At Maedgen’s Lawn Care in Rolla, Mo., efficient crews stem, in part, from an efficient training program.
“We are solving our efficiency and quality issues by reinvestment into our employees with their learning,” says Owner Eric Maedgen. “Starting new hires on the right foot with the right knowledge leads to even more (efficiency). It is a very long process but will be greatly rewarded.”
Beginning three months ago, the lawn care company built out its training programs using Trainual.com, which starts at $83 per month, according to the company’s website. Maedgen’s uses the platform to develop programs for new-hire information, advanced line trimming, snow plowing, mowing and shrub pruning.
The training modules include a series of text, pictures, GIFs and videos to engage employees, according to Maedgen.
The company’s onboarding training is about 90 percent complete, and Maedgen estimates that it’ll be about a year before the rest of the modules have fully taken shape.
The management team collaborates to work on individual pieces and has employees go through what’s been developed and discuss what can be improved, Maedgen says.
Maedgen Lawn Care expects new hires will spend about six to eight hours on their first day with the basic training. After employees learn the basics, the company will introduce the more advanced modules.
“The old way of binders of text just doesn’t work,” Maedgen adds. “There are better ways.”
