Doing business in such tough economic times requires patience and an iron will. As building services contractors we have the most pressure on us as customers are forced to cut budgets and maximize the dollars that they do spend. For many contractors the renegotiating of contracts or cutting of services feels like a personal slight, an insult to the hard work that gets done each night; this is the wrong attitude.

Horizon Services has survived the past two-decades because of our planning, budgeting and nimbleness. Our experiences have taught us that being flexible and taking a creative approach to building management not only benefits the customer by keeping up cleanliness standards in spite of budget cuts it also helps our bottom line. Our very best references and referrals frequently come from customers we have helped through tougher times so If I could offer one bit of advice to my peers it would be to never burn bridges and while 2 night a week service may not fit your business model sometimes you owe it to the customer that has remained loyal, treated you as a partner and always been willing to pay exactly what service costs.

To say my experiences this week have been profound would be an understatement. As I visited our nation’s capitol for the swearing in our first African-American President I was able to see, first hand, the kind of hope I have long wished to inspire in my workforce.

Much of this blog is about managing those individuals that our society frequently overlooks. As we begin this new chapter it is my hope that more serious efforts will be put on successfully working with marginalized populations and empowering them to become active participants in our economy. For some eighteen years I have been forced to defend my workforce and at times make excuses for our labor pool I think if we usher in the changes that have been promised there will be no more excuses. While our labor pool may get smaller as individuals strive to achieve higher levels of education and professional success I am confident it will be improved as individuals embrace positivity and gain the confidence and understanding that they are not defined by their occupation but  rather by their work ethic, attitude and morality.

For small or growing businesses it is always difficult to retain employees because providing the robust benefits packages of their larger competitors simply isn’t practical. For many years Horizon Services has searched for solutions to this problem and discovered that sometimes it is the perks with no monetary value that mean the very most.

As an organization we strive to recognize and congratulate outstanding job performance. Each year our organization presents a series of awards to those employees that have gone above and beyond. On a monthly basis we take the time to applaud those in our organization that have reached some milestone, completed training or just stood out. Being recognized in such a way allows every employee to have their 15 minutes of fame amongst their coworkers.

While these measures seem insignificant the fact remains that they work. Horizon Services has an industry low attrition rate simply because we take the time to give thanks to a workforce that for most of their adult lives have worked in thankless positions. More importantly than what high retention rates mean for Horizon is what it means to our workforce. Stop in at any of Horizon’s employee appreciation events you will see that the real benefit of maintaining a workforce through appreciation, respect and recognition is the spirit of community it creates.

I watched our organization start up a large account with barely any notice and receive rave reviews for the quality of services that were provided that evening. I know that this transition was a success because everyone in the organization thought “we can do this”.

Over the past two decades I’ve observed time and time again as our operations team pull off what customers and other contractors view as the impossible. Each time I am inspired by the teamwork and spirit of cooperation that goes into making something big happen quickly while keeping it profitable.

While these successes say something about  the depth of our organization Horizon Services is not unlike most other contractors. The only thing that separates us from them is the positive attitude and commitment of our employees and managers. Failing is never presented as an option so managers and supervisors simply work hand and hand to find the best recipe for success.