According to a survey conducted by Manpower Group, in 2019, 69% of U.S employers reported talent shortages. The COVID-19 pandemic further widened the gap between the market’s needs and people’s skills. It is becoming increasingly difficult for employers to find the right fit, especially in the floral industry. The floral industry is a booming field, but it has been very difficult to find new talent for many from Floral Designers to Flower Sales Executives.

In some case employees in the floral industry can complain about low pay, poor compensation packages, little to no perks, and no development or growth within the workplace. As a result, they opt for different professions and fields rather than staying and growing in the floral industry. This means floral industry businesses may have a high turnover rate and have difficulty retaining talent, recruiting or inviting new talent into the flower industry.

This article will discuss the importance of retaining talent in the floral industry and tips to do so. Let’s get started!

Importance of Retaining Talent

Retaining talent is essential for the growth and success of any organization. If you want your floral business to grow, you need to create a company culture that encourages your top talent to stay. Retaining talent helps reduce skilled labour shortages and high turnover rates.

A company with a high turnover rate has to hire new employees, which means increased recruitment costs. A high turnover rate also causes low productivity as you continuously have to train new people for the role, and there is no new influx of knowledge, another result of high turnover is loss of sales, customers and relationship which is what helps keep your business running.

Benefits of Retaining Talent

There are multiple benefits of retaining top talent in the floral industry. These include:

• By putting effective retention strategies in place, you can boost company morale. High morale increases positivity around the workplace and among workers, turning employees into great advocates for the company.
• Happier employees mean happier customers.
• Your company spends less time recruiting and training new employees by retaining top talent.
• Hiring new employees is a time-consuming and expensive procedure. Thus, you can increase revenue and improve employee engagement through retention.
• Around 72% of workers cited that company culture is a driving factor that influences their decision to join a company. Employee retention helps improve the company culture –  employees are appreciated, celebrated, and rewarded.

Tips to Retain Talent in the Floral Industry

Now that you know the importance of retaining talent in the floral industry. Let’s look at some of the best practices employed by other industries to retain talent and reduce skilled labor shortages.

Train and Develop Your Employees

The importance of training team members cannot be ignored. Investing in your team’s growth and advancement will help you in the long run and make your employees feel appreciated. A company should make every possible effort to provide training and knowledge courses to their employees and promote their growth within the company. If applied in the floral industry, workers will be more inclined to stay if they feel they have something to learn. Some ideas are sale courses, graphic design courses, Excel courses, leadership training or any passion or development the employee is interested in- just ask them. Invest on your employees and help them develop into the best version of themselves thus improving culture, buy in and improving your ROI in that employee.

Engage and Acknowledge Employees

Engage with your employees and learn about the difficulties they are facing. No matter how big or small, a single error in your company culture can lead to dissatisfaction and resignations. Thus, engage your employees over lunch or carry out a survey or poll to identify critical areas of improvement.

Most importantly, acknowledge what your customers are feeling and act on it. Nothing shows loyalty and respect more than working toward making your company a safer environment for the workers.

Give Perks

One of the most significant flaws of some floral industry companies is that they provide little to no perk. The low wages and poor compensation plans, followed by no bonuses, can quickly dishearten an employee and force them to look for greener opportunities (pun intended).

Offer flexible schedules, leaves, and remote work. Invest in them, and keep an open dialog whenever possible. Be open to ideas and help create an environment where work/life balance is achievable.

Now that you know the importance of training team members and retaining talent, reach out to Pollen Talent. They help with recruiting, vetting candidates, and conducting staff evaluations within the floral industry. They are a recruiting agency for the floral industry and help find ideal and skilled candidates for the job. Reach out to them today!