6.1 Reasons to Join Us at Cultivate’25 and Grow Your Business
Cultivate is the event we look forward to most in our industry, so we look forward to seeing you July 12-15th at Cultivate’25 in Columbus, Ohio— the Green Industry event offering countless opportunities to grow your business and advance your career. We will be there with SIX in-person educational sessions on extremely timely industry topics such as talent acquisition, management, succession, exit planning, and more that you will not want to miss. Get educated and up-to-speed in these sessions. SATURDAY, JULY 12th Managing & Motivating the Multi-Generational Green Industry (Multi-Generational Panel) – 9:00 AM ET • Panel Discussion – Moderator: Paige Franks For the first time in history, five generations collide in the workforce: The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. Generation Z is quickly infiltrating the industry, and Millennials are stepping up to take over the preceding leadership positions, bringing new ideas surrounding technology, management and communication styles, company culture, and personal and professional values and expectations. In this panel, professionals across the four prominent generations in the workforce share their experiences, providing perspective and insight into what once was versus today’s reality. Join Paige Franks and a great panel of horticultural industry leaders to learn what the current understanding of the industry is from each generation’s perspective. How leaders manage and accommodate today’s workplace standards on company culture, communication, and work-life balance. Advice and insight on best practices when working alongside various generations. How generations view what is important in company benefit programs. Save Your Seat – Click here for a Session Description Game-Changing Trends in Recruiting Talent (PANEL) – Saturday, July 12 • 1:00 PM ET • Panel Discussion – Moderator: Harrison Downing What are the trends in 2025 in how we connect with potential talent to gain their interest? The latest recruiting and interviewing trends differ vastly from those in past years. But why the notable change? Along with the uncertain times we live in, we are experiencing generational workforce changes that bring with them new values, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations of employees. Change, especially with technology, is constant and faster than ever. The panel will share insights on the top trends shaping how companies in our industry recruit and assess candidates during the interview process. Attendees will learn how to optimize marketing strategies to reach candidates, how to balance virtual vs in-office approaches, how to assess candidate fit for behaviors and culture, and even what your company branding means in hiring. Save Your Seat – Click here for a Session Description Trends Changing Why Employees Stay with You! Saturday, July 12 • 2:30 PM ET • Moderator: Todd Downing Today’s workforce consists of five generations for the first time ever. Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. These generations were raised in different social, technological, and political atmospheres. Each generation corresponds to different childhood upbringings and family environments, which create different values, behaviors, and needs as employees. How do we engage our teams to be fulfilled in their job and remain passionate about your company? The panel will share insights on the 2025 trends shaping how they keep their teams of all generations motivated, engaged, and with them! Learn why retention starts at the top, what onboarding programs are successful with retention, how Training & Development programs are changing to meet the varying learning styles of employees, and how adjustments to Benefits, such as PTO, align with what employees want in 2025. Save Your Seat – Click here for a Session Description SUNDAY, JULY 13th Growing Forward: Release and Review of the 2nd Annual State of Succession and Exit Planning in the Horticulture Industry Report – 4:00 PM ET • Speakers: Chris Cimaglio & Ken Lane How prepared are you—and your peers—for succession or exit? What does life after business ownership look like? And in today’s market, how may economic and industry challenges influence long-term business strategies? Until now, getting answers to these questions has been a challenge. In this interactive session, bridge the knowledge gap with key insights from the PivotPoint Business Solutions 2nd Annual State of Succession and Exit Planning in the Horticulture Industry Report that was sponsored by Greenhouse Grower magazine. Key Takeaways: Assess your readiness in real-time by benchmarking against your peers across eight key business drivers. Discover how critical industry-wide issues—including the impact of immigration, tariffs, climate change, insurance costs, and access to capital—may affect operational decisions. Gain expert guidance on best practices to ensure a smooth transition and avoid common regrets. Save Your Seat – Click here for a Session Description MONDAY, JULY 14th 2025 Trends in Compensation and Benefits to Attract, Retain, and Motivate Top Talent Monday, July 14 • 10:45 AM ET • Panel Discussion – Moderator: Michael Maggiotto Over the past few years, compensation has accelerated faster than historical norms. Even as the rate of compensation increases begins to pull back, many are unaware of the intricacies of compensation and benefit design. Is it just about paying a salary we once paid five or 10 years ago, or offering the same benefits every year? Well, not if we want to attract, retain, and motivate top talent, it isn’t. Attendees will learn 2025 trends affecting compensation design to attract talent and keep up with the cost of living. Gain knowledge in identifying what benefit trends are working well in attracting and, importantly, keeping talent as generations of workers shift. Understand strategies to keep a company competitive without breaking the bank! Be ready to share, as we will be looking for the audience to provide their best practices–after all, you are the ones who drive the trends. Save Your Seat – Click here for a Session Description TUESDAY, JULY 15th Succession & Exit Planning: What’s Your Endgame for a Regret-Free Business Exit (Extended Session & Workshop) Tuesday, July 16 • 9:00 AM ET • Speakers & Moderators: Chris Cimaglio, Ken Lane, Larry Turow, and an Expert and Peer Panel “Begin with the end in mind.” What’s your endgame? Every business owner will eventually
Ask HR: We got a bad review after an employee having a bad day snapped at a customer. What do I do?
QUESTION: Customer service is key in my business. Recently, an employee was having a bad day and snapped at a customer, who gave us a bad review on Google. I feel empathetic about what she was going through, but her behavior was unacceptable. I think firing her would be too harsh because she’s been an otherwise great employee. What are my options? TEH ADVICE: Oh, the joys of navigating the human experience of emotions, especially when they’re not your own! This is such a valuable question for any position and company, and even more so for leaders. Whether we choose to act like we have them or not, feelings and emotions are a part of being human, and as much as some try to foster the “leave it at the door” mentality in the workplace (as if that’s fully possible or healthy), we are each bound to endure hardships, stressors and tough times. Sometimes bad days can even impact our mental state and how we perform both personally and professionally. However, it is still our responsibility to control and process those emotions and be able to healthily channel them without negatively impacting the world around us. For friends, family and employers, it’s certainly beneficial to hold space and provide support and empathy for the person hurting — but to an extent and within certain bounds. There’s a line there, especially when running a business. Let’s touch on the importance of customer service! While there’s something to be said for having quality products, providing excellent service, maintaining smooth logistics, etc., customer service is the backbone of any company and can make or break your brand. People often remember the experience they had with your company long after the product or service has run its course, and high-level customer service is the saving grace to mend a relationship or save a customer when things go wrong. All in all, your company needs to consistently provide that top-tier experience — even when the last thing they want is to deal with people, especially unhappy ones. You’re on the right track in thinking that firing this person right off the bat is too harsh, especially if this is a first offense. This is where constructive leadership comes in, and it can be done by balancing empathy for your employees while protecting the integrity of your business. A good place to start is with a one-on-one with this employee, addressing the unacceptable behavior and the negative result of it. Let this transition into an attempt to understand and hear out what they’re going through. From there, provide support. This can look like encouraging them to lean on loved ones or a professional (let me be clear that this does NOT mean coworkers or customers; even in a “family” culture, there is a line here), spending time on their hobbies, perhaps a bit of time off to collect themselves, or, if your budget allows, investing in mental health resources for them. To conclude the conversation, make it a point to let them know that you empathize and are here to help in the ways you can, but that you, their team and their customers/clients are relying on them to bounce back and continue to be a high performer. The rest is theirs to sort through; that’s the part that no one can do for them. While this may sound harsh, the world keeps turning even when yours is falling apart. Learning how and when to process your emotions is imperative to harnessing the power of emotional intelligence and running your feelings so they don’t run you — and possibly cost you your relationships, your health or your job. As a leader, it is your job to look out for your people and your business. When you take care of your people, they take care of you. But I’ll end by saying this: If you’re at capacity for the resources you can provide this employee and there is still no change in behavior or they do not demonstrate consistent improvement, know when to let go. Unfortunately, sometimes it gets to a point where addition by subtraction is the solution, but only when you can say that you truly tried investing in this professional with no ROI. Hope this helps and best of luck to you in navigating this situation and all to come! Paige Franks is a Senior Executive Search Advisor at BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group. She writes the Ask HR column for Garden Center Magazine.
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Searching for a New Position in Uncertain Times
Tariffs, inflation, uncertainty— each word evokes fear and stress, especially when looking to make a career move and search for new possibilities. While we preach patience and loyalty as a general approach to life, career, and business at BEST Human Capital, we know some employment situations are not tenable. We also realize that some circumstances are limiting as they don’t allow for desired growth, and you may also feel boxed in with the current business uncertainty. If you find yourself in one of these situations, consider exploring professional options away from your current position. While external factors require consideration regarding your professional advancement, business is cyclical, and uncertainty doesn’t mean opportunities and hiring stop. This is an ideal time to plan and prepare for the next step of your career progression. We are happy to guide you through all possible aspects of your career progression and help advise you from an outside and unbiased perspective. If ever in need, please reach out for a career-focused conversation without any obligations or the pressure of being sold on available positions or companies. Above all else, we’re interested in learning about your experience and continued career goals and strive to form long-term relationships. Resources and Inspiration for Your Journey Suppose your current employment situation cannot be fixed, or it is time to refresh your resume and brush up on your interviewing skills. In that case, we have assembled a list of helpful resources and articles to get you started (click on the link or button below for each resource). LinkedIn: Quick Tips for Your LinkedIn Profile to Increase Your Interview Rate (PDF) Not quite a LinkedIn influencer? LinkedIn is a primary tool for executive recruiters to search for candidates. We cannot understate the importance of using LinkedIn today for any candidate and using your “dashboard” to open yourself to new opportunities. The more complete and optimized your profile is, the better the odds that recruiters will find you. Your Resume: For People Who Want to Write Resumes Good By The BEST Blogger Do you need help getting started on your resume, or do you feel your existing one could be better? Writing a resume or CV today can be frustrating and time-consuming, especially for those out of practice or starting from scratch. As our tongue-in-cheek title suggests, it is easy to stumble in this area. We have seen brilliant marketers and salespeople struggle for days to assemble a 1- or 2-page sheet of their career experiences and qualifications, essentially about selling themselves. They are not alone. Phone Interviewing: 12 Smart Phone Interview Success Tips (PDF) By Laura DeCarlo – job-hunt.org Some helpful tips to review before that call with the hiring manager might be helpful. Typically, a candidate’s first contact with a recruiter or potential employer is via the phone or virtually (see below if your first interaction will be virtual). A telephone interview aims to secure an invitation to come to the employer’s location for an in-person interview. You typically have just two assets for telephone interviews – your voice and your preparation! Virtual Interviewing: Succeeding in a Virtual Interview for Candidates (PDF) By Ben Molenda, BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group How do you succeed in your upcoming Zoom or Teams meeting? These are useful tips for being interviewed virtually. Be prepared. The In-Person Interview: Walk Out of Your Job Interview in a Blaze of Glory (PDF) By Scott Ginsberg Want to smash your next interview (in a good way)? This article is a candidate favorite because it works. These are the questions that get potential employers thinking in any job interview. Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, for helpful insight, or for a copy of our BEST Interview Prep Guide. This is a comprehensive guide that takes a candidate through the interviewing process step-by-step, from initial preparation to the thank-you note. We look forward to connecting with you. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Ben Molenda, PRC is a Senior Executive Search Advisor at BEST Human Capital Advisory Group. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Human Resource Management, Ben has excelled in executive recruiting and business advisory and has become an excellent resource for both clients and candidates. Passionate about horticulture, Ben has also written and co-written several articles for major industry publications and is a Member of AmericanHort. BEST is Hiring!</> Check out our open positions, featuring a wide variety of roles and industries. Click on the posting title for a full job description. AVAILABLE POSITIONS Submit Your Resume:</> Your resume is imported into our secure tracking system and can only be accessed by BEST. Once you are in our system, your profile will be continuously reviewed. Submit your resume Questions?</> If you are looking to advance your career or searching out of necessity, we invite you to contact us and speak with a BEST “Human” and let’s have a confidential discussion. Contact the Best Team
The Never-Ending Puzzle of Compensation & Benefits in Horticulture
For all the wonderful attributes our Green Industry brings to our world and the careers of its employees, we continue to be highly challenged in attracting and retaining qualified talent. There are many Human Resource solutions to improving and retaining talent flow. Unfortunately, no one magic answer will fit all companies or their employees. Additionally, one topic in the equation is often uncomfortable or sensitive to discuss: compensation. In developing an attractive compensation and benefits program, it is important to understand the current economics involved, where to keep educated on compensation and benefits trends, set your specific company total rewards plan, and execute in an engaged manner with your valued team. The Economics We recently hired several positions across the country that were quite challenging due to the compensation set being below market. It is notable that compensation was not below market five to seven years ago, but more importantly, the compensation for these roles has not increased since then. Why does this matter in attracting talent? Understanding the economics of The CPI inflation calculator, which uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, sheds light on why. This data represents changes in the prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. A $65,000 Head Grower salary in January 2017 has the same buying power as $84,395.69 in September 2024. A salesperson’s salary of $80,000 in January 2019 has the same buying power as $100,210.80 in September 2024. These CPI numbers do not consider the additional increase effect of our country’s high cost of living areas. As compensation relates to retention, turnover costs companies six to nine months of an employee’s salary on average to replace them. Recent research by Harvard University revealed that increasing pay among warehouse workers by just one dollar per hour resulted in a 2.8% retention boost. Results also showed that every dollar-per-hour pay loss caused a 28% increase in turnover. While lower inflation may ease some pressure, many organizations are still catching up from the past couple of years of cost-of-living adjustments. Balancing real earnings growth with competitive compensation will be vital to moving forward, especially in industries still feeling the pinch. Employees continue to struggle to get ahead from the high inflation years, and employers must keep that in mind. When merit increases exceed inflation/cost of living, employees gain. Then, when inflation/cost of living exceeds merit increases, employees lose. While many employers have provided higher increases in the past couple of years, more is needed to keep up with inflation. As a result, it takes employees a few years to recover from higher inflation times. However, employees seem to forget that they make up ground when increases are higher than inflation; eventually, it all balances out. Many companies focus on adjusting pay based on market competitiveness and talent retention rather than on inflation alone. Every organization needs to look at their own situation and not just what everyone else is doing. The hope is that lower inflation facilitates more substantial salary increases. Typically, most employers see it as an opportunity to lower salary increases. If they do, they might struggle to attract and retain talent. We know we have been in a talent shortage for many more years simply because of the lack of people to fill the jobs continuously becoming more available due to massive baby boomer retirements. Where to Remain Educated One of the best ways to keep up with compensation and benefits trends is to read industry reports from reputable sources such as SHRM, WorldatWork, Mercer, or Willis Towers Watson. These reports provide insights into the current and future state of rewards, including salary surveys, benefits benchmarks, best practices, and emerging issues. Gather market data for your jobs that is specific to the demographics of where your company is located. (HR associations, staffing firms, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are excellent resources for this information.) Review the going rates for similar positions within comparable industries, companies, and geographies to establish your pay scale. Conduct a study like this at least annually to ensure you can maintain competitive compensation for all employees. Develop a Total Rewards Strategy If you don’t have the salary budget to stay ultra-competitive, rest assured that there is more to the employee experience than compensation. Gone are the days when compensation or hiring decisions were made based on salary history; 22 states plus 23 localities and counting have passed legislation banning employers from asking candidates for this information or basing hiring or promotion on the candidate’s current compensation. Hiring managers: please do not ask this question any longer! Should the unemployment rate remain low for the next five to 10 years, labor shortages will persist, especially in industries such as horticulture that have a vast number of retirements occurring. That said, bumping salary budgets alone won’t be enough to address recruitment and retention challenges. As a result, employers need to be creative and comprehensive with their total rewards strategy, which comprises compensation, benefits, developmental opportunities, recognition, and other rewards that motivate staff and enable a top-notch employee experience. The best approach to identify which benefits will attract and retain your employees, especially with so many earlier generations joining the horticulture industry, is to simply ask them which benefits they would value! In a smaller company, this can be done with one-on-one conversation, and with a larger employee base, there are many effective survey resources to gather this feedback. Per SHRM, there are 216 benefits companies serving employees up from 175 just 2 years ago. Consider offering benefits that better match what your employees want today, such as health benefits, well-being and family caregiving support, pet insurance, and financial planning services in your total rewards strategy. Invest in workers’ professional development with the idea that you can enable brighter futures through upskilling, internal career paths, or debt-free education. To set employee pay, first, determine your pay philosophy. Do you want to lead, match, or lag the market? The most common
The Benefits of Improving Transparency in Hiring
Like all other aspects of business, hiring and recruitment continue to evolve faster and faster. Implementing AI, such as in the hiring process, will increase the efficiency of the process itself. There are hiring changes that are not technologically based occurring that, when properly applied, are proving to have a positive impact on attracting talent, increasing the retention of new hires, and helping companies become a preferred place for careers. At the top of this evolution in hiring is one simple yet too often ignored approach – transparency! What are the Benefits of a Transparent Recruitment Process? Companies that provide candidates with a fully transparent interview process find that over time, they attract better quality talent, increase offer acceptance rates, get new hires up to productivity faster, improve long-term retention rates, and create a stronger employer brand in their community and industry. All the benefits of transparency and authenticity are intertwined. Top talent candidates who experience transparency in the interview process from the beginning are more likely to stay engaged throughout the entire process. Due to the transparency of compensation and trust developed with candidates, offer acceptance increased. Candidates can make decisions on their compensation offer well ahead of the actual offer letter and are more likely to be flexible on their compensation expectations due to developing a trusting relationship. Once on board and with a thorough training plan, the new hires reach productivity levels faster and often exceed them. Perhaps most importantly, long-term retention rates increase, especially when coupled with a Training & Development program that was shared with them during interviews. Over time, professionals in a company’s community or within the industry hear of the positive culture, strengthening the overall employer brand. How to Implement Hiring Transparency: Transparency Begins Before the Interview Develop job descriptions that accurately reflect the role’s responsibilities and, more importantly, define metrics of success in the role. Job descriptions with a vast number of responsibilities will leave candidates wondering just what the role’s real priorities are, and they may not even bother to apply. Keep responsibilities reasonable and in a prioritized manner. Defining three specific and realistic key performance indicator (KPI) metrics is incredibly helpful to a candidate’s understanding of the role’s mission. It is a core component to increasing productivity once on board. What is a realistic KPI? An effective way to set a realistic KPI is to ask yourself: if the candidate does not achieve the KPI in one year, will I have to fire them? This may sound harsh, but it does result in companies setting KPIs that are realistic, thus influencing positive long-term retention. Help Candidates Prepare to be Their Best Communicate interview timelines, including all the interview steps. Doing so prevents candidates from leaving the process out of frustration. Change is constant, and these timelines can often get derailed due to other business priorities and scheduling conflicts, but communicating any changes immediately develops the candidate’s trust. Provide candidates with company information, an accurate overview of the culture, the names and titles of the interviewers, the type of interview questions the company asks, whether a behavioral assessment tool is utilized, and whether they will be required to present to the hiring committee. Candidates are equally responsible for a successful hiring process. However, providing details does not mean doing the candidate’s job of conducting thorough follow-up research on these details! A Conversation, Not an Inquisition Once candidate conversations begin, transparency is increased by having just that – a conversation. Included in this is realizing that no company is perfect, thus, be prepared to be authentic and share with candidates where the company is challenged and what about the role will not be a bed of roses for any candidate. Be prepared to share the onboarding process and exactly how your company invests in further professional training in their teams. Scripted questions lead to sterile conversation and scripted answers by candidates. We learn so much more about a candidate’s behaviors during a conversation rather than a scripted dialogue, as they are more at ease and able to be themselves as opposed to someone they think you want them to be. Timely & Quality Follow-up Providing quality feedback within 48 hours to a candidate in a timely manner may be the best transparency a company can practice. High-quality candidates will stay engaged with the hiring process to the offer end. Top talent that doesn’t receive thorough, timely feedback will exit the process to focus on other job opportunities. Thorough feedback includes sharing how many candidates are in process. This is a critical transparency step. Please do not tell candidates the age-old HR line that we are interviewing several other candidates and will get back to you, especially if you are not. Be transparent – is it one? Is it 5? Or are there no more candidates? Sharing quality feedback to candidates being turned down will help candidates grow professionally and leave a positive impression of your company with them for the future. This is an important way to build a positive company brand image in the community and industry. Transparency in Compensation and Benefits Gone are the days when compensation decisions were made based on salary history; 22 states plus 23 localities and counting have passed legislation banning employers from asking candidates for this information or basing hiring on the candidate’s current compensation. Hiring managers: please do not ask this question any longer. Transparency of compensation and benefits begins with their inclusion in the job description and extends through the final offer. This requires companies to invest time and resources to identify fair and accurate compensation for the role, industry, and geographic location. When setting the compensation range, be clear on what the absolute max is and what the absolute minimum is. Many great candidates are now passing over job descriptions that do not share this. Discuss the compensation range from the first interview and share benefit details. You are building trust and increasing efficiency by eliminating candidates who are over your
