Team Building

“Productivity” and “efficiency” — these buzzwords can create a sense of panic and anxiety for many pest control companies, especially ones that struggle to find qualified candidates.

We know that having a solid team — from sales to customer service to technicians — who all understand their roles can help improve your firm’s productivity.

But that’s easier said than done. There isn’t one single way to improve efficiency — and it doesn’t happen overnight.

“Implementing changes or new processes takes time. It takes persistence,” said Julie Fredlund, director of technology and office operations at ABC Home & Commercial Services in Austin, Texas. “Thinking about the employee experience is constant. You have to keep poking it.”

PMPs across the country share how they’re finding, keeping and rewarding their employees to keep their companies running efficiently.

Invest time (and money) into finding the right people

While it can be challenging to get people to respond to an online job posting or even show up for an interview, PMPs say that employee referrals continue to produce quality candidates.

“The most effective way to find a strong candidate is to leverage the relationships of our existing team members,” said Aly Silva-Mulgrew, president of Plunkett’s Pest Control in Minneapolis, Minn. “It’s so powerful when an existing technician tells their neighbor, their friend or their family member about their job and paints a realistic picture of what the role is.”

Companies like Thomas Pest Services in Schenectady, N.Y., have had a challenging year with hiring. But they’ve found that having a referral bonus program in place was key to meeting their hiring goals for the year.

“Our employees know our company culture the best and can determine if a person is going to be a great fit,” said Megan Thomas-Kurek, director of employee experience. “They’re having a lot of the conversations before they even get to me on what to expect and what a day in the life of a technician is. So, that’s great.”

With results like that, it’s easy for Thomas Pest Services to see the benefit of having referral bonuses — and to keep up the program.

“We decided to use what we might pay our recruiter as the referral bonus,” said Sarah Thomas-Clark, vice president. “We might as well give that money to a current team member who’s doing us a favor by recommending someone.”

It also can pay off to think about the type of candidates you’re looking for and to tailor your job posting and accompanying material to them.

“This industry is primarily male, so we’re really trying to focus a lot on finding females as well. Females make fantastic technicians — it’s our job to find them,” said Fredlund, ABC Home & Commercial Services. “We’ve made a lot of our recruiting videos that feature both men and women. Seeing a female technician in a video helps women think that this is something that they could do. It catches their eye.”

Think about how you communicate

How you cascade information to your employees continues to be a focus for PMPs, with 54% reporting that clear communication about productivity goals is vital to an efficient workplace.

Start by thinking about how your team likes to communicate. Is it in-person? Email or an app? Fredlund said she’s seen more engagement with employees by using text as the main mode of communication.

“People don’t pay attention to the email quite as much as they used to. If there’s a way to communicate by texting, that’s the way to go,” said Fredlund. “We focus not only with employees but specifically with recruiting applicants. We have so much more luck with hiring by texting someone instead of emailing or a phone call.”

For Thomas-Kurek, implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) helped Thomas Pest Services streamline its process. It also lets employees have weekly check-ins with their supervisor and then quarterly conversations with their department director.

“During these meetings, supervisors are reviewing a scorecard with employees,” said Thomas-Kurek. “Employees can see how they’re performing and it guides the conversation. For instance, if their service effectiveness is below the bar, supervisors can guide those training conversations to focus on process.”

However you choose to interact with your team, it can be a daily struggle. Beyond just focusing on communicating clearly to employees, there needs to be guidance and training on how employees talk and respond to customers — and how they relay that information back to their co-workers, said Nathan Dowless, general manager of Down East Pest Control in Bladenboro, N.C.

“I don’t know what my technician may have said to a customer, unless he puts a note in our system. For example, should we follow up with the customer in two weeks?” said Dowless. “Our admin staff has taken the initiative to look at those notes right after an appointment — and then clarify with the technician if there are any questions.”

Treat them like family

No, this isn’t an ad for a popular Italian restaurant. But one way that PMPs work on retaining employees is making them feel like part of a team — or a family. It’s a little more nuanced than “company culture.”

So, while it can include team-building activities like axe-throwing or a company party, it’s instilling a feeling of togetherness and trust that can’t be manufactured or faked.

“If my guys need something, whether it’s getting to their kid’s T-ball game on time or if they have a flat tire, I want them to come to me,” said Dowless. “I want them to know they’ll be treated like a person and not just an employee.”

At Thomas Pest Services, Thomas-Clark goes all out for employee birthdays and bakes their favorite treat for the occasion (there’s even a question on their onboarding form to help detect the exact treat). She also organizes a potluck for Thanksgiving and cooks for a popular “grilled cheese and tomato soup” day. It’s her way of showing appreciation to her 67 employees.

“I’m a huge mama bear. I like to joke that while I have my own children, I also have 67 children,” said Thomas-Clark. “Our team is so special to me, and I’m so thankful for each one of them. Any time I can find an opportunity to show my appreciation, I will absolutely try to.”

It all comes back to knowing your employees well and also being open and vulnerable yourself. That can be as simple as taking a moment here and there to listen about someone’s weekend plans or offering advice if someone is going through a tough time.

“Everybody knows everybody here, and everybody talks every day. We’re not perfect, by any means, but it works for us,” said Dowless. “When we had two or three employees, communication wasn’t a huge deal. But as we grow, it’s more important to know each other well. There’s not one person on our team that’s not approachable.”

Make it competitive

While many companies use a commission-based structure to incentivize their sales and technician teams, don’t overlook other opportunities to spark a little friendly competition within the workplace.

Silva-Mulgrew said she’s seen the benefit of technicians at Plunkett’s Pest Control having access to their data and seeing how they perform compared to their coworkers.

“Every one of our technicians is trained, encouraged and almost expected to sell, and when they do so, they earn a sales bonus,” said Silva-Mulgrew. “We also try to gamify it so that someone will know how they’re ranking in sales results compared to people in their area, as well as across the whole organization. It really encourages people to take ownership of their route and know that the more that they can build it, the more they win and are rewarded.”

Having transparency and access to how an employee ranks among everyone may spur more production, but it also gives those employees control of how to manage their workload.

“It gives people the ability to pace themselves and know how much they need to do each week to hit the goals they set for themselves,” said Silva-Mulgrew. “It’s been a fun, friendly, competitive way to motivate people.”

For Noah Ingalls, Real Pest Solutions in Olathe, Kan., competitiveness is more about celebrating wins as a team.

“Commission has been the go-to for ages. We still do that,” said Ingalls. “But the biggest thing we have done is success sharing. We come up with our projected numbers for the year. And if we go above our projected numbers, we take that amount and split it into a bonus for our team. It’s something to push and drive for — and something that thus far, we’ve hit pretty much every quarter.”