Introduction

Many thanks to the National Arborist Association and Mark Garvin, editor of this fine publication, for granting me the opportunity to submit this article for your review and consideration. Mr. Garvin contacted me regarding presentations I made at New England Grows Annual Conferences in Boston. My sessions were on "Managing Your Hispanic/Latino Workforce – Benefits and Challenges," the same presentation I made at ANLA's Management Clinic three out of the last four years and most recently at New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association's Expo. In a conversation with Mr. Garvin, he felt it was time to bring my expertise to the NAA, Tree Care Magazine and hopefully the TCI Expo trade show.

1. How is the influx of Hispanic-Latino immigrant workers affecting our industry?
2. What will we have to do differently? How do we begin to look at these issues?
3. Will status quo – doing nothing differently – continue to get us the same results
   in our industry if the workforce, the labor marketplace is changing dramatically?
4. What are the best practices? What is working? What are the successful strategies that are producing results and what are the minefields we must avoid?
5. What one thing can we do to start dealing with these issues in the most effective manner?

The Answers

Our un-addressed diversity issues are like that ugly couch in the living room - we know it is there but we don't want to talk about it. Funny, people think by not talking about these issues, they go away. How untrue. By ignoring these issues we only give them more power to grow and eventually "swamp the boat." As a bilingual professional who is the son of Latino immigrant parents, this conversation is natural for me. Now it is time to take a stab at the answers. I think the questions are easy to pose, what is much more challenging lies in the discussion of the answers.

1. The influx of Hispanic-Latino immigrant workers is changing everything. How we recruit. How we hire. How we promote the best talent within our companies. How our services are delivered. How we run our organizations. The industry as a whole is at a monumental crossroads. How you deal with your Hispanic/Latino workers can make or break your business!
2. I suggest you rethink everything about your business and start with my answers to question number one above. Keep in mind that the United States is the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world today and soon will be third. Your industry is just seeing it sooner than most other industries in the U.S. For the rest of the country, it is a matter of when, not if. Even where I live, in Herndon, VA – parts of Herndon are nearly 70 percent Hispanic.
3. You can begin by learning what industry-leaders are doing differently. I always say, "Don't recreate the wheel, take someone else's and put a white wall on it." Maintaining status quo will doom your organization and it will definitely create a competitive disadvantage. I have no doubt that the organizations in your industry that best manage your Hispanic-Latino immigrant workforce issues will survive, thrive and be around for a truly different competitive day.
4. I had the pleasure of polling and surveying over 600 organizations at the most recent ANLA, New England Grows and NJ Nursery and Landscape Expos and when asked, "What one thing are you doing differently around your new Hispanic/Latino workers?" the answers were quite surprising!

1. One of the most common themes in the answers was around treating these workers as human beings and not as "cattle." Many participants in my sessions commented that, "if we don't get a handle on these issues these workers will stop entering our industry and move on to construction, agriculture and poultry and there will be nobody left to employ."
2. Encourage workers to learn English and Spanish (including ESL courses sponsored by employer on-site) to "build bridges" – bilingualism is key!
3. Translate all policies, procedures, training, recruitment flyers, and benefit literature into Spanish and this is where STS, LLC comes into the picture – DTG was getting so many requests to translate payroll, policies and procedures that we formed a separate company.
4. Ask new Hispanic/Latino workers what they need and then work on delivering it in a reasonable and timely manner. My favorite incentive or retention bonus – long distance calling cards in $100 increments.
5. I am constantly asked, "How do we manage our people?" I will start by saying, "Well, that is the first problem – you are asking me and not the unique individuals that work for you (which by the way, don't all look, think, act alike).

5. Hire a bilingual person to start translating and "building bridges." Also, purchase the English to Spanish industry-specific dictionary we sell (a very inexpensive way to get started) or The Latino Landscape Workforce Toolkit that DTG/ANLA/Chapel Valley  Landscape put together.

We can help. Talk to us. Together we'll explore how to empower your organization to gain effective leverage in our changing cultural environment.