Customer Q&A: How a Four-Day Work Week Strengthened the Team at Lawn Cure
Family-owned and operated Lawn Cure was founded in 1978, built from the ground up by founder Larry Messina. When he decided to retire and pass the reins to the next generation, the company was a seven-truck operation. After taking over, current President Patrick Hawkins, along with co-owners Michelle Hawkins and Missy Fromme, expanded the business to 22 trucks, handling more than 60,000 applications annually in the greater Louisville area and Southern Indiana. A few years ago, the company made the then-radical pivot to a four-day workweek. We recently spoke with Patrick Hawkins about the thought process behind that decision and how it has impacted Lawn Cure.
RealGreen: What prompted your decision to change from the traditional five-day work week?
Patrick Hawkins: It was multi-faceted. When I came on board, we had low pay for our technicians, high turnover, and our routes were disorganized. After two or three years, we had successfully reorganized the business structure, improved routing and streamlined our operations. We were able to offer better pay, but we were still experiencing high turnover. You know, it’s a tough job when you’re out there for seven, eight hours a day in the heat and cold. That’s when I decided to switch to a four-day week for our technicians, working from 7AM-5PM Monday-Thursday. I had done the same in previous jobs, so I knew that it would work.
RG: And what was the initial reaction?
PH: People thought I was crazy. They’d say things like “Our customers are not going to like it,” or “How can we not have any trucks on the road on Friday? What about those customers who can only be serviced on Fridays?” People were also concerned about performance, given that staff would be working four 10-hour days.
I knew once we went to four days, nobody would ever want to switch back. We called our customers who were scheduled for Fridays and explained what we were doing, and they were all in favor of it. They liked the idea of us supporting our employees in that way, giving them more time to spend with their families.
When we made the decision, we had around 4,000-5,000 customers at best. Now we are well over 8,000 customers. I don’t think we could ever go back to five days. I’d probably lose half of my staff. They absolutely love it.
RG: So you had done your research first.
PH: I did my homework. There was general concern about losing a whole day of production, but I knew it wouldn’t be an issue. As a math person, I calculated that instead of spraying 1,000 lawns in a five-day week, we could split those across four days. I was able to demonstrate that instead of each technician spraying 20 lawns per day, they’d now handle 23 or 24 lawns daily.
The real breakthrough was showing people what they hadn’t considered: our office staff was creating 21 route boards every day, which isn’t easy. Looking at the entire year, this change means they’re making 800-900 fewer routes annually, a huge production boost. This gives the office team more time on Fridays to handle other responsibilities, while also reducing miles driven and maintenance costs. It created a positive domino effect throughout the operation, and our routes became more dense.
RG: Let’s talk about that domino effect. How has this impacted your various teams? What is your office team doing on Fridays to help save time?
PH: Some of our office staff also switched to a four-day work week. They rotate Fridays off, which gives them longer weekends, something that’s especially nice for our part-timers. On Fridays, they focus on administrative functions like accounts payable, billing and invoicing. It’s a more relaxed day without the pressure of creating route boards.
Another significant benefit is that when we operated five days a week, we had 20-21 trucks out daily. Now, on Fridays, only my service manager of 40 years and I are in the field. This eliminates all the calls from technicians asking about directions, help or invoice issues. Fridays have become remarkably quiet, with only customer calls coming in. It’s been a huge advantage for the office team, and it’s given the other two owners more freedom to handle their responsibilities without worrying about trucks on the road, route problems or customer service issues.
RG: What about your technicians? Do they have the choice to work on Fridays as well, or is it strictly Monday-Thursday, 40 hours a week?
PH: That’s a fantastic question. I’ll put it this way: we work Monday through Thursday. If I put out a notice on Thursday asking who wants to work Friday for overtime pay, I’d be lucky if one person raises their hand. They love their three-day weekends.
As a family-owned organization, we’ve established a corporate structure in the business while still treating everyone like family. We’ve recognized that over the last three to five years, our culture has changed significantly, and people place higher value on their families and personal time. It’s rare that we ever need to work on a Friday, and when we do, it’s usually due to rain preventing work on another day.
I keep Fridays open for technicians who want overtime or who might want to work Friday to earn a future day off. If someone calls in sick on a Tuesday, they can make up that time on Friday. We’ve found that fewer people call in sick nowadays; they don’t want to work Friday and sacrifice their three-day weekend. They’re more likely to get out of bed, come to work and do a good job. If they do need to call out, they simply make it up on Friday.
Overall, morale is much better. Technicians can work in advance if needed, but they never work weekends. I can’t remember the last time anyone worked a weekend.
Here’s another benefit of the four-day work week: In the old schedule, technicians would arrive at 7AM and work until approximately 3:30PM each day. Under our four-day system, they still come in at 7AM, and I allow them to leave at 3:30PM every day as long as their work is done with quality and we don’t get customer callbacks.
Although they are paid for a 40-hour work week, most work only about 35 hours because I let them leave between one and two hours early daily. They don’t want to give up this arrangement, so in the end, they didn’t lose anything by switching to a four-day work week. They’re still working less than 40 hours, just now compressed into four days.
I get the production I need, which I’ve carefully engineered based on my calculations. They get what they need, plus an extra day to do whatever they want. And the customers still get great service.
RG: How has this change affected your turnover?
PH: I’m going to knock on wood, because I don’t want to jinx myself, but I haven’t lost an employee in a year and a half. Even then, that was my senior operations manager, and that wasn’t really work-related. We don’t lose a lot of people, maybe one person a year at most. When they do leave, it’s usually for something much, much bigger than what we have to offer.
Turnover when we were running a five-day work week was between 30-35%. Now, I’d say 8-10% would be a high number.
RG: Have you found it easier to hire new team members by offering a four-day work week?
PH: I don’t have to chase down employees. Usually, if I have a position open, I’ll just tell the team, and then 90% of the time, someone will have a friend who wants to apply. It’s very rare that I have to advertise an opening. It’s great, and I think it speaks to how our employees feel about working here that they are willing to refer their friends.
RG: If you were talking to a fellow lawn care business owner who was considering making this change, what would you tell them to look out for or consider first? Any concerns?
PH: There’s always a bit of what I hesitate to call entitlement. For example, it’s almost 3:30PM now. When I get back, it’ll be 4PM; 21 trucks went out today. About 18 of them will already be back — trucks clean, machines clean and the technicians gone. On rare occasions when I say, “Hey guys, we need to stay until 5PM today for some warehouse work,” they get a bit upset, saying “I can’t believe we have to stay until 5PM.” I remind them I’m still paying them — I’m not asking them to work overtime. That’s probably the only negative aspect, but you just have to learn how to communicate effectively and in advance.
There are also benefits to the four-day workweek that people might not immediately recognize. For instance, our first holiday coming up is Memorial Day, which falls on a Monday. These guys will have worked Monday through Thursday, then be off Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday — giving them a nice four-day weekend. Usually on Thursdays before holidays, I make sure they get out a bit earlier to extend their time off.
This approach means they don’t have to use all their vacation time during the year. They can add extra days around holidays, combining their three-day weekends with a couple of vacation days. They’re getting significantly more time off than they would in a five-day work schedule.
We maintain flexibility, too. Last week we had a rain day where we couldn’t work, so we needed to work on Friday instead. One employee had already made important plans, so we allowed him to make up the time the following Friday. The system works well for everyone.
RG: It sounds like this has been an incredibly positive change for Lawn Cure.
PH: If you want to maintain a solid business and keep it growing, you need good employees. They are the essential ingredients that make everything work. You have to provide good pay, good benefits, and give them a great work schedule where they can spend quality time with family and friends. Yes, we will make mistakes — we’re not perfect. But retaining employees and reducing turnover is absolutely crucial, and a four-day workweek has definitely helped us with that.
We try to do the right things — we don’t always succeed, but we make the effort. One thing that Missy, Michelle, and I firmly agree on is keeping our business family-oriented. We want to treat our employees like they’re family and recognize that they have their own lives and challenges. We do our best to accommodate those issues because if you can show some understanding and work with them, they’ll stay loyal to your company. And that’s exactly what has happened with our team.
Thank you to Patrick Hawkins and Lawn Cure for sharing their experiences and perspective with us! Their story demonstrates not just the practical value of their approach but also the positive impact it has on their team’s quality of life and company culture. By prioritizing both business efficiency and employee well-being, they’ve created a forward-thinking business model that benefits everyone.
