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Lawn Care Employee Handbook: Total Guide

Published on July 23, 2024

By building a robust lawn care employee handbook, you’ll have the power to create stellar crews who are happy to work for your business.

Using this total guide, you can create a lawn care employee handbook that:

  • Maximizes productivity
  • Sets clear expectations
  • Improves employee retention
  • Streamlines training and operations
  • Establishes policies and procedures for your business

By the end of this complete guide, you’ll be able to develop your own outstanding lawn care employee handbook!

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Why a Lawn Care Employee Handbook Is Important

Your lawn care employee handbook outlines your business’ key standards, such as:

  • Policies, procedures, and expectations
  • Benefits and compensation
  • Training and development
  • Safety guidelines
  • Employee code of conduct
  • Rights and responsibilities
  • Resources and support
  • Company values

In addition, the best handbooks serve as a convenient reference material for your team to keep with them at all times.

Take a look at a few suggestions that can make your lawn care employee handbook even more stellar:

  • Images and captions on all relevant tools and equipment
  • Learner’s manual on the proper use of all relevant tools and equipment
  • On-site checklists with your key company standards

Plus, did you know you can include your lawn care employee handbook in your software for easy, on-the-go access?

What to Include in Your Lawn Care Employee Handbook

The unique needs of your lawn care business will determine what you should include in your lawn care employee handbook.

You can choose to expand or simplify the below outline based on your unique business needs and goals. However, as a general rule of thumb, these are some basic items every business should consider including:

Concise Welcome

Introduce your lawn care business and provide a concise summary of your employee handbook’s purpose.

Also, don’t forget to include an employee handbook disclaimer to fully cover your business.

Company History and Mission Statement

Your company history and mission statement are important to include in your lawn care employee handbook because it provides new employees with essential background information.

Company Overview

While your company overview will vary, these are some basics to consider including:

Company Values and Goals

In order to ensure all of your team is completely aligned, it’s crucial to include your company values and goals within your lawn care employee handbook.

Employment Policies

Basic employment policies are essential to include in any employee handbook.

These are a few employment policies you might include:

Company Policies and Expectations

In order to ensure prompt attendance and professional appearances and attitudes, you’ll want to provide your company policies and expectations in your handbook:

Hiring and Terminations

Oftentimes, employment-related lawsuits and claims stem from inconsistent disciplinary actions or a failure to notify employees of your policies and procedures.

By explaining your hiring and terminations policies, you’re mitigating the risk of legality issues.

Here are a few basic policies you should consider including in your lawn care employee handbook:

Benefits and Compensation

Include your benefits and compensation in your employee handbook to ensure your team knows the same benefits and compensation opportunities are open to everyone in your lawn care business.

Compensation and Performance

Take a look at some basic compensation and performance information to consider for your lawn care employee handbook:

Technology Policy

Including your technology policy in your lawn care employee handbook provides your team with your acceptable use of personal devices, work devices, the internet, and more.

  • Personal Phone Policy
  • Work Phone Policy
  • Voicemail, Text, Email, and Internet Policy
  • Computer and Tablet Usage
  • Mail Use (for the office)

Tools and Equipment Safety Guidelines and PPE

To safeguard your employees, it’s important to provide safety guidelines and PPE (i.e. personal protection equipment) requirements for your team:

Customer Service Policies and Work Quality Expectations

As an easy reference point for your employees, it’s important to include your customer service policies as well as the quality of work you expect from your crews.

By prioritizing your customer service, you can increase client retention by 20%.

Plus, defining what qualifies as excellent work quality in your lawn care business ensures you’re offering the best services possible.

Training, Onboarding Procedures, and Career Development

Your training, onboarding procedures, and career development in your employee handbook helps to improve employee retention in the long-run.

Take a look at a few things you can include:

Rights and Responsibilities

Including your employee rights and responsibilities allows you to mitigate legal risk for your lawn care business.

Here’s an OSHA example of what your rights and responsibilities section might look like:

  • Employees have the right to a safe and healthy working environment. Employers must provide safety measures and equipment to protect employees from potential hazards.
  • Employees must adhere to company policies and procedures, including safety protocols, confidentiality, and professional conduct.
  • Employees have the right to fair compensation, including minimum wage and overtime pay.
  • Employees are responsible for performing their duties to the best of their abilities, being punctual, meeting deadlines, and fulfilling job responsibilities.
  • Employees have the right to privacy and protection against discrimination and harassment based on protected characteristics.
  • Employees should treat their colleagues with respect and professionalism, promoting a positive workplace culture.

Resources and Support

It’s crucial to provide your team with a list of the primary resources and support your lawn care business has available, such as:

Fun Facts

Did you know that your team’s wellness impacts your bottom line?

Here are a few notable facts about wellness programs:

  • 28% reduction in healthcare costs
  • 10% increase in productivity
  • 25% decrease in employee turnover
  • 21% increase in profitability
  • 27% decrease in absenteeism
  • 25% reduction in stress
  • 19% increase in job satisfaction
  • 21% increase in productivity
  • 33% increase in employee retention
  • 36% increase in morale

Plus, companies investing into wellness programs typically see an average ROI of $2.73 for every dollar spent on these programs.

In addition, 89% of employees at companies supporting wellness initiatives will recommend their company as a good place to work.

The benefits to prioritizing your team’s health and wellness are endless!

Signature: The Employee Acknowledgement Form

In your lawn care employee handbook’s closing, it’s vital to include a signature page. Your employee’s signature acknowledges that they’ve read the handbook.

Provide a name and date space on your signature page, along with a statement that confirms they agree to the terms and will comply with your handbook.

Additional Things to Consider

While you don’t need to include everything in your handbook, you do need to include your main objectives so that your team has a solid reference point.

As always, routinely update your lawn care employee handbook. Most experts recommend updating your handbook yearly.

Manage Crews With the Right Lawn Care Software

Did you know, you can include your lawn care employee handbook (and store the signature form) in your lawn care software?

Plus, with the best lawn care software, you’ll get:

From scheduling to customer management, your crews need Service Autopilot to seamlessly manage your daily operations.

Grow Your Lawn Care Business... Faster 
(and with Less Stress)​

Instant invoicing

Better scheduling

Manage your clients and employees all in one system

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Use Your New Lawn Care Employee Handbook to Build a Happy Team

Finally, you can use these key insights to build your own robust lawn care employee handbook to:

Start using these industry leading strategies to begin creating your lawn care employee handbook for your business today!


Related: Engage With Your Community to Build Culture With New Castle Lawn and Landscape


Alyssa Sanders

Alyssa is the Team Lead of Creative Marketing at Xplor Field Services. When she's not writing or creating content, you can find her watching a new sci-fi series or shoving her nose into a book.
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