5 Things Every Lawn Care Business

Owner Should Know About

the H-2B Visa Program

In a seasonal industry like landscaping, maintaining a great workforce is a consistent challenge.

The lawn care and landscaping industry has grown about 3%

each year, but finding enough workers has

continued to be a challenge.

Tips for building great lawn care teams.

Most local workers are not looking for

seasonal work, and/or are not

willing to work out in the summer

heat.

Therefore, many employers are turning to the guest-worker program available through the federal government.

Learn more about this program.

Known as the H-2B Visa program, it allows employers who qualify to hire foreign

workers to fill seasonal jobs.

1) The program requires jumping through a few time-consuming hoops.

The step-by-step process necessary to hire a foreign worker involves three federal agencies

and one state agency.• A request to the Department of Labor to figure out the wage for a

particular job in a particular region (i.e. mowing yards in Austin TX)

• 3-4 weeks later when that is received, a work order must be sent to the state Workforce Agency indicating the position, qualifications needed, and prevailing wage

• Then, must advertise the job for 10 days in area where job is located. Must hire all qualified applicants

• Next, send info about number hired to Department of Labor with list of how many laborers still needed

• After receiving permission to hire through H-2B program, must apply for visas through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

• Prospects have to meet with U.S. Dept. of State at the closest American consulate in their countries and must pass a background check.

All told, these steps can take up to 4 months from start to finish.

2) The H-2B program requires you to pay for each work order placed

There are fees involved in almost all steps of the H-2B process.

Each work order placed costs approximately $1,750 alone.

Plus you must pay at the rate for each job that is prevailing in your region.

3) Only a limited number of foreign workers are allowed into the U.S. each

year

The program has a cap of 66,000 total workers per year.

• 33,000 allowed in from October 1–March 31• Another 33,000 allowed in from April 1–September 30.

4) There are no guarantees you will get workers even if you do everything right

If the cap of 33,000 foreign workers is reached before your request is filled, then

you will not get any foreign workers for your season.

If you planned on filling all of

your labor needs with

foreign workers, this will leave you in a very bad

position.

5) Have a backup plan!

It is critical that you not rely only on the H-2B guest worker program for your seasonal workers

Learn 5 smart ways to find new team members.

You could potentially kill your business if you can't service your clients in the

growing season.

Figure out the minimum number of

people you need to service your

customers even if you were unable

to hire the foreign laborers.

Spend more time on trying to hire local workers.

• Improve your benefits, whether short-term perks or long-term benefits.

• Reward employee referrals and loyalty.

Learn what perks can and can’t do for your business.

• Tell your customers if something happens and you don't have enough staff.

• Work hard on training your teams so you provide exceptional customer service

Ways to get your teams to increase their work quality.

Do not assume that you will always

receive employees through the H-2B

visa program because it may not happen one year. Plan accordingly.

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