Rooted in Wellness: How to Cultivate a Thriving Horticulture Team
Has the pace or demands of work ever pushed you to mental exhaustion or caused physical illness? Do you see your team’s productivity and engagement declining and turnover rising due to the challenges your business faces? Are you starting to wonder if it’s worth the stress? You’re not alone in our horticulture industry. In 2025, employee health and wellness will no longer be just a perk but a strategic necessity. With a surge of challenging business, personal, socio-economic, and global events, it’s no surprise that employees are struggling with their physical and mental health, leading to a potential burnout crisis. Why Wellness Remains Important in 2025 The horticulture industry has experienced notable changes since 2020 introduced us all to the pandemic. This drove the increase in remote work, extreme decline of in-person communication, and over-reliance on social media. These causes led to symptoms of isolation, depression, anxiety, and an entire generation in their formative years, not allowed to learn how to relate interpersonally. Thus, the rise of health and wellness has become a dominant issue. Multiple studies have shown that anxiety and depression rates have risen steeply since the pandemic. Unfortunately, many companies still treat health and wellness as an afterthought. Failing to prioritize your team’s individual health and employee wellness is destructive and costly. The World Health Organization identified that mental health is costing businesses around the world $1 trillion a year due to lost productivity. The American Psychiatric Association found that employees with unresolved depression experience a 35% reduction in productivity. Why Invest in Health & Wellness Programs Investing in and creating programs that support your employees’ focus on topics like employee motivation, stress management, and leadership directly impact wellness. The right strategies will make a world of difference. A recent SHRM report found that every dollar invested in health and wellness resulted in nearly six dollars returned in cost savings (think lower health care costs due to fewer claims, disability, and workers comp) and productivity. A study by Harvard Business Review found that companies with high employee engagement are 22% more profitable. A recent Gallup poll found that only 21% of employees feel their employer cares about their overall well-being. A clinical study done for Forbes “Live Outcomes Report” showed that employers save $580 per employee engaged with mental well-being tools. Absenteeism due to mental health issues is up 300% from 2017 per analysis from ComPsych, a mental health service provider. Improve hiring and retention! Millennials and Gen-Z want to work for companies committed to employees’ total health and wellness. They will tell their friends, improving your company’s brand as a top place to work in the community and industry. Burnout is real. The lower the stress level, the lower the chance of burnout occurring. How to Create a Culture of Health and Wellness Employee wellness has too many times been an afterthought in company’s benefit programs. Have a pizza party, employee of the month, casual Friday, or provide mental health pamphlets. While pizza can be a wonderful coping go-to it does not solve the root of the problems and creates additional physical challenges if utilized too much! To provide our teams a health and wellness program that works in 2025, we must focus on the longer-term behavior these programs can positively influence. When developing Health and Wellness programs, there are 3 initial steps that are critical to the foundation. First is recognizing that it is OK to talk about and address mental and physical health challenges as a society, a company, and as individuals. Reduce the stigma surrounding seeking help. The second is to meet your team where they are at when identifying specific programs. Don’t guess what is needed – communicate with them to listen to their stressors related to their mental and physical health. The magic is matching your programs to your people and your culture. The third is owners and key management leading by example. This includes budgeting for Health & Wellness programs. A WellHub study found that executives who lead by example increase wellness participation from 44% to 80%. A Sample of Effective Programs in 2025 Personalized Wellness Programs. The communication with your team to identify programs that address individual mental and physical needs. Work-life balance is not about time off, but flexible work schedules that identify when employees do their best work or have personal responsibilities such as picking up children or caring for elderly parents. Training leaders to spot signs of stress so appropriate support can be provided. Stress-reducing activities, including Mindfulness and Meditation programs Gym memberships or an in-house exercise area This one should be easy for our industry – the positive effects of plants at work! Health awareness initiatives Providing proper rest & recovery – think about your grower and production teams! Encourage and provide no-hassle Mental health days Virtual Therapy services Company or individualized wellness goal challenges Mentorship and or buddy programs Celebration of employee professional and personal milestones Ergonomic chairs, desks, and working conditions Incorporating calming or uplifting music Technology solutions offered by fitness trackers and apps are designed to de-stress. NOTE: These provide data to help in meeting your employees where they are. Relaxing break areas Availability of healthy foods Financial counseling and coaching provide significant peace of mind Group wellness education or sessions, such as yoga. Employees today are drawn to companies that promote a positive community at work and outside of work. Providing your team not just a physically safe environment but one that promotes an overall mental and physical health atmosphere will lead to comforting magic words both employers and employees want to hear and say – I love my job! Todd Downing is a Managing Partner for Best Human Capital Advisory Group and leads the Horticulture & Green Industry executive search and advisory services. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and a passion for supporting its continued professional growth.
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
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