Years ago, companies would not hire an HR specialist until they reached 100 full time employees.
Things have changed since those “good ol” days!
I am now advising companies to bring in this specialty HR position much earlier in their growth journey–especially when the leaders need the people-management support.
Below I have listed 10 benefits of hiring for this position early on.
This newsletter is inspired by my recent interview of Marty Vales, for my podcast, The Ultimate Landscape CEO. She is the Chief People Officer at Schill Grounds Management.
She shares quite a bit of insight and advice based on her years in the HR position.
What surprised me most was her operational mindset. She is very process oriented. I can see how someone like her would bring huge value to a growing business.
[Note, she will be speaking at our Summer Growth Summit. You have until Thursday to advantage of the Super early bird pricing up. Register here]
10 Benefits of Hiring an HR Generalist
1. Centralized HR Expertise
An HR generalist (specialist) brings knowledge across multiple HR functions (recruiting, compliance, employee relations, benefits, etc.), giving you a one-stop solution instead of scattered, piecemeal effort.
2. Improved Hiring & Onboarding
They can streamline recruiting, vet better candidates, and create an onboarding experience that gets new hires productive much faster—especially important in our competitive green industry.
3. Compliance & Risk Management
They’ll ensure you’re compliant with labor laws (e.g., OSHA, wage/hour laws, I-9s), reducing the risk of fines, lawsuits, or failed audits that can be costly for a small company.
4. Employee Retention & Engagement
By implementing feedback loops, recognition programs, and development plans, an HR specialist helps keep morale high and reduce costly turnover—especially critical for skilled tradespeople.
We call that plugging the holes in the bucket!
5. Performance Management
They can introduce systems for setting goals, giving feedback, and managing under-performance—turning people problems into performance wins.
6. Better Workforce Planning
They’ll provide insight into staffing needs, seasonal labor trends, and future workforce demands, allowing the business to be proactive instead of reactive.
Schill does a great job of this; they have some great systems to share.
7. Culture Building
This position can help define, promote, and protect company values—crucial in landscaping and construction, where culture can directly impact jobsite behavior, safety, and client satisfaction.
8. Time Savings for Leaders
By offloading HR tasks (recruiting, conflict resolution, benefits questions, documentation), owners and managers can focus more on growth, operations, and profitability.
I see this need a lot, where technical or home-grown managers can be supported with a professional manager.
9. Training & Development Programs
They can implement safety training, leadership development for crew leads, and skills training—boosting jobsite efficiency and opening career paths internally.
They can also run your safety programs.
10. Scalability
As the company grows, a professional HR manager can build the foundational systems and processes that allow the team to scale—helping avoid chaos and burnout during periods of growth.
Just make sure your HR manager is processes oriented, like Mary Vales from Schill.
Your Challenge: Decide when is the right time to bring on this position
I am coaching a 2M and a 10M company right now, both could use this position on their leadership team.
But they also have other key positions they need to bring on. It’s all about having a roadmap for growth and deciding when the right time is to hire this position.
It’s not always obvious that this position pays for itself, but get the right one and it does many times over.
Regards, Jeffrey Scott!
P.S. We build many strategic roadmaps with company owners and their leadership teams. Reach out to us if you want to explore how this works, and how it can help you develop your path forward.
