Landscape Management, April 2017
Photo istock com Woodendinosaur Why and how some landscape companies are recruiting workers from By Marisa PalMieri ate last year William Merkler was on vacation in Puerto Rico thinking about how he would reconcile his landscape firms contracts with the new prevailing wage the Department of Labor told him he must pay his H 2B guest workers this year a 17 percent increase We contacted our clients and told them our labor rate has gone up says the president of Down To Earth Landscaping based in Jackson N J We offered to keep their contracts but told them wed need an increase They said We love you guys but we cant pay that much more On his trip to the Caribbean island Merkler considered how Puerto Rico is a U S territory and Puerto Ricans are American citizens who dont need visas to work in the U S He heard talk about the islands 12 percent unemployment rate and how there was a proposal to drop the minimum wage from 725 per hour to 425 per hour for workers under 25 to help solve its debt crisis Then Merkler thought recruiting workers from the island just might be the answer to his labor woes He isnt the first in the landscape industry whos had this idea National landscape company BrightView has done it at least in Florida and perhaps 48 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET April 2017 in other markets Large regional companies like Landscapes USA based in Austin Texas and Yellowstone Landscape based in Bunnell Fla are trying it for the first time this year Austin based CleanScapes and Atlanta based Russell Landscape have both given it a try Recruiting from the island happens in other industries experiencing worker shortages such as nursing and agriculture Its not a well known practice says Clay Martin owner of MRC a direct hire agency specializing in recruiting Puerto Rican workers for landscape companies but he considers it to be a viable long term solution for the landscape industry These guys are American citizens and have the ability to move to the states says Martin who has the combined experience of interning for a landscape company in college working alongside Spanish speaking employees living in Ecuador for two years in the Peace Corps and recruiting workers from Puerto Rico for another industry Since November he has placed about 100 Puerto Rican recruits for 15 landscape companies including Merklers If they have a positive working environment its going to be a sustainable employment option for my clients both the landscape company and the Puerto Rican recruits The one thing all landscape companies who are turning to Puerto Rico agree on is theyre in a dire labor situation brought on by a William Merkler c u t g wo m
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