So, with the year rapidly coming to an end, it is a good time to check you’re all sorted for the holiday period and start planning for next season.
Before Christmas
Working together on plans for the summer break helps ensure everyone can look forward to resting, recharging and spending time with family and friends.
You might like to check that time off is scheduled for all staff, including you, over the Christmas break. It’s important for people to be able to plan what they will do in their time off, so getting it sorted well in advance helps manage the workload and lets your team plan ahead.
When planning the roster you might like to consider:
- personal circumstances of each team member
- personal preferences
- level of responsibility needed at each shift
- availability of relief milkers and part time staff
- essential jobs over the break, eg shifting irrigators or feeding stock.
As part of the planning, make sure relief milkers or part-time staff are booked in to help cover time off for everyone.
Think about planning a team celebration such as a barbecue or other appropriate reward to recognise their hard work. It’s a good time to reflect on what’s gone well, and to ensure the team knows their efforts are appreciated. You might consider including families in the celebration as they play a key supporting role for team members.
Review health and safety with the team. Over the holidays there may be more visitors to the farm, or children home from school. As a person who controls a place of work, you are responsible for making sure that no hazards on the farm harm any person in the vicinity of work taking place.
You may like to put additional focus on:
- ensuring that your employees keep their children away from any areas where farm work is taking place.
- reminding all employees to double-check that no children are around when they start or reverse machinery.
- fencing off farm ponds or other bodies of water.
- storing chemicals in a locked cupboard.
Next season
It’s also worthwhile starting to think about whether changes to the farm team need to be made next season.
A good starting point is to discuss with your team their intentions for next year.
Remember that many, if not most, employees working on dairy farms are permanent employees. That means that their employment will continue until either they decide to leave voluntarily or their employment is terminated, which requires appropriate and accurate use of the disciplinary process. Ensure each employee understands that the discussion is only being held so you can start planning any recruitment that may be necessary.
Of course it is also an opportunity to find out more about what motivates your employees and think seriously about what can be offered to keep them – whether that be training, more responsibility, an alternative roster or a chance to own stock.
While many in the dairy industry accept that employees change jobs regularly we must also accept that it takes at least a year in a role before an employee reaches their maximum productivity. Keeping staff for more than one season makes good business sense.
Recruitment
If recruitment is needed then do a little workforce planning so you can get the best from your business.
Figure out the right number of people for your team and what skills and attitudes those people will need, also taking into account any employees who will be staying. At the end of this process you should have a list of positions required onfarm.
The next step is to ensure that each of these positions has a clear and accurate job description to increase the chances of attracting the right applicants when you advertise. Matching expectations from the beginning is a great start to any employment relationship.
If you need help with recruitment consider contacting a rural professional who has specialist knowledge in this area or try the DairyNZ QuickStart Recruitment Kit which provides templates and information on job descriptions, recruitment and orientation.
The QuickStart Recruitment Kit is available in hardcopy by ordering online from dairynz.co.nz or ringing DairyNZ on 0800 4 DairyNZ (0800 4 324 7969).
Jane Muir is People team leader for DairyNZ.
