It doesn’t matter where you are in Canada or who you work for as an arborist when it comes to the 
challenge of keeping good help.  The industry has struggled to retain and retrain skilled workers, and I 
know many people who would go to great lengths to tell me why that is.  I too have felt the urge to 
chime in with my colleagues after enduring the frustrating loss of an experience tree worker or a tree 
worker in early development.  Venting is sometimes healthy, ideally directed to company equipped to 
handle it.  I’ve seen how my own laments can have a ripple-effect on people in other work places far 
from mine, I didn’t like how that turned out.  The hand-wringing approach is ineffective as a positive 
change agent, if positive change is what you’re after. 

 

If you have the choice to make our future workplace a healthier one, why not start today?  Like being 
the kind of mentor to new workers that we wish we had ourselves.  If you hadn’t already connected the 
dots, those new workers are going to become the next generation of owners, trainers, managers, 
directors and professors.  Every micro-aggression or unsafe work procedure aimed at a new worker sets 
the entire industry back from becoming a safe and comfortable workplace sooner.  Every opportunity 

held back from a new worker is one step closer to their leaving the trade and never looking back.   

 

Many “gatekeeper” arborists hold narrow views of what the model arborist is that we are trying to train.  
If we train with a fondness for the year 1985 in tree care, you can be sure your team will have the skills 
to succeed in the marketplace of 1985.  In most mature tree care markets, it’s 2017.  That’s not 
suggesting that 1985 isn’t important in the evolution of tree work, only that we shouldn’t strive for 
nostalgia to the extent that it imperils the future workplace.   Those that keep busy by scapegoating 
differences along the lines of generation, gender, culture, body type, or region will be continuing to do 
so until the “talent” pool is depleted leaving only their likeminded competitors. 

 

You as an individual hold many keys to making the workplace better than how you found it.  By 
encouraging a safe learning environment and seeking out the right way to do the task with your trainee 
rather than winging it with not-so-common sense.  And by modeling professional practices and conduct 
day in and day out, humanizing your coworkers and recognizing they are more than a tool in your truck. 
You as an individual have a big part in the public’s perception of our job as Arborists, our future career 
longevity, and future earning potential.  Each time you produce work for a customer, your personal 
signature is left on the customer’s service experience and often as an artifact when pruning trees, 
planting trees, or making a case for tree retention. 

 

You as an individual can help us arborists or hurt us arborists when sharing your opinions out in the 
open.  Like opinions on what you think about college arborist programs.  Or your opinions on women 
having careers in tree work and earning equal wages to men.  Or the language you use when talking 
about your competitor arborists or municipal arborists.  Or your comments about professional 
organizations, credentials, and training.  Help make it better.