Increasing competition means job satisfaction vital asset

Increasing competition in the current labour market means the job satisfaction of employees is a vital asset to any business.

To attract and retain talent in this market, employers need to build and maintain a reputable culture and assess their working conditions. In return, respected and wellmanaged employees can help improve staff retention, create better on-the-job performance and build a better overall employer/employee relationship.

A few areas to evaluate frequently are:

Documentation

It’s important for your employment documentation to be comprehensive as this ensures both parties are aware of their obligations and are compliant from a legal perspective. This should include an employment contract, job description, and health and safety policy at a minimum.

Any specific policies that help to set expectations, including clear remuneration package details and other benefits of your business, provide a clear framework and can be referred to if any confusion arises.

Accommodation requirements

Recent changes to landlord responsibilities place an even higher obligation on employers to provide accommodation. The standard of accommodation conditions can sometimes be a deal breaker in whether a potential employee accepts a position. Consider an annual plan to factor in any developments or enhancements to the property.

Workplace flexibility

Encouraging a healthy work-life balance is important to employee and employer wellbeing. Particularly in farming, providing opportunities for employees to engage in “off farm” activities is important to help with mental and physical health.

Communication

Understanding how people communicate is an important step in enhancing any employment relationship. A clear communication process will help make sure both parties understand expectations.

In conjunction with this, developing strong communication processes assists employees to work more efficiently and helps mitigates mistakes and the requirement for re-working to be done.

Annual reviews

A routine annual review of employees provides an opportunity for goals to be assessed, any issues to be addressed, and for good performance to be recognised and rewarded.

There should be some formal documentation about the review process, key goals, and measures so that this can be monitored and reflected on.

An annual review should also include a remuneration review to stay up to date with the competitive market.

These are a few important areas any agribusiness can address to help ensure employees feel valued and they are building trusting relationships. Employee turnover and recruitment for new employees can be costly, so it is vital for you to provide the necessary employee resources to be the best employer you can be.

For more information on this topic, please visit us at findex. co.nz The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the thought or position of Findex NZ Limited. See our disclosure information on our website: https://www.findex.co.nz/ disclaimers/disclaimer-anddisclosure