The People Strategy Podcast · 2025-05-22 · 32 min
What if the issue isn't who you're hiring, but what they're walking into? That was the pivotal question Greg Brouwer asked himself when he took the reins of West Michigan Janitorial , overseeing a team of more than 200 employees and facing turnover rates nearing 200%. Instead of defaulting to reactive hiring or higher pay, Greg chose a different path... one centred on building belonging, not just bandwidth. "What if we focused less on finding more people," Greg asked, "and more on becoming a place worth staying in?" Greg's approach reframed leadership from task oversight to culture stewardship. He didn't just aim to run a more efficient cleaning company; he set out to create a values-driven workplace where dignity is the default, and retention is the byproduct of trust, structure, and care. Under his leadership, turnover has steadily declined below 85%, driven not by easier work but by a stronger culture. In this powerful episode of The People Strategy Podcast , Traci Austin sits down with Greg Brouwer, owner of West Michigan Janitorial, to unpack what it means to run a high-turnover business without a high-turnover mindset.
Episode 214: Gratitude-Driven Leadership: Closing the Chapter with Traci Austin28 / 100Episode 213: Meeting People Where They Are: Lessons from Rolling TidesEpisode 212: Engineering Spaces for Belonging: The Power of Intentional Culture-BuildingEpisode 211: Elevating Our Tradespeople: Building Culture, Clarity, and Passion on the JobsiteEpisode 209: The Hidden Cost of Letting It Slide - Core Values in Trades Leadership