How do you keep your crew motivated and paid when work slows down?

Question

Every year, that slow season creeps up on us. One minute the phones are blowing up, and the next it feels like the world goes quiet. When jobs slow down, keeping your crew busy and positive can be a real challenge.

I’ve tried different things over the years. Training days, cleaning up the shop, and even team outings just to keep morale up. But the truth is, it’s hard when the pipeline dries up.

How do you keep your team motivated and paid when things get slow? Do you cut hours, find smaller projects, focus on marketing, or use the time for business planning?

I’d love to hear what has worked for you and how you turn downtime into momentum for the next busy wave.

richardm · Answer

We offer year-round property maintenance contracts that roll from one season to the next. So for us, our staff wages are always covered, even if there is no work to be done on site. Not to say that our staff stay idle. There is always something to do.

To note, we have two shoulder seasons.

Winter to Spring transition: There is no snow to move, but we cannot start the spring cleanups yet.
Fall to Winter transition: Fall cleanups are complete, and it's not snowing.

We offer seasoned firewood and waste bin rentals. During our shoulder seasons, these two services ramp right up. We also use this time to get the growing-season equipment ready and, likewise, the winter equipment in the late fall.

I've seen lots of service companies venture into holiday lighting. If you are good at it, you can make some mad money. People love their Christmas lights!

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How do you keep your crew motivated and paid when work slows down?

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