People who work at Level Green Landscaping often talk about the family atmosphere at work.
But the fact is, they have real families at home. And no matter how great the atmosphere is at work, you want to spend time with your actual family.
At Level Green, we know time away from work is as important as work.
“The work we do at every level, but especially the work our crew members do, is difficult,” says Michael Mayberry, a manager at Level Green. “We don’t want to burn anybody out.
“Our employees aren’t just numbers or tools to us,” Mayberry says. “They’re people, and we want to take care of them. We want to make sure they have time to spend with their families, and time to do the things they want to do outside work.”
It’s Sunday — Stay Home
When Mayberry was hired at Level Green, it was spring — a landscaping company’s busiest time.
“I said, ‘We’re working Sundays, right?’ and everybody just looked at me,” he recalls. “That was the culture I came from at my previous employer. I worked 30 days in a row. When I worked in the golf course industry I’d work 14 days on, then two off.
It was refreshing to be somewhere where that wasn’t required.”
But it doesn’t just happen.
“We have a great team of planners and communicators who work really hard to do the work as efficiently as possible,” Mayberry says. “We stock our trucks and trailers with the right equipment to get the jobs done, we do efficient routing and planning so we can give people time off.
“This wouldn’t work if people didn’t put in 100 percent,” he says. “We wouldn’t be efficient enough to allow this kind of flexibility.”
It also requires great communication between employees and their managers. Managers expect people to give them plenty of notice if they know they’ll need to adjust their hours.
While it’s rare to have to work on Sunday, the landscaping industry does require occasional Saturday work, Mayberry says. And sometimes weather dictates the work schedule. Crews may need to work four 10-hour days to beat impending bad weather, he says. But they enjoy a three-day weekend in return.
“Knowing They Trust Me Makes Me Work Harder”
Some employees, depending on their job, can work at home certain days.
“In certain positions, we offer that,” Mayberry says. “As technology grows, we’ll look at that even more. People are so connected now, they can work from home, or anywhere, they don’t have to be tied to an office.”
It’s one of the things Ashley Owens, business development manager, appreciates about the company.
“Level Green is very trusting in their employees,” Owens says. “They understand you don’t have to sit behind a desk all the time to do your work. In fact, you shouldn’t be at your desk all day.”
Especially in her job, which involves making and sustaining long-lasting client relationships.
The mother of a 2-year-old son and a 6-month old daughter, Owens loves the flexibility she has to work at home one day a week.
“I can meet my goals at my dining room table, as long as I have my laptop and my phone,” she says.
“Having the freedom to work where and when I need to, knowing that they trust me, makes me want to work harder,” she says. “Because I don’t want to let them down.”
Making Time For Family
At Level Green, we know important family moments don’t always happen on evenings and weekends. “The overall idea is that if you do your work and do it well, you can take an hour off if you need to and make it up later,” Mayberry says. “Most of us work more than eight hours in a day, anyway.
“Owners Bill and Doug are family people,” he says. “If you need to get your kids on the school bus in the morning or leave for an hour to attend something, that’s fine, as long as you get your work done.”
Making A Human Connection
“The way we view your life is different than other companies view it, in a positive way,” Mayberry says. “Some companies don’t care about your family life — they just care about the results at work.”
It’s part of the reason good people not only come to work at Level Green — they stay.
“That attitude goes a long way toward retention,” Mayberry says. “That’s how you keep employees — making a human connection with people.”
Want To Join The Team?
We’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.
Are you ready to work for a strong, growing company that cares about your work/life balance?
Contact us at 202-544-0968.
We’d love to meet you.
