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 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
Who Wants to Be a Leader?
Do you have a specific career vision of becoming a company leader in the horticulture industry someday? Are you working on adding professional skill sets to enable you to take on C-level or leadership-level roles? As a company, have you invested in a definitive training and development program aimed at developing your next leaders? There is a leadership void in the horticultural industry that will critically need more leaders now and progressively into the future. The number of retirements occurring in the green industry is staggering. Did you know there are over 100 owners of green industry companies retiring soon who have no clear leader to succeed them? Per the USDA, in 2024, the average age of all agricultural producers is 58.1 years, and those over age 65 constitute 40% of the total. As an industry, we endured a period with historically low numbers of students and professionals interested in pursuing a green industry career. This period has created a talent gap in the upcoming generations, especially Gen X. The small number of professionals in this group are talented and knowledgeable. Still, it is merely a matter of supply and demand. There are not enough leaders to take over, and not enough professionals have been provided leadership training. Throughout every sector, demographic, and role in the green industry, there are fewer individuals who have a specific desire and career focus to lead a company. Compare this to the financial or software sectors, where a high volume of professionals have an early passion and focus on driving their careers to the top leadership roles in their industry. It is surprising how small the number of professionals in our industry is who are adequately prepared or willing to be a leader in their company. A dynamic affecting this is the sheer number of family-held companies where leadership has traditionally been passed to second or third generations. While this is admirable, it has also tempered the career aspirations of those not part of the family. We are now at a tipping point where there are fewer generations to pass leadership roles to, causing new and challenging exit planning options for the current leaders. A Mutual Effort Question: How do we address this predicament? Answer: From the mutual effort of individuals and companies. Encourage students and early career professionals to dream big and envision being a company leader. Leadership is not for everyone, provided all the responsibilities and challenges that come with it. However, we need more professionals who genuinely want to take on significant leadership roles with a company. Ask yourself— Have you allowed yourself to dream about this type of role? To have more leaders, we need more professionals who desire to take on a role of this level. With that desire comes the awareness that one must embrace continual learning with curiosity and accept certain sacrifices required to drive one’s career to a top leadership level. This could include putting in longer hours, the ability to relocate, and volunteering to take on new tasks or help in other departments when they are shorthanded. Professionals open to relocating for roles will indeed advance their careers faster! Academically, technical knowledge of plant science-related academia is essential. Yet infusing business knowledge is equally, if not more, important in developing future leaders. We have many excellent educational institutions producing knowledgeable students. Increasing the focus of these academic programs on developing leadership with curricula geared to business and management will provide a business base and inspire more students to do so. For example, we rightly celebrate our grower interns, but we should also celebrate those doing horticulture industry internships in sales, marketing, accounting, or human resources. Have a Plan If you want to lead a company, division, or department someday, identify within yourself the knowledge and skill sets needed to get there. Proactively take charge of gaining the knowledge and experience you lack rather than relying on others. There is just as much onus on companies to be a part of increased leadership development. This does require an investment in both money and time to be successful. Begin to balance your team’s professional development budget with your automation budget. No matter how automized, it still takes strong professionals leading from the front for a company to realize success. Many assessment tools, such as CliftonStrengths, DISC, and Myers-Briggs, are available to help a company identify individuals with future leadership behaviors. These tools will help craft a career plan to infuse them with the skill sets needed to be strong leaders. Does your company have career development planning that includes rotating top talent through different departments or functions? Companies that rotate talent through various departments produce the strongest leadership pipeline. At the very least, does the company invest in continual education or training programs focused on improving communication, soft skills, sales, marketing, financial, operations, or supply chain knowledge? Encourage and support these professionals to become active within the industry via associations, seminars, or other educational and networking events. Don’t be afraid of losing this talent to industry exposure. Several leadership programs have been developed specifically for our industry, such as Dr. Charlie Hall’s Texas A&M EAGL program and the HRI Leadership Academy. Professionals who know their company invests fully in their employee’s growth are much less likely to leave. Employees feeling stifled in their development will leap at the opportunity for growth elsewhere. Investing in the Future No company has an endless budget, but a company can apply strategies that do not require a monetary investment, such as transparency in your business and delegation of responsibilities. Openness with your employees about all facets of the business directly correlates to increasing their professional growth. For example, companies applying the “Great Game of Business” approach to transparency have more engaged, business savvy, and motivated employees concerning their career progression. Pairing high-potential employees with positive mentors will also benefit the mentors themselves by increasing organizational talent strength. Encourage delegating responsibilities and not micro-managing those who are assigned tasks. This must
Trends Challenging Successful Hiring: Relocation
To Relo, or Not to Relo for Hiring— That is a Major Question Nothing in this world is certain except death, taxes, and change— constant change is happening faster than ever in business today. There are many drivers of change, including the impact of technology on what different generations value in their careers. Hiring is no different, and several significant trends impact the process. There is no foolproof method for hiring talent. Each company, position, and candidate is different, but there are important trends to be aware of so you can shift your hiring process appropriately. One of these trends that has shifted dramatically is the number of professionals open to relocation. What has caused the substantial reduction in candidates being open to relocating even for the best career roles? What can be done to alleviate this? Relocation Location It is fascinating how much of a topic the idea of relocation has become. How much does it cost to relocate? How much time will it take? What percentage of professionals are willing to relocate? Looking at what a relocation looked like pre-COVID compared to today in 2024, we see that things have radically changed and, in most cases, have become more complicated. There has been a sharp behavioral and generational increase in people not wanting to relocate as they place a higher value on living wherever they call home, with family and friends nearby. The increase in remote work has led to additional resistance to moving for a job. Added to this complexity are geographical relocation trends. Those moving out of state in higher numbers are leaving California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts. States benefiting from candidates relocating are Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the Carolinas. Do take into consideration where your company is located as you begin hiring. Even if the state benefits from the migration of people, individuals are still less inclined to relocate than ever before (since the statistics have been tracked). According to fortune.com, only 1.6% of all professionals open to work are open to relocating. With horticulture being such a production and geographically focused industry, this number may be a bit higher. Relocation and Inflation The cost of relocation is a crucial factor to consider. We’ve all experienced inflation in our daily lives, whether at grocery stores, gas stations, or entertainment venues. Inflation has also dramatically affected the cost of relocation. Rising housing prices, whether for renting or owning, coupled with increasing interest rates, have led to a significant hike in relocation costs. Picture a young professional who is currently renting, not married, and does not have kids. In this situation, relocation was once achievable for around $2,500-$3,500. According to movingapt.com, the average cost of moving oneself (individually packing, loading, driving, unloading, and unpacking) per 1,225 miles is around $4,500. To achieve a move for this amount, the individual would need to be doing all the work. As a company, you want this individual’s relocation to be completed as efficiently and stress-free as possible so they can hit the ground running in their new position. Allowing the new employee to utilize a full-service moving company may cost up to $8,700 per 1,125 miles. If you factor kids and a significant other into the move, the number could reach as high as $16,650 per 1,125 miles. The Relocation Equation Inflation has caused both companies and candidates to rethink what career opportunities genuinely make sense for their situation. Imagine hiring a new President for your medium-sized ($2m-$10m) horticulture company. You offer a competitive salary, even a bit higher than the industry standard. Top-tier candidates share this is their “dream job,” but they are unable to make a move based on them having to trade their current 30-year mortgage at the average rate of 2.68% in 2020 for a new 30-year mortgage rate at the average of 7.05% in 2024. They would take one step forward in their career and two steps backward in their socioeconomic status to make it happen. A recent article from the Wall Street Journal shared that as of June 21st, the national median existing-home price rose 5.8% in May 2024 from a year earlier to $419,300, a record increase since 1999. Prices are not adjusted for inflation, and elevated mortgage rates have dramatically limited the number of sales this spring. Every company and situation is different. Start your search locally with less emphasis on the expertise of your product, customer, or industry and more focus on the right behaviors for success. Thoroughly vet all local talent before beginning to look nationwide. Is there a local candidate who may need some training and development but has the right behaviors for success? Many of these open roles are backfills for highly experienced contributors who have retired or left. You cannot expect the new professional to come in right where the previous individual had left in terms of impact. Having a robust onboarding alongside a training and development plan will help widen the candidate pool. Slowly branching out the geography of the search will keep candidates fresh and ensure you have completely sourced local/regional options. If a professional is having trouble selling their home and can only relocate once they find a buyer, it may be worth looking at a virtual onboarding period. This would allow time for a sale and enable the candidate to map out a practical moving agenda while becoming part of the team. Including salary and relocation coverage in the Job Description will add transparency and clarity for candidates. This may push candidates open to exploring relocation to pursue your role over others who do not include these metrics. Lightening up on the years of experience needed in the role will further open your candidate pool. Younger professionals usually have fewer hurdles to overcome when moving and are more open to relocation to continue advancing their careers. The Horticulture industry has been fortunate in the post-COVID years, and interest in our industry is higher than ever, so
