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LaurelRock Company in Wilton, Connecticut, did something special this year for Office Administrator Laurie Blauvelt. In celebration of Secretary’s Day, company personnel took her to the field so that she could actually see what the crews were doing on the job. “We thought it would be both educational and fun for her,” relates Burt DeMarche, company vice president. “She spent the morning with our maintenance supervisor, had lunch with me, and then spent the afternoon with our installation supervisor. The idea was to give her a firsthand impression of what our crews do, spend some time with company personnel to become better acquainted with them, and meet some of the clients, too.”

DeMarche noted that the day reaped even more rewards than originally anticipated. “Laurie said she enjoyed the day, but it also helped her on several different fronts. She actually observed some individual maintenance tasks, such as edging and trimming, and watched installation crews in action. The result was that terms she hears and uses in her daily routine were now brought to life. Giving someone in Laurie’s position a better understanding of the overall picture of what our company does benefits everyone.”

The day was such a success that DeMarche plans to repeat it this fall. “We did not get the opportunity to show her everything we wanted to show her,” he adds. “Although it would be impossible to take her to all of our projects, there are several key accounts we would like her to visit. We also want to introduce her to a couple of suppliers with whom she spends a fair amount of time on the phone. It is important for Laurie to be able to place a face with a voice, and I believe it helps the person on the other end, too, no matter if it is a client or supplier.”

LaurelRock is a family-owned landscape maintenance and design/build company serving the high-end residential market niche. It employs 30 people and sends out seven crews. Laurie has been with the company for four years.

“In that length of time, you become acquainted with most everyone,” DeMarche relates. “Still, though, contact with many of the crew members may be minimal. If nothing else, getting her out to see and meet with our people is worth her taking time off from her normal duties.” DeMarche noted that Laurie’s assistant stepped in to take up the slack while Laurie was making her rounds.

Does he have any advice for other landscape contractors who may be thinking about a similar exercise? “Just do it,” he advises, adding that training has become such an important part of every company’s daily regimen that sponsoring an Office Administrator’s Day seems like a natural fit.

DeMarche adds, “We just wanted to give Laurie a day out of the office and an opportunity to view in person what we do at a job site. The more we thought about it, though, the more sense it made to expose her to as many different aspects of our company as we could. Now, we will try to make the effort at least once, if not twice, every year.”

10/03

By Rod Dickens, ALCA Contributing Writer