Willie and Sharon Muir farm at Tuturau on the banks of the Mataura River, just south of Gore. Since buying the original family farm at age 20, Willie has bought neighbouring land and the couple now farm 138 hectares and peak milk 360 cows.
A nearby support block supplies silage and replacement heifers are grazed at Kelso. Cows have historically been wintered off-farm under outside grazing management. However, this season Willie purchased standing crop from a nearby farmer and fed the cows himself through the winter on swedes and balage. This change in wintering policy came as part of a “big picture” review of their business several years ago.
After some challenging times, including losing their home to fire when their son Jack, now five, was a young baby, Willie and Sharon decided that they needed to reassess their approach to farming.
“We weren’t enjoying it as much as we used to, we were constantly busy and were missing out on the family time that we wanted,” Willie says.
Before the arrival of Jack and Holly, 4, Willie and Sharon did most of the farm work themselves. They now employ two full-time staff which means Sharon can step back from the day-to-day farm work and focus on raising their children and the administration side of their business.
The farm labour requirement is about 2.5 full-time labour units but finding reliable casual staff to fill the part-time requirement while meeting employment legislative requirements was proving a challenge.
After some number crunching they found that for an extra $12,000 they could employ a second full-time employee instead of a part-time employee. They were saving a similar amount because of their change in wintering policy and that helped them justify their decision.
“We win on both fronts,” Willie says.
“We are getting great results from our wintering, plus by having the third person year round we are able to operate a better roster for no increase in costs. Our staff are happier and more productive and so are we.”
Willie admits that the way they managed staff was “fairly casual” in the past. He and Sharon decided that an overhaul of their human resources (HR) systems was needed to drive their business to the next level. They sought the help of HR consultant Melissa Vining from Progressive AGRI in Invercargill to help them improve their skills.
“We knew what we wanted to do, but we weren’t sure about how to get started,” Willie says.
“Now that we have the key systems in place we can build on them and fine-tune them as we go along.”
Melissa reviewed their farm business and their existing systems and helped them define what their vision was for both their business and themselves. This involved understanding what farm outcomes needed to be achieved and what that would require in terms of staffing.
“The Muirs had some good systems in place already, but there were gaps that needed to be rectified to ensure they met their legal requirements and had effective systems to manage and monitor performance,” she says.
Melissa’s key recommendations for the Muir’s business were to provide more detailed job descriptions, start six-monthly performance reviews, and implement a health and safety plan for the farm. She also set up some new systems for managing rosters, time sheets, and recording leave.
Melissa says that getting the job description right is a critical component in employing the right person for the job and managing their performance on an ongoing basis. If the job description doesn’t accurately reflect what is required of the employee then managing performance can become difficult and there is greater potential for misunderstandings and conflict within the farm team.
Willie and Sharon spent considerable time developing job descriptions for their 2IC and farm assistant job roles to ensure the farming outcomes would be achieved efficiently. This was done by breaking each position into its components, identifying what each employee needed to be responsible for and how performance would be measured. This analytical process helped the Muirs gain greater clarity about exactly what they were expecting from their staff and gave them the tools to communicate this effectively.
The job description provides the basis for performance reviews because it outlines the expectations of the employee and how ongoing performance will be measured.
The Muirs conduct a formal performance review every six months with each employee. Remuneration reviews are part of this process on an annual basis. The meeting is to review past performance, clarify future expectations and ensure there are sound development plans in place for the employee. They also use this opportunity to review the farm’s performance and make sure the employee understands how they have contributed to the results.
The employee is given a performance review template before the meeting to allow them time to rate their performance in each area covered in the job description. It also encourages them to think about their own goals and what training and development they would like to undertake.
Willie also does the same preparation and the discussions about how the ratings have been decided acts as a starting point for the performance review itself.
“We try and give examples of when things have gone well and when things could have been done differently to achieve better outcomes. We also explain to them what they would need to do to achieve a higher rating.”
The second part of the meeting involves discussing the future – what the employee wants to achieve in the short-, medium-, and long-term, defining goals that will help them achieve this vision.
The Muirs also share their vision and goals for their farm and take the opportunity to make it clear how the employee contributes to those. Willie says this part of the review helps them understand their employees better, describing those discussions as quite enlightening.
They then develop a training and development plan that aligns the farm goals with the employee’s goals.
The final part of the performance review meeting involves discussion about job satisfaction and what the Muirs can do to make the job more fulfilling for staff.
“We make a point of asking them for feedback about our performance as employers. We want to do things better and we want them to feel able to raise any issues that they have with us so we can deal with them before the issues become major,” Willie says.
He believes that a formal performance review meeting is important because although he is regularly assessing employee performance and providing feedback on an informal basis, the performance review meeting provides a more structured forum to discuss past performance and, more importantly, to plan for future performance.
“It shows our staff that they are important to us, that we are prepared to put time and energy into understanding their goals and helping them succeed.”
With the people management side of their business now running smoothly the Muirs feel confident about leaving their staff to run the farm when they are away.
“We can now leave the farm – whether for a weekend or a fortnight – and know that we have the right people and the right systems in place to deal with any problems. We go away and we don’t have to worry like we used to,” Willie says.
The time and effort that initially went into overhauling their HR systems is paying dividends and the Muirs are now more confident in their ability to manage staff well as well as having peace of mind that they are complying with their legal requirements as employers.
“We are enjoying farming again. Our staff is more engaged and this has spinoffs for our productivity and profitability.”
Key points
Farm: Rowalan Farm Ltd – Willie and Sharon Muir
Location: Mataura, Eastern Southland
Area: 119ha effective and 19ha support block
Cows: 360 Friesian and crossbred
Production: 175,000kg milksolids (MS), 486kg MS/cow, 1470kg MS/ha
Staff: Bruce, 2IC, Randall, herd manager.
