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Survey raw responses: ramping up mowing services

APPA > Survey raw responses: ramping up mowing services

Unedited responses from APPA’s survey on Grounds/Landscaping, conducted April 2020.

What are your plans to ramp up grounds/landscaping services and staffing with the onset of mowing season?

We are currently utilizing full staff to mow-n-trim turf and perform other spring grounds maintenance tasks
No change. For our main East Falls campus the University annually runs an in-house crew year round and supplements with a 5 person crew contracted from 3/1 to 11/30 annually.  This is for a 100 acre campus. That will be maintained. In Center City we run similarly with a weekly contracted crew for seasonal work. No change
We are in work zones with a modified daily schedule.
We are returning to full time work schedules very soon and will keep the same team pairing approach.
We are doing what we can at a reduced staffing level. We will bring additional grounds/landscaping employees back as needed.
Already there.
This service is contracted and should not be impacted.
Prioritize areas to be addressed first but no ramping up.
With no students planned currently for the summer, ramping up for mowing, planting, and sustainable ground and integrated management programs.
Mowing season started a month ago.
Our mowing/growing season has been in full force for a month.  We have what we have to do what we can.
We are considering going to a seven day work week to spread staff over more days. We have not been edging/trimming/weeding or spraying.
No plans to increase as of right now other than trying to secure a bit more student help (from those that remain on campus) if we can.
We will bring in the full staff since their areas are broad and they can work on their own.  It will also give the supervisor an opportunity to review and assist/direct duties as needed while still practice safe distancing.
Continue as normal.
We will only do what we can.  Mowing is weeks away yet.
We are providing additional OT during their shift.
We still have mowing and they all wear protective gear and have their own equipment and maintain 6 feet apart at all times.
We will bring in staff to support mowing.
We hope that the order is lifted per the current plan of April 30.  We will gear up with a mowing focus.  Strict social distancing and special work rules will continue to be in place for staff.
We will use caretaking staff to augment grass cutting around their buildings. We will not be hiring seasonal laborers.
No not yet, staffing at 25%.
Normal ramp up at this point in time.
Do minimum amount of mowing.
At full staff, so no changes.
We are currently still working and are able to keep mowing on a regular basis.
We are already mowing 1x/week.
We won’t be allowed to bring the unit back until the Governor’s E.O. is lifted.
Mow at a reduced rate and use some student assistance if they are confined to campus.
We are fully staffed.
We are already mowing.
Already at full staffing.
We use an outside vendor for mowing services.
Break the staff in two shifts to promote social distancing and complete this task with university staff.
We do not plan to ramp up staff, it is all zoned out for each crew member to manage their zone.
We will progressively switch from rotating small groups for mowing, to the full crew coming into mow.
Mowing season has been in full swing for a month here in the great northwest. We will continue our normal mowing operations.
Mowing is the priority now.  Weed control is number 2.  Litter control is on the radar.  Pulling winter seasonal color in the next 4 weeks, not replacing this summer.
Maintaining our grounds during the shelter in place is essential. So that we continue to keep up with our campus. This provides an opportunity for projects and repairs to be completed without interruption. We do not anticipate needing to ‘ramp up’ staff as we are completing services on a regular basis.
Re-designate the grounds/landscaping as essential
To be determined.
We have hired a third party mowing service to assist.
No mowing for now, unless it use as park and it became a tripping hazard. Case by case.
Start slow in teams to prevent entire teams going into isolation. We are working proper environmental and PPE procedures. Focus on essential work before planting flowers.
Hopefully we can get student help.
I’ll have my grounds supervisor come in a week or so before the return.  He will check out the campus, inventory the supplies and order what’s needed.  The groundskeepers had prepared their mowers and other equipment before the shutdown.  So I’m lucky there.
Planning to use current staff.
Once every other week.
Not reducing services, just will take longer to mow.
We mow 12 months a year in Florida.
We are following what has been done in past.
No plans to ramp up services. If we have layoffs there will be a reduction in services.
Continue business as usual; we typically hire students to supplement but expect that will be difficult; may need to contract some services to keep up; considering changing level of services at portions campus (i.e. bi-monthly mowing rather than weekly)
Mowing is done without edging or line trimming. Areas in turf requiring line trimming are starting to be treated with RoundUp to reduce the need for this practice. Edging will be done as needed when grass is creeping on to walkways and over curbs. I may try applying RoundUp to the ground exposed by newly edged turf to reduce edging at the cost of possible ‘haloing’. Out of a grounds team of ten, three (including the supervisor) are coming in to work. The two team members working with me stated they would be too stir-crazy staying at home. As of yesterday, I have received interest from additional team members to work one day a week to mow the campus turf.
We are already mowing 3-days a week.
Already mowing and starting turf renovations, same as every year.
Due to finances we are currently holding on all vacant positions.
We have been cutting grass for the last two weeks. Everyone is separated and disinfectant spray is available for everyone to wipe down mowers throughout the day. With the adjusted schedule we plan work days around the weather to accomplish the tasks that need completed.
Full speed unless we have a centralized outbreak.
Expand work times and days while rotating staff to minimize group contact.
Continue as close to normal operation as possible but following CDC guidelines.
We will not be able to hire additional seasonal temporary employees.
Regular summer schedule.
We plan a “soft” restart, phasing staff and technicians back into service. Concentrating on the previously neglected portions of our grounds.
One approach is the implementation of growth regulators on our larger turf areas. This will aide in stalling growth in turf and reduce man hours in mowing these areas and allowing overtime for maintenance activities.
Our objectives are campus safety and security and keeping things alive; irrigation likely to ramp up to a minimum only to keep things alive; might add 1 FT reg staff, currently not working, into rotation, prioritize most visible spaces and apply CPTED as strategy for prioritizing the rest.
We’re running a skeleton crew right now that is already focused on mowing and trimming.
Contracted.
We should be able to perform with slightly stretched out time intervals to complete a mowing cycle.
Not sure with all of the unknowns.
Investigating options for providing mowing services both on a temporary basis and on a permanent basis.
We have three mowing crews of three per week.
Hire / bring back our student crew.  IF we are unable to have students or additional staff on campus (based on Stay Home / Social Distancing Orders) — mowing will be challenge.
This is why we continue to have full staffing, to keep up with mowing.
We are active now.  No requirement to ramp anything up.
No plans, awaiting government directives.
Working on getting County approval to allow at least enough mowing to prevent weeds and allow proper operation of irrigation sprinklers.
Scaled operations to meet the need of re-evaluated standards.
The addition of one staff per day.
No plans to ramp up. 25% staff now.
We are already in the mowing season.
We have created a private sector contract so a mowing company can subsidize our usual effort. We are also reducing frequency and expectation of service is specific locations.
Until the University announces that they will be fully open again, we may start to bring the staff back to full time hours a couple of weeks prior, while still implementing COVID-19 safe practices.
Unsure.
Make do with what we have.
We are at full staff and will turn our attention to mowing and will delay other tasks.
We will implement the increased use of PGR’s to reduce vertical turf growth leading to reduced mowing and trimming needs. Mow as a unit, to move through mowing requirements quicker.
Already working full time.
No change.  Regular work is being performed.
We have talked about the possibility of training custodial members to help out the grounds team, since the custodial functions have been reduced during this time.
We are all simply trying to keep up with mowing by working together.
We are already mowing as usual.
None. Able to maintain turf areas and athletic fields.
Underway currently, never curtailed.
We’re in Texas.  We ramped up a couple of months ago.
Currently devising plans.
Last week staff was assigned one day per week of on-campus work – 7 people with 7 different days.  This week staff has been assigned one and one half day per week of on-campus work with alternate scheduling.  Next week staff will be assigned 2 days per week on campus with alternate scheduling.  This will be the maximum allotted time on campus until after.
Currently mowing the campus once a week.
Good question.  We’re trying to find a seasonal workforce.
Normal ramp up.
We are already in the mowing season with many of our cool season grasses.  We’re letting certain areas grow higher and also supplementing with contractor staffing.
It’s already here. We staff as needed to handle turf care. Typically 2-3 days per week per crew and the remaining time is applied to emergency leave so they can maintain a 40hour paycheck.
Standard practice.
We have kept up with Spring lawn and planting schedule as outlined in our daily PM works. No setbacks at this time outside of normal, rainy weather.
Reduce project work and focus on the mowing.
Now ongoing.
Likely increase rotations, while holding the limit on the crew size.
Looking into 3rd party to supplement the shortage of full time staff or bring all available staff back to work all work days.
Back to full staff next week to handle the duties.
Prioritizing work. We are hiring 1 or 2 extra team members to support the 1/2 staff level we are at.
Ask administration to allow staff to work more days.
We are working on an as-needed basis to keep up with grounds maintenance.
We are working on planning now.
We started with small crews 2x/wk. to see what could get done, mostly debris pickup after storms and mowing/edging.  As spring sets in, we’ll likely add workdays to the schedule while trying to keep the crew sizes as small as possible.
We will cover areas for each other, Sectional Maintenance may not be as clearly delineated during this time.
Already mowing. Will not employ summer help unless absolutely necessary.
Assign additional staff to perform mower operations and minimize other daily operations.
Considering we have a completed list and a not completed list we pass on to each shift, and the campus broken up into zones we are always ramped up.
Dedicate specific staff to a specific mower or piece of equipment and that is what they are responsible for.  The equipment will be dispersed strategically throughout campus and staff will report directly from there.
Already noted – mowing season is upon us.
Continue working as we always do.  Flowers are being installed and services are changing as the season changes.
We are mowing now.
Staggered start times and break times to avoid gatherings. One person per vehicle, Zoning maintenance to keep separated.
It is always mowing season in Los Angeles.
Our mowing is done by a contractor so we have no changes there, mowing is done every Wednesday and we had our second mowing yesterday.
Everyone starts back to full time next week.
We recognize that we will not begin mowing until well into the mowing season which means that grass clippings will be an issue.  Identification of priority areas and development of a mowing schedule.  Planning for removal of excess clippings.  Planning on transitioning some staff back to edging and mulching.  Possible hiring of temporary staff to help with weeding.
Increasing to full staffing on 4/20.
Currently mowing central campus areas and hopefully will be ramping up operations early May.
Continuing regular protocols.
None. Will delay non-essential work to ensure we meet seasonal needs. I.e. we no longer need to empty trash containers every day, certain “native” areas of campus will become more native.
No ramp up necessary at this time.
We will bring back enough people to keep campus mowed and trash picked up. All others will remain home unless of an emergency.
We have a mowing contractor, working at reduced staff level.
Possibly going to 2 days per week.
That is our challenge. We are not sure if we will be able to bring a seasonal staff on to campus.
We are mowing high profile areas with increased frequency as needed and lower profile area with less frequency.
Each staff member will be assigned an area to care for.
Typically, mowing is handled via temp/student labor. At this time it is unclear if we will be able to hire summer labor.
Only bring in those completely necessary to achieve objective.
Already started bringing in more staff on staggered shifts – shooting for 50% staffing.
Our plans are related to funding, product availability and team zoning efforts as work will be prioritized accordingly.
Will not add staffing. Efficiencies gained by not having students on campus and not having to schedule around outdoor events.
Mowing season started a month ago!
When we are directed by the University we will return to work 100%.
We will be adding 4 more grounds workers on April 20.  At this point the direction is still mowing and sanitation.
We are mowing now and unfortunately have a hiring freeze in place that prohibits additional hires at this time.
We are redeploying other university employees who do not have work to do given the remote learning.   Several are now working for Grounds.  We have not hired our normal seasonal employees.
None, just do less like limited mulching.
Mowing will be done less often, but grounds will still be maintained.
Currently communicating with outside vendors to bring in once a week to help close the gap. Also working with Director of Grounds on adjusting the team’s schedule.
Our mowing operation has not changed.
Not so much “ramping up,“ but just maintaining as best we can. We will be able to increase services once we are given the go ahead by the government.
In Florida, we are already in mowing season.  We have been in mowing season before the start of the shelter in place order and have been fortunate enough to have been able to keep up so far at this point in the season.  We will struggle a little bit once we start getting the everyday afternoon rain storms.
This is unclear at this point.  We are a couple of weeks out before mowing begins.
Slowly biweekly start, rotation of days with areas to minimize staff.
Business as usual.
Catch up at that time.
Minimum staffing level well below 50% for mowing and litter removal. Minimum staffing level to complete current hardscape projects. Identify safety related hardscape projects and staff them appropriately. Weekly review of campus to determine need for additional staff.
Go back to our regular mow schedule.  Once the ok is sounded we will bring everyone back and get ready for 25,000 students.
Want to increase to full staff once the stay at home order expires. By nature, Grounds staff are socially distant.
Waiting on direction from leadership.
Breaking department into 3 groups and having them report to satellite locations.
We plan to ask employees to return for mowing. Currently our mowing is being performed every two weeks instead of weekly.
Good question.
When employees are on campus all are involved in mowing tasks.
We have a small crew and will have everyone back to work soon.
No change.
Schedule for cutting 2-3 days a week
Hopefully return of all personnel and being able to work in groups. Nothing definite as yet.
We have treated our turf areas with growth regulator but are going to have to work longer days to keep up with demand.
Social distancing standards, masks and gloves where necessary. Hand washing and sanitizing. The break room, where they socialize and I encourage that, will forever be changed.
We are using our regular crews with our large mowing equipment.
We are struggling to figure this out.  We typically use inmate labor, students, and temp employees. Inmates are not an option.  Students are not on campus, so the pool is not there to hire from…..
We may not be able to work shortened weeks.
We have already cut back on fertilizer to reduce mowing.  Limited irrigation may reduce the need as well.
In North Texas, we are already in mowing season.  We have gradually ramped up the hours worked, days worked, and crew members working over the past 3-4 weeks.
We only bring in one 7 month position during the summer, we have to make sure that we have enough staff for snow and ice removal.
Not hiring summer students to keep our Fulham time staff busy.
We are already in mowing season.
We are already in heavy mow season now when this hit. What puts us back is when multiple rain storms hit – we have to wait a day or two to start mowing and catch up. The plans had already been thought out with the reduction of staff needed for the essential duties being completed.
We are in the South.  It is almost always mowing season so we never really ramp down.
Volunteer crew Mon and Thursday.
We will keep an eye on the current issues with COVID-19. Otherwise, we will maintain mowing of the campus.
Just keep up the best we can. Cannot let Things get out of hands.
We will likely increase time spent on campus sometime in May.
We hit priority (we have 3 designated priority categories) areas regularly and lesser priority areas less frequently.
We will plan out what areas that will need to be kept up to a higher level. Pull our landscape crew in to assist with the mowing, along with our Grounds Mechanic, after May 9, 2020 our extra help staff we be in to assist.
Things are about the same here. We are in Florida, so things have really taken off. Our grass not so much due to the lack of rain, but irrigated areas do require constant attention.
Determining minimum standards for lawn care.
We are staffed for mowing.
1st week transition snow equipment to lawn care equipment. 2nd week station equipment so that worker are not in contact with others and assign mow routes to priority areas.
We would typically hire between 6 and 8 seasonal staff, this year we are hiring 2 due to budget restrictions. We will be looking into grants that we may be able to use for additional staff.
We are not ramping up. We have had a very strong negative response from the Roads and Grounds team when this was suggested.
We are already into the mowing season now.  Most of the staff is reporting and performing their normal duties.
Handle what we can on a needs basis.
We contract mowing and have had our contractor continue to provide mowing services but on a reduced frequency.  Other grounds/landscape services have been suspended unless they are critical or time sensitive.
Mowing season is here. We are using staff at half the capacity to keep lawns cut.
Currently all we are doing is cutting grass.
None.  We do have a contractor that helps with cutting certain areas of the campus and we had planned to utilize him more this year before the pandemic started.  He is cutting 40-50% of our campus where last year it was only about 20%.
This is TBD depending on where the University and State goes with its direction on the virus and how the virus situation changes.
Awaiting lifting of the executive orders.
Put full staff back to work.  Prioritize work and limit new projects.  No additional help.
Not sure.
There are no plans to do so.  We have been asked to the best we can given the limitations.
Normal plans.
No plans to increase staffing.
We have proposed using 1/3 staff on a rotating 3 week schedule until the executive order is lifted.
Hopefully same as before.
We have begun mowing as needed.
We have a landscape maintenance service doing all high visibility areas. We have Grounds doing offsite residences and ball field but minimum since not being played on.
Stay the course with 20% crew and reduced work in non-high-impact areas.
We will have people from each crew (Athletics, Gardens, Arborist, and Pest control) rotate to help out with mowing and weed control.
We will prioritize mowing, edging, spraying, and bed management over regular pruning, trimming, mulch, planting, and preventative maintenance.
May have to supplement staff with contact services.
We are on a rotating schedule, and hope to use primary growth regulators as much as possible.
Re-deployment of other staff.
We are just going to continue doing what we are doing until we can bring the rest of the staff back.
Mowing season has already begun.  Operating with all grounds employees, at 50% (every other week).  Have designated some areas “no mow”, some areas “reduced mow”, and trimming/string trimming is being deferred. Gardening activities (pruning, transplanting, etc.) postponed.  Tree work only that which is essential (hazard/safety concern).
Bringing on additional staff starting May 1st.
We will have to increase staffing to 50% in order to have a chance at keeping up.
We are fine tuning our team to be as efficient as possible and work as a cohesive unit, and accepting that we will be mowing more days of the week than before to fill in the gaps or missing co-workers.
The mowing season is all year round in Hawai`i, so the only improvement we can make is to have the crews working together again once social distancing rules have been relaxed.
Assigned sub zones
Hired a part timer to help.
Scale workforce appropriately.
May have to supplement staff with outside contractors.
Business as usual.
Continually providing updated plans of attack with regards to mowing. Certainly raising the height of cut to allow for longer duration between mowing.
Using maintenance staff and leadership to mow.
We are going to start bringing in employees to begin mowing and continue to bring more and more in in the upcoming weeks to keep up with the demand.
Hours will be increased to make sure the grounds still appear well-tended. They’re still working less than 40 hours for now.
Staffing services not impacted at this time and will be able to support the mowing season.
There are no plans as the future is uncertain. What we have done is set a schedule that will allow us to maintain all of our turf and a manageable condition until such time as we can return to full staff hours
Mowing continues as needed.
Call staff in as needed and hope “allowed “ essential services increases to lawn care etc.
Transition back to full time; consider alternate schedules to increase social distancing; lean on contract assistance to supplement if required.
Frequency and attention to detail will reduced.
Our mowing is provided through stewardship with a government agency. Protocol will be set by that agency as we approach seasonal mowing operations.
No changes at this point
We’re in it right now.  No plans to mow more often than every other week at this point.
Utilize essential employees that are losing hours because their primary work has come to a standstill (i.e. dining staff).
We will move from 25% to 50% on May 1st.
Business as usual.
This is not in my purview, the landscaping is contracted.
Mowing season is year round here.
We are still business as usual from a hiring standpoint.  We still have 250+ acres to attend to.
All team effort.
Clean debris from winter, commence mowing as grass growth dictates.
Continue normal operations.
Because of other issues, we were forced to delay hiring our seasonal temporary staff, and only received permission in the past week to proceed.  So, we are already behind the 8 ball as far as being prepared for mowing season, and there is generally a 4-6 week delay from the time of advertising to the time we actually get a trained operator ready to go out and mow.  In the interim, the Full Time staff are going through mower training again, and will take up the mowing duties at the cost of performing their other duties.
My extended staffing schedule shows additional full-staff work days. Week of 4/27 – 1 all staff day on Wednesday (mowing) Week of 5/4 – 3 all staff days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Week of 5/11 – All staff, all days I am hopeful we will be able to implement the plan.
We have no way to catch up as there has been a 100% moratorium on hiring, replacing open positions or bringing on board temporary help (we typically hire 10 seasonal workers in normal years).  We have been mowing for 3 weeks.
Continue to contract services.
Reduce to level 4 or 5 from 2/3.
Mowing season had already started when the COVID-19 crisis hit our area. The majority of our essential staffing are being utilized toward this effort.
They are all doing it now.
We are in south Florida.  It is always mowing season.
High priority areas are identified.
We will have to handle our work load without the help of summer student labor.  This means we will be without 4-6 part time help.
We are mowing our normal route and schedule.  We are preparing campus for the return of students, staff and visitors for fall semester.  This includes maintaining a neat appearance and the normal horticultural inputs required to have a healthy, attractive landscape.
Our mowing season started nearly a month ago.  We are managing campus in nearly the same level prior to the Covid pandemic.  There are some outlying areas that we have scaled back and not mowing as frequent.  We normally manage residential rental properties, but that has been contracted out to a local landscape/mowing company to elevate some added mowing from our plate.
Discussing that now. Crew works mostly on their own in an area. Social distancing is natural. Breaks on their own.
We do plan on working more hours per week when the mowing becomes more intense.
We will be asking for about 75% of typical duties to be performed.  If we have a significant amount of employees requesting to not work (because they are concern for their health), then we will consider a contracted landscaping company to perform some of the tasks.
Plan to hire extra labor once local school teachers are done.
We were supposed to hire part time employees but this is on hold at this time.
We are mowing two days a week to keep up with the growth.
We will not be ramping up any services.
Mowing now.
We are business as usual with the acceptation of maintaining social separation.
We have started already. Added two days/ week for full time staff and brought back 5 student workers.
We put away snow equipment the 13 march and started mowing the 16 the early spring. Our Sport turf crew has been mowing twice weekly unit the 16th that’s when Division 1 sports stopped. Now they are mowing once a week and working on projects that usually happen in summer.
We are already staffed at 100% and are starting projects that normally would wait until summer in the hopes of getting more work done than in previous years.
Hopefully begin to bring in the remaining staff within the next 3 weeks.
We contract out the mowing.  When restrictions are lifted (possibly at the end of April), we will return to full staff with social distancing.
While we have a small internal Grounds team, most of our work is subcontracted. The contractor is still working allowing us to remain with normal services.
Split shifts and personnel daily.
We are currently hiring staff.  We will focus on mowing assignments (assign employees to specific equipment and daily areas on campus).
We are trying to use this time as a recovery time for our grounds and athletic fields and hope to be able to bump things up a notch from our normal standards.
Main campus has very little grass for mowing. Staff will continue to work staggered alternate work schedules through the shelter in place order, but will likely return to regular staffing/ schedules after.
To have a full crew return prior to the mowing season
Not clear yet.
For now, we will continue our maintenance schedule.  We plan to not apply fertilizer or irrigate unless absolutely needed.  We are also not planning to plant annuals this season.  But we may add more perennials, shrubs and trees.  We have been able to keep some student help on staff until the calendar end to the semester.  If we are not allowed to supplement our staff this summer, we will consider reducing our services to a “maintain only the essentials”.
We are using Primo growth regulator on all of our sports field to slow growth down this reduces mowing frequency.  We are mowing per week currently on sports fields. We are currently mowing turf every other week on non-sport fields.
Increased reduced staff level from 2 to 3 (from a total of 9) and are bringing back part-timers who were previously furloughed.
Our plan is to maintain what we can with our current staff; then use temporary summer help to get back to our level of acceptance.
Priority is on highly visible spaces with rotation on mowing back of house areas.
We will use outside vendors for planting and blowing mulch and have staff concentrate on mowing, weed whacking and watering.
We have created three shifts staggered across the daylight hours so they experience minimal overlap in the building they report to and have breaks in.
Move back to a regular work week schedule in May while retaining staggered arrival and departure times, individual vehicles, and reduced mowing frequencies.
Mowing season never stops.
Maintain normal procedures and timing.
Currently the staff is following standard weekly plans.
We will work with current staff and add some TAR (time as reported) personnel.
Increase the number of staff able to come to campus to mow. Holding off on irrigation to decrease turf growth.
We have no Grass yet at our campus.
Prioritize maintenance.
Mowing season has already started.  We reduced service levels but are attempting to keep the grass cut at least once every 10 days using 1/3 of normal grounds staff.
Five dedicated mowers working five days a week.  Dependent on rain, shift change to work on Saturday/Sunday with reduction of staff on rainy days.
When we can to return to work it will be mowing season.  Workers will have the option to wear a face mask.  Only one worker will be allowed in a vehicle as a time.  Lunch periods will be staggered to minimize gatherings and allow social distancing.  They will be directed to stay home when feeling ill.
Mowing program continues as normal.
Prioritize work as to not overwhelm staff. Otherwise, we will introduce staff in accordance to university guidelines.
Already approved for “onsite required” hourly/temp hires when conditions warrant. If necessary we’ll use contract services but not likely currently.
Using landscape contractors for mowing maintenance, but this is our normal operation.
We are fully staffed.
We are already doing are regular mowing.
We plan to increase our staffing levels to be consistent with the lawn cutting equipment we have available as well as other services (roads, seasonal planting, pruning, garbage collection, etc.).
Our mowing is contracted and will resume.
Proceed as usual.
We mow daily. WQe have growing season of 365 days a year.
We will call back when the order is lifted.
We are going to a reduced schedule that includes mowing, but less frequent grounds maintenance.
Staffing will not change in permanent employees.  Hiring temporary employees is TBD.
Normal process right now.
We are only cutting what needs to be done.
Apply herbicide to all turf areas, prep planting beds, address tree maintenance, and address mulching in beds and around trees.
Starting next week we are bringing in reduced staff and gaining another percentage of our crew the next week and then will hold with that until further notice.
Waiting for a governor’s order to make landscape work permissible.
We will adjust the hours needed per week to keep up with mowing. We have also moved trash duties over to the other shops in support of the labor and grounds folks.
Went in to this short staffed due to good economy, outsourcing some of non-detail work.
Discussions are taking place now.
Route planning, focusing on high traffic areas.
Trying to determine if we will be allowed to work more hours than the reduced number of hours so far.
We will stay with our present status until crisis minimizes, knowing our normal levels of care are not 100% attainable.
We are slowing increasing minimal staffing levels.
As weather warms up we will need to increase staffing to keep up with lawn maintenance but are able to do that in a staggered way so as to have people start at different times and work on opposite ends of the campuses.
We are already into mowing season and are dealing with current staffing.
Bring all employees back as soon as possible. Priorities work. Mowing and trimming before mulching.
The same as any other year.
Fill open positions!
There has been a 75 % reduction in the seasonal hiring of students employees.
We are already mowing buy mow some areas at a reduced frequency compared to past years.
Maintaining our current employees.
We are focusing on providing grass mowing services with minimal time spent on the finer details of trimming and edging.
We plan to function as we always have.
We intend to follow our current plan of bringing staff in only to perform the minimum necessary services to maintain the turf.
Outsourcing.
Too late.  We’re swamped in California already.  Doing all we can.
Other than those that are currently out because of virus issues and other issues we are at full staff now.
We are not. We take it day by day.
Get it done with a reduced crew daily. It may take a week to get it done in this way.
We are in it now.  We went from 20% staffing a couple weeks ago to 60%.
Our in-house crews were already on campus and preparing for the spring season.  Support contractors are now available, so we are able to get assistance for special projects such as the previously mentioned softball field repairs.
We’re more concerned about our manicured gardens, trees, new plantings and irrigation.  For lawns we’re exploring the moving strategy and may allow them ‘go gold’ or we’ll focus on the high priority areas only.  We usually hire seasonal staff and we’re holding off on this process for now.
If allowed, all essential staff will be assigned mowing duty. Part-time/seasonal staff will be brought back to campus to assist with mowing as needed and as allowed by the state.
We are maintaining current staffing levels until told otherwise.  Current plan has employees coming back to work on May 1st.
No provisions currently to allow staffing increases during this time and no information currently available for how long the staffing restrictions will last
When governor says go back to work we will go back 100%.
Hire temporary employees.
Proposing to administration and union leadership creative scenarios depending on speculative executive orders from our Governor. For example, ask for volunteers, decentralize everyone, no common time clocks, staggered hours, stage equipment at decentralized locations, reduce mowing acreage, reduce mowing frequency, and apply plant growth regulators.
Install third party vendors to assist in mowing and seeding.
During our state’s shelter in place order, grounds is non-essential and is on hold.
Already mowing. Reduced student traffic may allow better productivity and will hopefully reduce the need for summer staff up.
We are already into mowing and having particular pieces of equipment only being used by one staff member on each crew is allowing us to keep staff members apart and still get at least 75% to 80% of campus turf mowed each week.
We are going to go to a 50% rotation weekly.
We have already begun mowing (SC). Our mowing crews were the first to return on an abbreviated schedule (3-4 days/week).
We will pay attention to our local health department as we make decisions.  We will ramp up some services a few weeks prior to re-opening.
We must observe the situation and make adjustments according to the needs and the government issued mandates.
We have a small campus, therefore we perform these services in house. We have the capacity to perform this work without disruption.
Weekly staff rotation plan.
Due to the shelter in place order, we are unable to plan for mowing.
Aside from possibly hiring an outside firm, no plans.
Will adjust and try to do the bare minimum.
Planning to return all of our operators by May 1.
Focusing on Main Campus while secondary areas receive limited attention.
No plans to increase staff; we will perform the same work with our existing staff (tasks may take slightly longer to complete if we have fewer people, that’s all).
We are currently on hold until the end of April, to see if the Governor will allow turf management back into operational essentials.
Already started mowing on 2 day per week basis. May need to add a day, waiting to see.
We’re keeping up as best as we can with as minimal attendance as possible.
July 1 budget cuts, made worse by COVID-19 loss revenues will impact staff levels and thus ability to keep up with mowing if growing season is positive.
Hire 5 temp workers.
Increase days of work each week as needed.
We’re taking risk in this area.  Portions of our campus will not be to normal standard.  Biggest concern is making sure we don’t “lose” athletic fields.
Just to prioritize the needs as seasons change.
Will continue to monitor, but we believe we will have enough staff in our current 1/3 rotational level.  We are watering less and allowing some turf to become dormant, with the idea that it will recover next year.
We have been working 2 days a week since mid-March.   We will work 3 days a week for the next two weeks and go back to full time operations the last week of April.
We have a plan in place to hire six seasonal staff.
None, current levels adequate.
We will support our limited staff with contractors.
Start early, mow low so if we get behind we can raise decks.
We are mowing key areas, letting fringes go.
Planning to hire one additional full time employee and two part time.
Already have, fescue started being mowed in early march.
Hiring part time staff according to workload.
No changes.
No plans to ramp up. Will just maintain.
They are already there.
Mowing, trimming, weeding is being done daily to the exclusion of plantings, hardscape improvements, sidewalk repairs, etc.
Bring them in to mow and maintain what they can while social distancing.  Providing them a vehicle per person.
Can’t do anything until State lifts essential staff only and shelter in place order.
Have adequate staff in place to handle the load.
Everyone will be mowing and lengthen the time in between mowing an area.  Less litter clean-up and less trimming & weed-whacking.
Minimal staffing minimal mowing to keep compliant
Reduce areas needing extensive landscaping (Flower beds, etc.) so can still provide a REDUCED mowing schedule.
Have done so with two coming in each day.  Not turning on irrigation.
I retain all of my staff year around. So we are good.
Evaluate conditions and increase daily staffing level as required, currently at 25% staffing model.
Our services are mostly done by students and contractors. Will work closely with our contractors.
We will bring people back as needed to complete the work, so long as appropriate social distancing can be accomplished.
With frequent precipitation mowing season is well underway.
N/a – dependent on Governor’s order.
We currently are in the mowing season.  PGR on areas that are on the outskirts of campus.  Focused on core campus mowing weekly.
Staggered work schedules.
Pushing mowing back to a 10 day rotation and trimming to a 3 week rotation.
No changes to our normal schedule.
We have contractors on if needed to supplement.
Only mowing and maintaining that equipment.
Continue supplementing with general maintenance.
In Central Florida it is “Endless Summer!”
Utilizing custodial/housekeeping staff to assist in the beginning stages of planting season prep.
Allowing as many workers as we can to work on site to keep grounds managed, not manicured. Safely, spread out on equipment. No dense crew work.
With an empty campus, mowing will be more efficient.
We have identified critical areas to mow. Reducing turf management for athletic space.
Intend to keep up with limited staffing.
See previous answer. Or staffing is sufficient for mowing and other tasks. We have limited the summer flower planting until further notice.
Keep up with the priority areas and tasks and hit reduced priority tasks at a reduced frequency.
We are prepared to deploy the least practical number of staff on mowing while supporting the need for them to stay at home.
Bi-weekly service focusing on essential needs only.
Managing it with limited crew now.  May have to scale back some areas.
Under discussion now, we can’t hold off mother nature much longer.
Operating as if we will open tomorrow, using this time to work on turf density.
Keep it mowed with minimal trimming.
Continue as normal.
It will be addressed as the season progresses. We usually hire temporary workers in May but will not due to budget constraints.
As needed.
We maintain the existing contracted services.
Daily work plans as normal with staggered shifts.
We don’t have a plan yet.