For the good of the group
Written by Mark E. Lett
Photos by Ruthe Ritterbeck
It stands to reason that a landscaping company knows what it takes to grow.
On Hilton Head Island, there’s no better example than The Greenery Inc., where the business took root a half-century ago.
To the company’s chief executive, observing the company’s 50th anniversary this year is a tribute to a father who founded the business, a salute to employees and testament to a four-letter compensation plan that provides workers with a piece of the action.
The anniversary also serves as motivation to commit to continued success, said Lee Edwards, the company’s leader.
“We are a growth-oriented company,” said Edwards. “We are proud of our past and, on this anniversary, excited about the future.”
There are many ingredients to business survival and endurance, from providing a great product or service to controlling costs and always looking for ways to improve.
Part of the secret sauce to success at The Greenery, Edwards will tell you, is the company’s ESOP – Employee Stock Ownership Plan. The plan has proven to be an effective tool in attracting, hiring, motivating and retaining quality employees, he said.
His parents, Berry and Ruthie Edwards, established the company in 1973, starting with a half-dozen employees and a couple of pickup trucks.
These days, in-season employment exceeds 750 at company locations at a dozen branches in three states. Inventory now includes some 300 vehicles, hundreds of mowers and thousands of weed eaters and hand-held pieces of equipment.
“It’s a lot to take care of and it takes a lot of coordination,” said Edwards, crediting company employees and managers.
From left: Amy Metzger, director of First Impressions, Janet Fanning, manager of the Garden Center, Lee Edwards, president, Holly Haakensen, customer relations manager, Darren Davis, Hilton Head residential manager
The Greenery’s handiwork through installation, landscaping and maintenance has produced a book of business that reads like a guide to Hilton Head and the Lowcountry. Among the clients, to mention a few: Palmetto Dunes, City of Beaufort, Sun City, Shipyard, Indigo Run, Long Cove, Margaritaville and the RBC Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links.
Landscape Management magazine last year ranked The Greenery at No. 30 among the nation’s Top 150 revenue-generating businesses in the green industry.
The company’s business strategy includes a handful of core values – a deft mix of safety, quality and productivity. It’s an approach that has served Edwards since he started working as a 13-year-old in his father’s business.
With his father’s retirement, Edwards stepped up as the company’s chief. The ESOP has been essential to company progress and continuity, he said.
The California-based National Center for Employee Ownership estimates there are more than 6,500 ESOPs covering some 14 million participants. Such plans come in a variety of shapes, with the bottom-line principle of a company setting up a trust fund for employees to acquire company stock and, in essence, become part owners.
To qualify for shares in the employee-owned company, workers generally must log a specified number of hours and years. The Greenery established its ESOP in 2003 and the company become fully owned by employees four years later. A per-share value is established each year, based upon company performance. An employee’s share builds over time, and the ultimate payout is, essentially, a retirement plan.
“It has been a part of our success and will continue to be in the future,” said Edwards.
Jerry Ashmore, a Greenery employee for 23 years, said the ESOP helps attract and retain quality workers who appreciate that their stake grows with improved company performance.
“It’s not a get-rich-quick thing,” said Ashmore, the company’s director of workforce development and safety. “But it’s a fact that when you own something, you tend to take care of it.”
Edwards said the “we-are-all-in-this-together" sentiment is revealed on job sites daily by employees who take it seriously.
“You’ll see it show up in a variety of ways,” he said. “To help watch costs, someone will not let a vehicle idle and burn fuel, for example.”
Ashmore said the ESOP contributes to a corporate culture of personal responsibility and collaboration. That spirit is enhanced, he said, when workers are “good to each other and good to their equipment."
“As a part owner, you have to do your part,” he said. “We still have a small-company feel, even as we have expanded. Everybody here has the good of the group in mind, knowing that we care about people. Good people mean good results.”
Added Edwards: “It helps when you hire good people, treat them well and get out of the way and let them do good work.”
