Selection is careful and methodical, initiated by Rowena, who is the office administrator for Douglas Farms.
Fencepost is used for all advertised positions, as well as the local newspaper.
All applicants are asked to make initial contact by email, on the basis that if someone cannot get access to email or write one, he or she is not going to be suitable.
What are invariably large numbers of replies are short-listed by taking out the overseas applicants and the completely unsuitable.
All applicants receive an email within 48 hours thanking them and once the closing date has passed all unsuccessful people get emails as quickly as possible.
Those who make first cut to about nine hopefuls are then asked to send in CVs and fill in application forms, with questions on health status, criminal records, willingness to undergo drug tests and the like.
“Then we get the nine down to six and Rowena calls them on the phone, for further assessment,” Ian said.
“The aim is that we don’t do any more than three face-to-face interviews.”
These are usually conducted by Ian and the relevant farm manager, where the position is located.
Interviews are up to two hours and begin with Douglas Farms’ vision and values.
These have four sections: Co-operative spirit, Do what is right, Challenge boundaries, and Make it happen.
Included are things like pitch in, volunteer my knowledge, form lasting partnerships, promote our reputation and honour our heritage, respect and care for our environment, do what we say we will, have the courage to challenge when things don’t seem right, treat animals with respect, welcome the unfamiliar, continuously lift standards, find a better way, learn from success and mistakes, plan thoroughly, include contingencies, celebrate success, and have fun.
‘I like to see staff members grow and learn what’s right and wrong from experiences, perhaps mistakes.’
"We look for people who fit our values. Our recruitment process now aligns values, competencies and team fit,” Ian said.
“It really helps identify the type of person we employ and that will be good for our business long-term.”
Rowena keeps full notes of all comments made by applicants on the phone or by email and Ian uses these at the interview to probe and check for consistency.
They find that many applicants have done research before interviews, which earns them credits and helps the conversations to go deeper.
Douglas Farms has branded casual clothing and believes in fostering pride in the workforce.
“We call it ‘pulling on the jersey’,” Ian said.
Douglas Farms pays well to attract the best and retain them.
Almost all employees are on the same terms and conditions, with the main differences being days off and pay rates.
“Everything in the contracts has monetary values, with all fringe benefits removed.
“For example they pay local market rentals for houses.
“An allowance is provided for work clothing, which can be spent at the store of choice.
“The one farm worker who floats, being required in different places at different times, has a vehicle provided, but no-one else.”
Ian said incentives were built into salary, with 6-10% termed “at risk” of not being paid if performance was not what was required, but hardly ever deducted.
Inflation adjustments to hourly rates and salaries were the minimum annual increase, but frequently much more than that.
Ian said recent increases were in the 3%-8% range, although one person received a 20%-plus boost this season when staff and cow numbers more than doubled.
Douglas Farms wouldn’t try to economise on employment costs during a poor milk payout season, as they represented about 15% of farm costs and there were priority areas for savings ahead of wages.
Although the workload varied with the different seasons, perhaps reducing in droughts, Ian said there was always work to do on farms and all employees would be kept active.
‘We look for people who fit our values. Our recruitment process now aligns values, competencies and team fit.’
He and Rowena have an open home on Sunday nights during calving, when they cook dinner for all staff and family members who want to attend and frequently have between 10 and 20 adults and children.
Four times a year they hold a more formal dinner for the family and employees – at the beginning of a season, the end of calving, at Christmas, and the end of the season.
With formal qualifications in cookery and restaurant management and eight years experience in hospitality, Ian is not daunted by large dinners and Rowena has a very capable pair of hands.
Ian studied at the International College of Hotel Management in South Australia and worked mainly in Australia.
He finished that phase of his life as a restaurant manager for Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in Melbourne, under Josh Emmett, where his role included recruitment of all floor staff.
Such was its reputation an advertised position drew 300 to 400 emailed replies and Ian had about 20 seconds to read each to make his short list.
Interviews were every half hour and often the next applicant would watch and wait while an interview was finishing.
“That was very hands-on management, with virtually no office time, and a very high turnover of wait staff.
“The whole aggro thing portrayed on television is over-dramatised and any bad language occurred in the kitchen, not in front of house,” he said.
Ian is calm and considered. He wants to get the best staff and make Douglas Farms the most enjoyable place to work.
“I like to see staff members grow and learn what’s right and wrong from experiences, perhaps mistakes.”
Training days are held, especially for calving, and team members learn from professional such as vets.
Douglas Farms has a number of manuals in folders that are rewritten when necessary, the calving one getting the most attention.
Farm managers load fertiliser applications, pasture covers and cow details to MINDA Land and Feed, which Ian can access on smartphone.
Monthly farm reports are written and emailed covering animal health treatments, production figures, cow deaths and farm inputs.
Ian said they formed a valuable record for the future.
Who does what
Douglas Farms milks 2900 cows on four farms – two home farms at Titoki, a contract milking farm nearby, and a 50:50 sharemilking job in its first year near Kaitaia, more than two hours drive away.
Ian spends one or two days a week on each farm, working alongside his farm managers. Rowena is the office supervisor of Douglas Farms, back at Titoki.
Douglas Farms at Titoki is itself an amalgamation of five smaller dairy farms and now runs 950 cows in three herds through a modern 54-bail rotary and an older 30-a-side herringbone.
The farming entity is an equity partnership of parents Murray and Marcelle and their three sons, Ian, Tim, and Rodger.
Ian and Tim were the Northland Sharemilker-Equity Farmers of the Year in 2013, the year Ian also made the grand final of the Young Farmer Contest, representing Northern region.
Tim is working in Europe and Rodger manages the family’s Brazilian dairy farming operations.
