People power drives dairy success (Oct 25)

Recruiting and retaining staff are ongoing issues for many dairy businesses. So a recent industry panel discussion offered some insights and solutions to help producer building stronger teams.

TEXT KAREN WRIGHT

Attracting dedicated people to work on dairy units and building a happy and resilient team is a ‘universal’ aim across the industry. And a panel of specialists at September’s UK Dairy Day shared their own experiences and offered visitors some valuable tips.

It starts with an on-going issue for the dairy industry – recruitment. But Cumbria-based producer Lynsey Awde lays some of the blame for this with schools and the dairy industry itself.

“The perception of working on a farm still carries a stigma,” said Lynsey, who manages a 600-cow herd, plus followers, as well as beef cattle, and employs 10 staff including two Harper Adams students and four relief workers.

“The age-old image of long and unsocial hours working in a business that’s making little or no money does nothing to attract newcomers. And I’ve known teachers encourage students to aim for more than farming; suggesting that their grades will get them further.”

Hugh Pocock

Producer and founder of recruitment company Cultura Connect Hugh Pocock believes that there is plenty of talent in the market but puts some onus on producers to better promote their industry.

Wider audience

“Social media is key,” he said. “If job hunters are looking for information the first thing they do is type the relevant words or farm name into the computer – it’s the new Yellow Pages.”

He also encouraged producers to make better use of platforms like Facebook and Instagram in a positive way to expose their industry to a wider audience.

When it comes to some of the barriers to recruitment, unsociable hours feature regularly. “Potential employees less familiar with dairying have reservations about extremely early starts and/or late finishes that don’t fit in around family life,” he added.

“But as dairy producers we could work around this a bit – do cows have to be milked at 5.30am, or could milking start a few hours later? It’s much easier to find evening milkers, but we often struggle with the early morning rota. A shift in timings can open up access to a whole new pool of staff.”

With milking under the spotlight, Lynsey Awde said that in her experience of running a large herd, one milking shift a day is enough, and she doesn’t expect one person to do two consecutively. “I only milk once a day, and don’t expect anyone else to do more,” she added.

Quizzed about the weighting that prospective employees would place on working hours or salary, Hugh explained that the Instagram generation (Gen Z) were born with a phone in their hand. “So they see how others live and work, and they want more spare time. They want to work to live, so we must make sure a good balance is on offer.”

Benchmark salaries

He also encouraged producers to benchmark salaries and make sure they’re in line with other sectors.

Alix Morley

Gone are the days when staff were prepared to work long hours on farms all year round. But, as Alix Morley from the Farm Safety Foundation pointed out, the average working week on farms across the UK is still around 60 hours.

“And 44% of producers surveyed aged between 41 and 60 are working more than 81 hours a week, with little chance of getting off the farm. It’s shocking and easy to see the impact this has on mental and physical wellbeing,” she said. “Our research shows that, of the producers working nine hours a day or more, 33% admit to having had an accident or near miss in the past 12 months.”

Hannah Batty

Quality of work and risk of injury or mistakes caused by excessive working or too much pressure is an area that vet Hannah Batty, from LLM Farm Vets, is aware of, not only from her work with dairy teams but also from her Trehane Trust-sponsored Nuffield scholarship. This allowed her to dig deep into people, processes and potential in a quest to develop a blueprint for team management on UK dairy units.

“It’s an area that’s typically overlooked, but with time and effort issues can be identified and the working environment improved. This leads to better performance and happier staff – and higher staff retention. Long hours, tiredness and stress are weak links on farms,” she added. “And they have an effect on animals too. Herd health and performance rely on the wellbeing of staff and the team.”

Getting to know staff and understanding any issues they may have, at work or at home, that could impact their work is an important but often over-looked area. And this is a focus for Lynsey.

“The hardest lesson is never to assume you know what’s going on, or that everything is fine, or you know the reason behind an event,” she said. “Take the time to ask, find out and offer help.

“Encourage the team to socialise together because this is an opportunity to chat and promotes teamwork, and it’s a reminder that it’s not all about technical skills.”

Alix fully supports more team ‘building’. “Farming is isolating, and mental health is a big concern for many staff. From our survey work, 95% of young farmers believe poor mental wellbeing is the biggest hidden danger facing the industry today,” she said. “The human element is crucial – long hours in an isolated environment with no one to talk to or discuss issues can lead to problems. Staff need to feel they have support and are appreciated.”

Investing in staff by providing training is key to retaining people. Hugh pointed out that recruiting staff is expensive and can be time-consuming when their initial training is factored in, so developing their skills and keeping their interest is a wise investment for the right people.

Keen to give anyone a go, Lynsey added that there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing young people enjoying learning and embracing the training that’s offered to them.

“They may enjoy one area more than another and on a large unit this can be accommodated. As employers, we have to identify this, welcome new ideas and avoid being fixated that there’s only one way to do a job.”

First impression

She described a new employee’s first day as the ‘golden’ day when the foundations are laid. “Create a good impression – you don’t get this opportunity again. I take time to explain our protocols, what we do and why we do it. It’s good to get their induction off to the best possible start,” added Lynsey.

She does regular ‘check ups’ too, to see if there are areas they’ve not grasped and to help iron out any issues.

“I’d like to think I’m an inspirational boss, and that I encourage new ideas. We’re not fixated on there being only one way of doing things – we can all learn and improve.”

Hugh is under no illusions as to the value of training and motivating staff. “Learning new skills and developing interests are key to staff retention. If people don’t feel valued and motivated, they will go elsewhere.”

Underpinning success on farm is clear communication and discussion, which became evident to Hannah during her scholarship.

“If there’s a good open dialogue and team spirt there’s typically a harmonious working environment and better productivity. It’s a win:win for staff, producers, and their herds.”