What Keeps You up at Night?

Every business owner worries. It’s human nature to care about your livelihood and that of your employees. So what’s keeping pest control professionals up at night? Hiring competent employees, liability concerns and financial issues — specifically health care — top the list, according to a recent survey conducted by PCT magazine. Here’s what several business owners had to say about why they are counting sheep — and what they are doing about it.

FINDING A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. Public perception of the pest control profession and increasing competition for workers from other industries continue to make hiring solid, long-term employees a challenge.

The conscientiousness of pest control professionals and industry initiatives like the National Pest Management Association’s Professional Pest Management Alliance and QualityPro are slowly changing the public’s view of the industry but this hurdle makes hiring quality employees difficult.

“Unless people have grown up in the industry like many of us have, they don’t think of pest control as a glamorous job,” says Stacy O’Reilly, president, Plunkett’s Pest Control, Fridley, Minn. “Let’s face it, no one dreams of being in pest control, so it’s a challenge to get our ‘help wanted’ ad noticed and have people want to learn more about it.”

Sometimes, seeking employees is an issue due to competitive industries drawing on the work force or offering a higher pay scale.

“It’s certainly one of the main issues we have in Las Vegas. We have a lot of competition because of the tremendous growth,” says Dave Barton, owner, Pro-Tech Services, Las Vegas, Nev. “Many areas where we normally draw on for employees are not available to us anymore. And it’s getting more difficult to compete from a pay perspective.”

Or, there’s just no worker pool to draw from, period. “Northwest Pennsylvania is challenged. In the 1980s, the oil industry here really took a hit so there’s not much industry left. The young people in this area usually don’t stay — there’s so much opportunity elsewhere,” said Jim Williams, owner, Williams Pest Control Services, Warren, Pa. “For those that do stay, it’s hard to find employees that have a clear driving record and have not been in trouble with the law. It’s hard to find that diamond in the rough that you can trust.”

CHANGING THE VIEW. Most expect public perception will shift over time with continued industry-sponsored initiatives that set higher professional standards, through marketing to educate consumers about the value of professional pest services and through the efforts of individual companies to position themselves as protectors of public health and property.

“We need to be diligent in our efforts to let people know that this is a higher calling, because once you find the right fit for an employee, you’ve got one for decades,” O’Reilly says. “We probably have 15 technicians who have worked for us for more than 10 years. They become like family.”

If you are having trouble finding and keeping reliable employees, consider the following suggestions that have proven successful for other companies:

Resist mediocrity. You may be tempted to hire a mediocre technician just to fill the position. But, there’s no sense in hiring someone that you may need to let go down the road.

“You really have to be patient to find the one that’s the right fit for a long-term solution, O’Reilly says. “Sometimes that takes patience beyond belief.”

Offer a hands-on approach. At Plunkett’s Pest Control, job applicants ride along with an experienced technician so they can see what the job is really like.

“People initially may have a perception that it is grungy job, but find that pest control is quite sophisticated and professional,” O’Reilly said. “After they take the job and have spent a few more days in training, the response is, ‘I had no idea that there was this much involved in pest control.’”

Contact companies less fortunate. Keep up on the local business scene so when companies have layoffs, you can contact them to see if they have outplacement programs — or if they would be willing to provide your contact information to those laid off.

“We’ve had success hiring some really excellent employees using that approach,” O’Reilly says. “It’s all about overcoming the preconceived notion about pest control so this type of referral really helps.”

Tap into your technicians. When a technician refers an employee and it’s the right fit, Plunkett’s pays the technician a referral bonus. They also pay the prospective employee a signing bonus.

Bill Horgan, general manager, Debug Pest Control, Glocester, R.I., trains his technicians as sales people. “We train them to initiate and close sales, providing them with the ability to make unlimited sales commissions,” he says. “That really helps increase the attractiveness of the job.”

Support your professional identity. “As pest control professionals, we need to continue to present ourselves professionally — clean uniforms, clean trucks, excellent service and professional behavior,” says O’Reilly. “The perception will change — even if it is by just one client at a time.”

FINANCIAL CONCERNS. In addition to daily concerns such as fluctuating fuel costs, health care ranks high as a long-term financial issue for many pest control professionals. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, nearly 60 percent of the 45 million uninsured Americans are employed by small businesses.

“As a smaller company, the place we really feel the hurt is health care. When I was chairman of the Nevada Pest Control Association, one of our biggest disappointments was that we couldn’t even get an insurance company to talk to us. Combined, we had nearly 500 employees we could bring to the table, and three companies turned us down,” Barton says. “Health care is the number one thing we talk about here.”

Health insurance premiums and deductibles continue to go up, yet coverage stays the same or, in some cases, has decreased. As many small to mid-size pest management companies simply can’t afford to offer health insurance, they face continued challenges to hire and keep competent employees and reduce liability issues.

“Health care issues are a major concern. We are not able to offer health care for our employees due to the costs. They are spiraling out of control. It really cuts down on the labor pool we are able to draw from,” Williams said.

A great deal of legislation has been introduced in Congress during the last several years to address this growing problem, with particularly heated debates taking place in 2006 and already this year. But as of March, no one had been able to build consensus on any one bill, and with new congressional leadership, a quick resolution is unlikely.

The Small Business Health Plan Act of 2006 (S. 1955), proposed by Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wy.), was defeated in the Senate last May. This federal legislation would have allowed small business owners to join together through trade associations to arrange health benefits. And already this year, House Republicans were unsuccessful in bringing new SBHP legislation to a vote.

However, in February, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) called a meeting of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to investigate small business health care options. Kerry’s position is that SBHPs are not the only solution to help small companies deal with this issue. In January, he introduced legislation as a stop-gap measure (the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Act of 2007 — S. 99) to help provide some financial relief while lawmakers debate and develop a more comprehensive legislative plan. The bill would provide tax credits to companies that have fewer than 50 employees that pay at least half of their workers’ health care insurance.  

“If anything could be done for small business, it would be to have some sort of co-op to pool resources to provide employee benefits like health care. People want jobs and to come into this industry, but if you are a small business, you can’t afford to pay premiums. I’m an advocate of insurance for everyone,” says Sharon Molter, owner, PROTECH Maintenance, Lawrence, Ind.

For now, pest control professionals need to continue to educate themselves on the issue and contact their congressional representatives to express concern and a sense of urgency to address this escalating problem. (Editor’s note: To contact your Congressional representatives, visit www.senate.gov and www.house.gov.)

REDUCING LIABILITY. Liability issues are another common concern that may be preventing pest control professionals from sawing some logs. For Curtis Whalen, chief operating officer and one of the owners of Blue Sky Pest Control, Mesa, Ariz., one his biggest concern is keeping his technicians and public safe when his company fleet of service vehicles is on the road. “My biggest concern is my biggest liability. We do background checks on our technicians and conduct frequent training sessions, but having all those trucks on the road stresses me out on a daily basis,” Whalen said.

Two years ago, Whalen invested in global positioning system (GPS) technology and says it’s one of the best investments he has ever made. It’s given him peace of mind because he can track vehicles on the road and provide benefits related to service quality that he never imagined. “The technology has helped us resolve concerns. If I’m worried about any technicians, I can pull up data for the last few days and I can get a good idea of what they’ve been doing. I can tell based on how long they are at a site if they are doing good service or if maybe they need to slow down a bit,” Whalen said.

Using several detailed reports generated through GPS, not only is he able to track time spent on service calls, Whalen can identify when technicians are speeding, review routes to ensure efficiency and even track truck maintenance.

“Our technicians don’t speed as much, it saves on fuel and if we get a call and need to add a service stop, we are able to easily find out which technician is closest to send them over,” says Whalen.

Managing a fleet of trucks, Whalen appreciates the maintenance tracking feature. “You choose the parameters, such as every 300 miles, and it sends you an e-mail alerting you when a truck has hit that mark.”

Whalen says he’s surprised that the technology has had such a positive impact on the business. For example, just a few months ago, he made an important discovery that has helped improve service rates. “I compared the GPS to our callback report. I noticed you don’t have to spend a ton of extra time at a site to get better results. Our three best technicians weren’t spending twice as long on each call, just an extra three to five minutes,” he said. “Our service rate has improved a great deal since I started tracking the data. It’s a noticeable improvement over last year at this time.”

STAYING A STEP AHEAD. While putting new technology to work is one way to stay ahead of the curve, Bill Horgan of Debug Pest Control is preparing for the future by launching an organic division to provide “green” pest control alternatives and reduce liability issues. “One of my biggest concerns is pesticide regulation,” he says. “Our hope for the future is to move from organic being the niche to conventional treatments being the niche, and organic being the norm.”

Positioning his new division, Debug Green, as an environmentally conscious alternative to conventional pest control using minimal risk products, Horgan targets homeowners and companies that want eco-friendly service, yet normally wouldn’t contact a pest control professional. He’s networking to meet green building and organic facility managers that need pest control but don’t know who to hire. “The industry is doing the right thing by focusing on IPM and trying to educate technicians to inspect thoroughly and think mechanical controls first,” Horgan says. “I think we need to go further than IPM, although products are the sticking point because they are so limited. The good news is that in researching the green products and networking with companies that use them, we’re finding there hasn’t been much drop off or more call backs because of them.”

Horgan said he feels pesticide use is only going to become more of a concern for people and hopes that the Debug “green approach” will play a role in where the industry is headed. “As a new generation comes into the industry, I think more people will recognize that green is the way we need to go. If the younger generation doesn’t recognize it, they are going to be left behind,” he said. “In the future, this will be a tremendous service that will open doors for us, and will help keep us out of any litigation.”

The author has been writing about the pest management industry for 13 years. She can be reached at cbrazell@giemedia.com.

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7 Stress-busting Strategies for Busy Workdays

First there’s the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Then a morning meeting, where you feast on stale coffee and donuts. After that, you look down at your to-do list, which is filled with staff meetings, potential client meetings and an upcoming pest control conference. Add to that, the piano recital for your daughter and your son’s weekend soccer game, which leaves no time for that dental appointment you desperately need. If your schedule sounds as stressful as this, you’re not alone.

Although we do not want to avoid stress completely (because it is a condition of life itself) we need to know when it reaches dangerous levels in our body and prevent it from harming us. The following are seven sure-fire ways to stay in control of stress in the office and beyond.

1. Give a positive meaning to everything that happens to you. It is the meaning, not the event, that causes your body to secrete those harmful hormones, cortisol and adrenaline. If you are dealing with an unrealistic deadline, think about how happy your client will be if they receive the document on time. By deciding to give a positive meaning to everything that happens to you, 90 percent of stress will be eliminated.

2. Choose your fights intelligently. Very few things in life are worth fighting over. That parking spot near the office door — is it really worth fighting over with your colleague? Save your stress and energy for an emergency situation, when you really need it. Don’t waste it on a colleague who wants to pick a fight over the copier or someone who cuts you off in the parking lot. Ask yourself if it’s worth a fight and if anything will change. If the answer is “no,” then why get your adrenaline going to prepare for a fight? In some cases, the “flight” response might be more stressful. So, state your need, set your boundaries and be on your way.

3. Listen to your body and be kind to yourself. We all have different signals that tell us we are reaching our breaking point. For some it is a headache, for others it is indigestion. For some it is insomnia, while yet others experience depression. These are wake-up calls for you to curtail whatever it is that is causing you stress. Meanwhile, do an activity that you like! If you’re at work, take a break and walk around an outside courtyard or even the parking lot. If you’re at home, watch a funny movie, take a walk on the beach or re-connect with a loved one. It’s OK to miss an aerobic class or the workplace cocktail party. Everything will wait but your health.

4. Respect your individual rhythm. Some people not only can, but need to do many things at the same time. They thrive on stress. Others need to take their time and smell the roses on the way. Know yourself and respect your own rhythm. If you work better under pressure and with a deadline, then use that to your advantage. If you like working in complete peace, without colleagues talking or outside noise disturbing you, find a quiet place to finish up that project. If the turtle used the rabbit’s pace it would kill him and vice versa. Think about times when things have flowed for you, when you were most productive and creative. What were you doing? How did you feel? And now remember when you were pushing yourself to do too much or too little?

5. Don’t worry about the “what ifs”! Very few things are worth getting sick over. Most of the time we create scenarios in our mind that never come into fruition. Worrying about something that is yet to happen is like watching TV. It pulls you in and keeps you occupied for hours, days and years. If you are always worrying about what you don’t want to happen, how will you make room for what you do want to happen? The antithesis of worry is trust. You can’t trust and worry at the same time. It’s your choice: worry and stress or trust and peace!

6. Update your coping skills. As you change and your life changes with you, what worked when you were 20 years old might not when you are 40 and less when you are 60. Maybe it’s time to learn to meditate, or maybe the answer is to exercise less. The solution might be as simple as traveling more or simplifying your life.

7. Invest in your health plan. Exercise moderately, eat small but nutritious meals five times a day, drink eight glasses of water and sleep at least seven hours. Create play and fun time, and stop any habits that you know will eventually cause harmful stress on your body. Even at work, it’s important to keep up a healthy routine. Bring some bottled water and fresh fruit to snack on. Say “no” to that vending machine!

After all is said and done, the most important advice is to know thy self. What is a stressor (the cause of stress) for one, can be the elixir of life for another. Once you know what makes you happy and what makes you sad, what causes you to want to flee or fight, follow it. By being yourself and understanding your individual needs, you will stay in control of the stressors and give yourself more energy and motivation to unleash the creativity and productivity within. — Linda Nacif

Nacif is author of “Jump and the Joy Will Follow: How to Live in Conscious Joy and Health in Every Stage of Life.” She is a bilingual author and speaker with a master’s degree in clinical psychology. For information on her keynotes and seminars, visit www.lindanacif.com.