Get your landscaping crew on the same page with an employee handbook. 

Instead of dealing with consistent miscommunication, confusion, misunderstanding, and unclear expectations, a handbook shows the team how you run things and what you expect, ensuring smoother operations. 

It also helps:

• Mitigate disputes between employees and management

• Workers understand your company’s values

• Protect your landscaping business from legal challenges

• Your crew understand their roles and responsibilities

• Improve performance and drive your business forward

However, with your busy schedule, creating a handbook from scratch is probably not an option. 

This article removes that burden by giving you a template for creating a landscaping employee handbook that will streamline your operations. 

Here’s a snapshot of what the template looks like. Plus, you can download the free PDF for instant use.

Introducing your landscaping business employee handbook template

An employee handbook helps communicate your expectations to the landscaping crew. It explains everything they need to know, from the company’s mission and values to: 

• Responsibilities

• Safety procedures

• Benefits

• Equipment/vehicle policies

• Work schedules

• Grounds for termination

• And more

This ensures the team functions optimally whether you’re present or not. 

The downloadable handbook template is only a draft. Customize it to your company’s size, mission, values, and local laws, and regularly update it.

Why does your landscaping business need an employee handbook?

A handbook is essential because it clarifies processes for your crew, giving them a sense of what you expect and their responsibilities.

More specifically, it provides:

• Standardized policies and expectations: An employee handbook outlines a company's policies, operational procedures, systems, and expectations. This ensures there is no confusion or miscommunication regarding the crew’s job. 

• Legal compliance and protection: A document outlining procedures protects the company from future liability. It shows you took the requisite steps to ensure adherence to fairness and labor laws in your area.

• Better employee onboarding and retention: A handbook introduces employees to the organization’s values and expectations. It is a central resource where workers can find answers about the company’s procedures and benefits. It should help them see why working for you is a good choice.  

• Improved workplace culture and productivity: A handbook provides clear expectations and instructions so the crew knows what to do. This boosts productivity and increases workplace engagement, fostering a sense of belonging.

What should a landscaping business employee handbook include?

An employee handbook providing insights into a landscaping company’s mode of operation should include:  

• Company overview and mission: A brief introduction to your landscaping business, including business name, history, and mission statement. This is where you share the company’s goals and the handbook’s purpose. 

• Employment policies: Talk about your company’s employment status—at-will employment or equal employment opportunity, grounds for termination, harassment procedures, time-off policy, and expected work schedules. 

• Code of conduct and workplace expectations: This covers how workers should behave, dress, and communicate. It should also include policies on harassment, discrimination, attendance, and drug use.

• Work hours and schedules: Discuss workers’ start and finish times, overtime policy, break period, and emergency procedures.

• Compensation and benefits: The handbook should cover employee bonuses, paid time-off policy, insurance, pay structure, and other perks like a 401(k).  

• Health and safety guidelines: Outline your company’s policy regarding equipment operation, chemical handling and storage, and incident management. Include a safety checklist that employees must follow to maintain safety standards. 

• Disciplinary actions and conflict resolution: The handbook should explain how workers are to handle disputes. It should also include the company's disciplinary measures, grounds for termination, and the exit protocol following dismissal.

How can you implement and communicate handbook policies?

Don’t just deliver the handbook to new hires: make sure they become familiar with the company’s culture and expectations.   

Here’s how you can help them implement the handbook’s policies:

1. Employee onboarding

Use the handbook as a training manual during worker onboarding. Walk them through the different company policies to set expectations early on. 

Bring in different team leads—communications head, crew leader, and HR—to discuss the guidelines. This will show employees that training is not just a bunch of rules but a company culture. 

Encourage questions to ensure workers understand the policies and why they exist. Then, hand over the handbook as a manual they can reference whenever they are unsure of what’s expected of them.

2. Training and acknowledgment forms

If there are policy areas where the team is lagging, organize workshops to teach employees how to handle the situation. 

You can also include real-world scenarios to explain how they can apply the handbook policies, such as what to do when there’s an incident on-site. 

Refer them to the employee handbook and provide an acknowledgement form to complete once they have studied it. This helps you track who has read the manual. 

3. Ongoing reinforcement

Send out occasional reminders to employees about key policies and strategies from the handbook. 

If you have a digital file, send it along with the reminders via email or other communication channels. 

Ask team leads and crew leaders to do random check-ins with their members and share updates with you.

Beyond templates: streamline workforce management with Aspire

Creating an employee handbook can help improve your landscaping business’s productivity, define policies, and explain responsibilities.

But if you genuinely want to streamline the entire operation and scale the business efficiently, you need a tool like Aspire. 

Here’s what Aspire enables you to do:

• Smooth scheduling and time tracking: Aspire allows you to plan multiple projects from a centralized platform.

Use the drag-and-drop platform to assign shifts to workers for weeks at a time. It also has a mobile app that the crew can use to clock in and out. This allows you to track hours spent on a job and monitor its profitability. 

• Offline-capable mobile access for field teams: The Aspire Mobile app acts as a digital assistant for your landscaping crew, simplifying communication between the field and office team. It allows the office staff to monitor job progress, track crew location, and manage costs in real time. 

It also enables them to send updated schedules, optimized routes, and task checklists to field teams to ensure efficient service delivery. 

Field workers, on the other hand, can share updates with the office, view issues and work schedules, and create quick tickets. Best of all, the app works offline and automatically syncs data with the office once the connection is restored. 

• Payroll management: Streamline your company’s payroll with Aspire by leveraging accurate job costs and daily labor rates. The system pulls time and materials data from the mobile app, such as hours spent (including overtime) and materials used, to generate a payroll file ready for export. 

• Real-time analytics and data reporting: Monitor the performance of your landscaping projects in real time. Aspire provides insights into profitability, reported issues, and resource usage, helping you make informed, data-driven decisions. 

It also offers a clear overview of your most profitable accounts, allowing you to track which services and properties generate the highest return. Use these insights to make smart renewal, upsell, and continuation decisions based on actual profitability.

• Seamless field-to-office communication: Aspire’s mobile app simplifies communication between the field and office. It allows you to view issues and work tickets on the go. But that’s not all: the system has a client portal that enables three-way communication between customers and field and office teams. 

  • It ensures every stakeholder involved in a project is aligned, enabling crew leaders and clients to raise issue tickets with photos and videos. 

Put simply, Aspire isn’t just another management software tool; it’s a digital partner and growth machine. 

Book a free demo to witness how it empowers landscaping businesses like yours to be more effective.