Forum looks at valuing staff

Balancing boring work with more engaging jobs is only one way to keep staff in a dairy business, according to Lee Astridge from No8HR consultancy.

Astridge said ‘‘employment engagement’’ was the latest buzzword for developing and keeping good staff on a dairy farm, but it meant the same as motivation.

‘‘How much does an employee want to and actually improve your business results?’’ she asked dairy farmers at last week’s South Island Dairy Event conference at Lincoln University last week.

Astridge said good employees often came hand in hand with good employers.

Farmers quizzed at the workshop about their experiences with bad bosses revealed they had been lazy, yelled, weren’t concerned about employees’ aspirations, were disrespectful of staff, lacking in positive encouragement and often couldn’t remember their names.

Astridge said staff were often asked to do boring work and that was part of the job, but this had to be combined with more engaging work so they felt motivated to do a good job.

‘‘People don’t go to work saying ‘what can I f...-up today’. People want to come and give a good (performance) so it’s about how can we help them to do that.’’

Staff needed to be supported in a harmonious work environment and recognised for doing good work or working hard despite droughts and storms preventing targets being met.

To hold on to good staff, particularly senior staff due to rise up the dairying ladder, some farmers were forming groups so job opportunities could be offered within the group and increasing the chance of them returning to their original employers.

Astridge recommended that employers clearly tell their staff the business values they need to follow when they are recruited.

‘‘On the bike, doing donuts is not my value.’’

Some staff were not ‘‘keepers’’, she said.

Farmers told of staff who were perfect workers until the 90-day trial period ended and their performance soon dropped off.

Good rosters with some weekend leave were needed to keep valued staff.

Some farmers put in motocross trails and pony paddocks to keep staff with families.

Other farmers set up an exercise such as reversing a feeder under a hopper to help them select staff. The exercise was less about the performance of newcomers and more about their reaction to a new skill.