minutes of training there, " Ruiz said. " (It is)
sent to the employee two days before their start date to
give them an introduction into what exactly is going to be
expected of them. "
On-the-job training
Employees learn best by doing, and providing
opportunities for hands-on learning can enhance their
skills. A simple model of show, do, review and teach has
worked for Lark-Riley. Explain how to do a job and then
demonstrate it. Next, have them do the job and review the
results together. Finally, ask them to teach you.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Incorporating technology into training can be
particularly beneficial. Moss collaborated with a staff
member with writing and video skills to create interactive
videos for new hires that cover onboarding and safety
training across the operation.
" The new generation of employees is the TikTok and
YouTube generation. How do they communicate? Video, "
Moss said. " You have 30 seconds or two minutes of
attention span, so you have to be able to capture them
right away. "
These insights and much more were part of
AmericanHort's recent online program - Industry
Insider: Training Tools & Programs. AmericanHort
members can access the recording of this program at
HortKnowledgeCenter.org.
Interested in learning more on this topic? Check out
AmericanHort's Mastery Series: Retaining Employees
Through Development. Neal Glatt from GrowTheBench.
com led this series live in September, and the recordings
can now be purchased by visiting AmericanHort.org/
Employee-Development-Mastery-Series
For more information about our other upcoming
educational programs at AmericanHort.org/Education.
http://www.GrowtheBench.com http://www.HortKnowledgeCenter.org http://www.AmericanHort.org/ http://www.AmericanHort.org/Education http://www.GPNMAG.COM
November December 2023

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