Tina Czysz can still hear the happy roar in her ears from the Greenscape, Inc. employee appreciation bowling outing last week.
“The guys back behind the pins came out to see what was going on, it was so loud,” she says with a laugh.
Bowling parties and cookouts, “High-Five” days with brown bag snacks, roving trucks dispensing hot coffee and toasty hand warmers on bitter cold days — it’s all part of the culture at Greenscape.
“Appreciation is one of our core values,” says Tina Czysz, director of Human Resources at Greenscape, Inc. “If we ask our employees to exhibit it, we need to give it back, too.”
Here’s a look at some of the ways the company says “We appreciate you.”
Fall And Spring Employee Appreciation Fun
Each spring, after all the flowers are planted and each fall after the leaves are scooped up, there’s a celebration.
Bowling is always a favorite outing, and this fall Greenscape employees hit the alleys for some seriously fun competition.
“Everybody loved it,” Czysz says. “With our very diverse employees, some had never been bowling before. They had no idea how to hold the ball.”
No problem, as there was always a friend nearby for on-the-spot instruction.
Teams were mixed up with people from different branches, so there were plenty of new people to meet.
Czysz handed out raffle tickets throughout the event. You could get one for loudly cheering on your teammates, for helping out a fellow bowler, for showing great teamwork.
Lots of gift cards were up for grabs.
At the end, the best bowler in the final “bowl-off” won a hundred bucks cash.
In the spring, cookouts are a common employee appreciation event. Or a taco truck might roll up at lunch time. Pile on the toppings.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” Czysz says.
We All Scream
In the heat of mid-summer, Greenscape sends an ice cream truck or snow cone truck rolling up to each branch for a frosty cool-off. Eat all you want.
“Everybody just hangs out and relaxes,” Czysz says.
Everybody Gets A High Five
Once a month, June through October, during the year’s hottest weather, Czysz organizes a “High Five Day.”
The night before, she packs up about 130 brown lunch sacks with a cold Gatorade, a healthy snack like peanuts or a granola bar and a treat of cookies or chips.
As crews board their trucks at 6:30 a.m, Czysz and a few other Greenscape staffers are there, with a cheerful high five and a goody bag for the road.
“They really appreciate the fact that we’re there at 6:30, standing at the gate, giving them a high five and telling them we appreciate them,” she says.
A Welcome Warm-Up
As hot as those High Five Days can be, the snow plowing season can be bone-chilling cold.
During blustery snow events, Czysz loads up the hatchback of her Prius and 17 other Greenscape managers load trucks with boxes of steaming coffee, snacks and toasty hand warmers and make the rounds of snow removal job sites.
“We go to all the job sites throughout the day and make sure crews get a little break,” she says. Hop in the truck, or in Czysz’s trusty Prius, sip some hot coffee and restock your hand warmers.
You Won’t Miss A Thing
While some companies hold employee appreciation events after work hours, Czysz says not everybody can make it.
“We incorporate them into the work day,” she says, “so nobody misses it. We shut down at 11 a.m. and the rest of the day is a celebration.”
Spreading Holiday Cheer, A Cookie At A Time
Not every Greenscape culture tradition involves an employee perk.
Sometimes, the best traditions benefit somebody else. Grab your favorite holiday cookie recipe and see.
Each December, busy in their home kitchens, Greenscape staffers mix, roll, bake, ice and sprinkle holiday cookies. Brownie mounds, spritz cookies, iced sugar cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal, chocolate crinkle.
After the weekend of baking, everyone brings their cookies in at 8 a.m. Monday, spreading out 3,500 cookies in a sugary display on tables in the conference room.
Then, client relations managers load up trays with sweet assortments and cheerfully deliver them to clients from Chapel Hill to Fuquay.
“Our back table is full of cookies right now,” Czysz says happily.
Then the thank you notes start flooding in.
Why It’s All Worth It
“Yes, we could still get people to work here without doing all these things,” Czysz says. “But if we just keep making withdrawals from people, they run out. They work in 100-degree heat and in zero-degree weather. They work long hours. Those are all withdrawals. So we need to make some deposits back.”
Sure, some days are crappy. But others are really great.
“When there are challenges at work, it helps them see the bright side,” Czysz says. “And there are challenges. Traffic. Scheduling. Client needs. Weather.
“I feel as long as people know they’re cared about, they care back.”
The other day, after all the bowling pins were knocked down, all the lunches munched, all the gift cards awarded, Czysz steered her Prius out of the bowling alley lot.
“I didn’t even get out of the parking lot before my phone was ringing. It was a Greenscape employee who called to say how much he appreciated the event,” she says.
“That’s what makes it all worth it.”
Come Have Fun With Us
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