Why TN Nursery Invests in Employee Training and Development
Training employees pays for itself in the first year through reduced employee turnover‚ fewer costly mistakes‚ and better customer service․ That's not guesswork․ That's what we do at TN Nursery․ In an interview with Forbes about leadership in the agricultural business‚ our CEO Tammy Sons said‚ A nursery is only as good as the people who grow‚ ship‚ and stand behind its plants․ It's true whether you're running a two-acre operation or shipping thousands of trees a week across the Southeast․
The Hidden Cost of Not Developing Employees
A lot of small businesses think of training as something to be done if there's time‚ when you have a slow week․ In the nursery trade‚ that doesn't work․ An untrained worker who can't tell a bare-root shipment from a container-grown tree can do thousands of dollars worth of damage in a single afternoon․ Someone who doesn't know that Tennessee is mostly in USDA zones 6b through 7b can give a customer the wrong answer if they ask whether a Kwanzan Cherry Tree will survive the winter․
Retention․ The cost of replacing a trained nursery staff member is three to four months of their salary‚ including the cost of recruitment‚ training new staff and loss of productivity during the transition․ Our retention is better because people can see a career path‚ more responsibility‚ more money‚ more specialized skills․ We've had shipping employees turn into plant care specialists in eighteen months because we put the time in upfront․
Productivity․ A trained employee prepares a bare-root Magnolia Jane Tree for shipment to a customer by keeping roots moist‚ packaging it for transport‚ and inspecting it for signs of plant stress․ It is not intuitive and has to be taught through several weeks of hands-on shadowing of an experienced grower․
Institutional knowledge․ Long-tenured staff members know things that are not written down in the employee manual‚ such as which perennial cultivars are most tolerant of heavy clay soil in Tennessee‚ which trees will benefit most from extra attention in a wet spring‚ and how customers respond to which planting recommendations․ It is important that the knowledge is transferred to newcomers‚ so that it is not lost․
Culture․ Nursery work is both physical and seasonal‚ sometimes exhausting․ It's easier to get people through the busy spring rush (when everyone is shipping and planting and answering customer service calls for everyone else) when you know they're more likely to come back season after season․
What Good Onboarding Actually Looks Like
Telling a new employee to learn as you go is not a good training plan․ Follow this model to train nursery and horticultural workers․
First week should include covering plant handling‚ shipping label decoding‚ tools overview‚ and a tour of plants in the growing zones in the market area․ For example‚ if customers are in Memphis and Knoxville‚ be sure staff know that Memphis has a different growing zone than Knoxville․
Weeks two to four: Have new hires shadow an experienced employee‚ identify plants‚ and explain how to distinguish plant varieties‚ such as the Kwanzan Cherry and the Yoshino Cherry, or a hosta and a hellebore․ The new hire should also explain how to harvest and ship live and dormant plants․
In month two‚ add some customer-facing suggestions․ Whoever answers the phone at the nursery can explain that fall (September through November) is when to plant perennial plants in Tennessee: the roots will get established before the summer heat․
Months three and beyond: True specialization begins‚ with items such as gardening tips‚ soil amendment suggestions‚ pest identification‚ and reminders about seasonal tasks․ This is when cross-training pays off․ But a person who knows not only the growing side but also the shipping side is much more useful․
The biggest mistake we see in this industry is coming out of the gate with month-three expectations in week one․ Plants don't push their growth cycles․ Neither do employees․
Building the Kind of Environment People Want to Stay In
Setting clear expectations is more important than most owners realize․ Write down what success looks like in the first thirty‚ sixty‚ and ninety days for a new hire․ Indeterminate directives such as help out where needed create confusion and resentment․
Ask lots of questions․ When you work in a nursery‚ the details can feel like second nature to older employees․ For example‚ how deep to water a tree after you plant it‚ how to tell whether a perennial is dormant‚ or which order to prioritize shipments if the weather gets rough․ A new member of staff who asks why do we do it this way? can often identify inefficiencies which staff have long accepted․
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