Me & my mentor Laura Guilmette, Unique Environmental Landscapes

by Laura Guilmette, Unique Environmental Landscapes

31 at midnight - EXACTLY how we planned to ring in the New Year! We were told every second counted so we should submit when the clock struck 12:00 and not a second later. However, thousands of applicants did the same A Most anyone in the landscape which created an overload on the computer industry would without a doubt agree system, causing it to shut down and lock labor presents the greatest challenge within everyone. That in turn created panic, PANIC at operations. And there is a good chance most our home office and I’m sure across the country! everyone in landscaping is somewhat familiar What had been a delicious New Year’s dinner with the H2B program. Perhaps many, like me, earlier was now major indigestion. started inquiring and discussing the program with peers a few years ago. And maybe, like me, The next big hurdle was actually getting they opted to RUN, and run fast away from the the visas, as there were three times as many challenges the program represents! Instead they applications as there were visas to be issued. We endured a couple more seasons of dealing with got lucky, about three weeks later we found out employees who didn’t show up to work for one, we made it! two or more days without any notification, or they completely processed a new employee only to never see them again. I had multiple conversations with two of the three agencies in the U.S. that process H2B workers for the landscape industry and asked countless questions. At that point, I felt we had a good grasp of what to expect, the associated costs, and the risks. After completing the initial application, submitting all the necessary documents (and then some) and cutting the check, the next big step was electronically submitting our information to the Department of Labor at the exact specified time: December

My rep at the agency, located in Texas, had been walking me through each step, however at this point I had no idea how much I didn’t know. It would be impossible for anyone to convey every single step of the process from start to finish - it’s one of those things you just have to learn (and stomach) as you go.

Laura Guilmette graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in communications. She worked in advertising until she was recruited to work with the family-owned landscape business, Unique Environmental about 17 years ago. Like most business owners, she wears many hats including HR, marketing, sales, administrative and field work. Even though the H2B program has presented numerous challenges, she has enjoyed learning about it as well as overcoming these challenges. She is really looking forward to seeing how it unfolds over the upcoming season.

After we had completed all the initial application steps, I learned that WE would be recruiting all of our own workers from foreign countries. Exactly how was that going to work out? We had no connections or knowledge of how to complete this task.

Fortunately, our rep quickly explained how most of our current employees of Hispanic descent have family and friends who would love to come to the U.S. and work. As we are currently at this stage, I am finding this to be true, though there have been a few challenges which I expect won’t be an issue next year - the idea is that the same workers would return year after year.

Currently we have scheduled almost all of our workers for their appointments at the consulate in their home country for around the end of March - a feat we felt would be worth celebrating. However, we are getting a better idea of how that process works so instead we will be (somewhat) patiently waiting here on the day of each appointment to find out which of the potential workers made it through the interview process and will obtain visas.

We were advised to pre-screen potential workers for any type of illegal presence in the U.S. and to not send these people to the consulate (and pay the $190 per-person fee) as they would not obtain visas. Bear in mind, I don’t even talk with the people in other countries, I rely on our Spanish-speaking employees here to understand the criteria we are working with and convey this to people who may or may not have access to a telephone or a computer. We have to collect passports from each potential worker, which creates a challenge as some of these people live in remote areas where they may not have regular access to phones, computers or fax machines.

I just learned last week when the workers cross the border into the U.S. they will have to present their visas for even further processing due to new software available for more thorough screening. They could potentially be turned away at this time!

Transportation for the workers from the consulate in their home country has presented a few challenges as well. While we can recruit from many countries, our agency only has representatives in Mexico and, with a lesser presence, in Guatamala. Our potential workers in El Salvador would be on their own to make their appointments and go through the process at the consulate.

We knew from the beginning we were required to pay for transportation to Atlanta from the consulate, but it didn’t occur to us that everyone except Mexico would have to fly to Atlanta and it wouldn’t be advisable to purchase airline tickets until AFTER they actually receive their Visa. This means airline tickets will be purchased within 24 hours of flight time, which will most likely turn out to be quite a bit more costly than the bus fare from the consulate in Monterrey which we originally planned into the budget.

We, along with our current employees, are super excited to get their family members here to work. However, there are still many unknowns which is quite unnerving, like will they actually cross the border (before the wall is built! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) where each of them will live and how they will commute to and from work each day, associated costs, etc.

One of the requirements for the H2B application process was to prove we can’t recruit enough seasonal workers here in the U.S. We were required to run a help-wanted ad in the AJC along with other recruiting strategies. To date, we have not had one applicant. Seems like the H2B program could actually save our business, we just have to be able to navigate and survive the process!

In the Summer 2019 issue, Laura will continue her story and share how things worked out for them, this first year of using the H2B program.