Thursday, 04 January 2018 11:55

Attracting the best people

Written by 
Farmers who invest in their businesses to attract and retain the right people benefit from lower staff turnover. Farmers who invest in their businesses to attract and retain the right people benefit from lower staff turnover.

Getting good staff is just one of the challenges faced by dairy farming businesses. But are we doing enough as employers to create environments where good people want to work?

DairyNZ’s people team leader Jane Muir says to compete with other industries for great staff, we must make it a priority to offer world-class work environments on our farms.

Farmers who invest in their businesses to attract and retain the right people benefit from lower staff turnover. In turn, this reduces recruitment costs, stress and downtime while new staff get up-to-speed with their role.

Also, when you provide good leadership for your people – looking after, rewarding and supporting them – they’ll do their jobs well and act on opportunities that benefit your business. That could mean they wash down efficiently to save water, manage pasture to maximise feed, or implement an improved irrigation model.

Moving from good to great

Recognising the key role people play in successful and resilient dairy farm businesses, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ launched the Sustainable Dairying: Workplace Action Plan in October 2015. This supports farmers with tips, tools and resources to go from being good employers to great employers. It also sets out guidelines, expectations and aspirational targets under five pillars of good people management:

• balanced and productive work time

• fair and competitive remuneration

• wellness, wellbeing, health and safety

• effective team culture

• rewarding careers.

As world-class milk producers, we should be aiming to provide a safe, rewarding and productive workplace, with a motivated team that’s working towards achieving shared business goals.

If each of us achieved that, we’d have no problems getting good staff. Wouldn’t that be something that made our lives easier and be worth celebrating in 2018?


Become a friend of the Workplace Action Plan

Sign up and you’ll be among the first to hear about new initiatives and resources, and how we’re progressing against targets. Visit dairynz.co.nz/wap.

Support for employees

DairyNZ has online resources for farm employees. The resources cover practical skills and tips such as preparing a CV, finding the right job and preparing for interviews. They also offer useful information including what to expect as an employee on a New Zealand dairy farm, rights and entitlements, how to progress, setting goals and training. Visit dairynz.co.nz/employee.

Quick and easy farm rosters

Over 2000 farmers have signed up to DairyNZ’s online Roster Builder since its release in 2015. It lets you set up a simple roster in under five minutes and, with a bit more time invested, it becomes a powerful business tool for exploring different roster options and cost implications.

For more info and to sign up, visit dairynz.co.nz/rosters.

*Look out for this article and other interesting on-farm management stories in Getting the Basics Right 2018 issue arriving in your mail boxes soon.

More like this

DairyNZ chair wants cross-party deal

New DairyNZ chair Tracy Brown says bipartisan agreement among political parties on emissions pricing and freshwater regulations would greatly help farmers.

Strong uptake of good wintering practices

DairyNZ has seen a significant increase in the number of farmers improving their wintering practices, which results in a higher standard of animal care and environmental protection.

Better animal genetic gain system

A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of a major software project.

Featured

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.

Boost for hort exports

The horticulture sector is a big winner from recent free trade deals sealed with the Gulf states, says Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg.

National

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of…

Machinery & Products

BA Pumps expand

Cambridge based BA Pumps & Sprayers, specialists in New Zealand-made spraying equipment, has acquired Tokoroa Engineering’s product range, including the…

Entries open for innovation award

Fieldays and its renowned Innovation Awards are celebrating their 57th year, marking a longstanding tradition in the agricultural calendar, with…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Chinese strategy

OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.

Not fair

OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter