A company culture based on strong family values
By Henry VanHengstum
Harry Hutten was always attracted to the outdoors and loved being surrounded by all things green, but from a very young age, he realized keeping things green was a constant struggle for his parents and their neighbours.
Young Harry was determined to help.
Now, over 40 years later, Harry is happily retired — but the company he started is still a family-run business that’s devoted to making the lives of homeowners and business owners easier. The mission? To create lush, beautiful lawns and gardens, while helping people spend less time on their care.
So, what’s the secret to such longevity in a difficult and challenging industry?
Glad you asked!
The best companies are those where employees feel like family… at Select Sprinklers, this is an easy thing to achieve because a lot of the employees ARE family!
And those who aren’t family are welcomed into the fold as honourary family members — joining in on fun trips to the zoo and other family gatherings.
This closeness extends to clients too. It’s not unheard of for installation technicians to go above and beyond when out on a service call.
I’m sure you’ve read a company’s mission statement and thought to yourself, “sounds good, but what does it actually mean?” If a mission statement is overly complicated and full of industry jargon, most employees haven’t a clue about why their company exists — so how can they be effective at their jobs?
Our mission statement is simple: we create lush, beautiful lawns and gardens while helping people spend less time on their care.
Our vision is to walk through our neighbourhoods and see people out playing with their kids or grandkids, chilling on the patio with a nice cold drink or kicking back at a barbecue — not sweating it out under the hot sun taking care of their lawn and gardens.
We know how much easier lawn and garden care is when you have a sprinkler system… so another part of our mission is to spread the word!
Success in our industry comes in many forms — like completing a successful installation, providing a great customer experience or making sure everyone performs their job safely.
Employees are often working with heavy equipment in all kinds of weather conditions, so safety training is crucial.
At Select Sprinklers, we hold weekly safety meetings that include breakfast — a good incentive to encourage 100% attendance!
Installing an irrigation system is physically demanding, so we tend to hire people with a good work ethic who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
A hard-working kid fresh out of high school, who is willing to learn, can be taught by our technicians (who are all excellent teachers) the basics of irrigation installation and maintenance “on the job.”
If they have ambitions beyond summer employment, they have access to additional training and certification (as is the case with a few of our current employees).
This ensures our clients can be confident they’ll receive a consistent, high level of care across the board.
It goes without saying that employees need to be paid a fair and generous wage for their labour.
In addition to the usual benefits, like vacation pay, our employees enjoy fun company events, impromptu coffee and donuts and gift cards for a job well done.
And, according to Harry and his family, the biggest benefit of them all is to know you’ve done your part to keep homes and businesses in Burlington green. And giving people the freedom to enjoy their Saturdays again!
So, if you’re tired of dragging the hose around and want to take the work out of watering, we’d be happy to come out to your property and discuss what’s involved in installing an irrigation system and how it can help make property care easier.
