Tackling Your Pest Control Company's Hiring Challenge

Editor’s note: The following article from Anne Lackey, co-founder of HireSmart Virtual Employee, addresses one of the biggest challenges in the pest control industry – hiring. HireSmart Virtual Employees is a full-service HR firm helping others recruit, hire & train top global talent. Lackey can be reached at anne@hiresmartvirtualemployees.com.

Plenty of business owners feel stuck, unable to find good hires or expand because they don't have the manpower. 

Do you relate? Perhaps you have technicians chasing the next 50 cents an hour, or running out to start their own business without understanding all the headaches of entrepreneurship. You're shorthanded and your phone constantly buzzes in your pocket. You don’t have enough hours in the day to handle all the duties.

How do you solve your labor problems? Well, it's not easy, is it?

Projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor reveal ongoing demographic shifts are affecting the job market, with Baby Boomers retiring and the number of Gen Z workers entering the labor force smaller than previous generations. 

The U.S. labor force participation rate — the proportion of the working-age population working or actively seeking employment — dwindled from 67.3 percent in 2000 to 63.3 percent before COVID-19 and is expected to dip to 60.4 percent in 2032. 

Those percentages represent millions of workers no longer available to fill the personal protection gear. And as a significant portion of the U.S. ages out of the workforce, more young people will be needed in health-related fields to serve that population. This will diminish labor pools for other industries seeking new employees as dollars and talent flow to the health sector.

COMMIT TO A HOLISTIC LABOR PLAN 
But don't despair. You're in the business of planning. You help homeowners see the need for regular action to combat pests. You have to spell it out with a logical plan.

You already do this for yourself, too. Think about how pest control constantly changes. The chemicals of yesteryear are shelved in favor of watered-down alternatives. In pest control, you must adjust as the regulations change. This requires more attentiveness to educating yourself and planning.

The labor market is the same. It's evolving. The days of advertising an opening and waiting for resumes to roll in are over, just like the ease of strong chemicals are passing by. 

Success with staff recruitment and retention is all about holistic planning. Here are some tips on how:

ENGAGE WITH THE 'FUTURE SELF'
Begin by assessing and identifying current employees who could be leveraged to attract others to the company. Identify inspirational and charismatic members of your team. Get them in front of young people and have them help teens imagine their "future self" as a co-worker in that company. 

Have sessions with tools in their hands. Develop more internship opportunities. Find the teachers in your community who have the "it" factor when serving youth. Ask them to point out inquisitive teens exhibiting a great attitude and work ethic. 

Contact those teens directly and discuss your company and why it's unique. "What will I do with my life?" looms large with teens. The more you present a quality answer to that question, the more talent and loyalty you'll find from the younger generation over the years.

IDENTIFY YOUR BEST TOOLS
You make decisions every day about which tools to use. Should I do a traditional trench-and-trench liquid treatment for termites or should I use a baiting system? Do I treat for bed bugs using liquid pesticides or should I consider heat or fumigation.

Some of your best tools already reside in your company. They may just be shelved. Review your processes and make a checklist of what everyone is doing and what steps they take to accomplish the task. Always ask employees about their concerns, which allows you to identify processing problems. Management is like the eye test at the doctor's office where you're looking for the sharpest prescription. Is this clear, or is this next one better?

We're in the early stages of AI, and the hype exceeds the payoff in many businesses right now, so the best way to harness this power is to identify and hire people eager to engage in the ongoing pursuit of high functionality. The human imagination remains your top power tool. Employees who embrace AI and envision new uses are your keepers.  

LEVERAGE THE WEB FOR LABOR
One significant upside of technology is the elimination of geographic constraints. The Web offers a labor market game-changer by allowing the outsourcing of office duties to less-expensive markets. If the hiring process is right, companies can make massive savings without reducing the quality of work. That reduction in office costs can be transferred to increased pay for "boots-on-the-ground" employees in high demand.

Here's a simple exercise requiring just a sheet of paper and a pen. Put "On-site" as the header on the left and "Off-site" on the right. Think of every duty in your company. If it must go in the left "On-site" column, put it there. But what tasks can be handled anywhere? What can go in the right column? It's essential to recognize that your key on-site employees' off-site workload is a company inefficiency you can actively address through a holistic approach. 

Do off-site duties need to be handled within a local labor pool? If not, would you limit your search to the U.S.? Are you tied to "on-shore," or would you consider "off-shore" employees from a more affordable labor market? Many businesses leverage this new virtual reality to offset other pressures while gaining an advantage over competitors. This can be done for many time-consuming duties that have nothing to do with phone services.

COMMIT TO STAFF MAINTENANCE
Even if you've secured quality staff, continue recruiting your employees, who always have the stay/go option. Why not focus on retaining the stars on your team with incentive-based rewards? Set key performance indicators (KPIs) for what's expected, then develop a secondary metric for bonuses and perks. Those who excel will be rewarded appropriately and won't fall into motivation-killer "no-good-deed-goes-unpunished" cynical mindsets, destroying morale in many companies.

When you plan, consider budgeting for the job well done. If you don't have the money for it, be creative in getting the message across in other ways. Failure to be mindful of your employees' sense of self-worth is a leak in your boat. Make sure that the ship is tight.

When looking ahead, the numbers are clear: the labor outlook in the U.S. will be challenging for many industries in years to come. That’s why it’s crucial to form a holistic action plan: engage with youth, use your best tools, leverage the Web for help, and commit to a staff maintenance plan. When you’re well rounded like that, you’ll never get stuck.