Attracting good staff: what sets you apart?

The dairy sector faces a staffing shortage and over the next few months many of you will be vying for the same talented people to fill your roles for the coming season. To put it in perspective, in the last two years 10,680 dairy farm vacancies were posted on Farm Source alone. 

To get the best person possible, have you thought about how to make yourself stand out as an employer? 

I recommend you think about what makes you and your farm truly unique. For an impartial opinion, ask your current and past employees what they like about working for you? Make a note of what sets you and your farm apart and incorporate this into your job adverts.

I’ve seen a number of job adverts with a long-list of benefits such as competitive salary/hourly rate, accommodation and flexible working hours, to entice applicants. This is great, but we need to live up to these so that we retain these people in the sector. 

How much we pay is important to a job applicant. I recommend an employer refers to pay as a ‘total package value’ (TPV) and carefully explain how it is made up to avoid confusion. Otherwise, if the salary for a role is listed as $50,000, for example, but doesn’t mention that includes an accommodation allowance, it may deter some people from applying.  

TPV is the total value of the remuneration package including cash and non-cash benefits. To calculate TPV, assign a monetary amount to each item/benefit and then add them up. Wages are obvious, but for non-cash items, such as food and accommodation, you may want to investigate what is fair. 

In regard to work hours, use your timesheet data to have an honest conversation about hours with prospective employees. 

If you don’t currently use timesheets, useful templates are available on the DairyNZ website. We hear all the time that good hours of work and a good roster are crucial for employees and ultimately will help you attract and retain quality employees.  

As always, clearly articulating what you can offer in a job advertisement and being up front about what you are looking for, will enable you to find candidates who are interested in the job you are offering and more likely to stay long-term. 

For more information see dairynz.co.nz/people/employer

• Veronica Briggs is a DairyNZ people management specialist