3 Tips to Retain Top Farm Help
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As the temperature and operational workload both start to heat up, many farmers will be losing sleep over a longstanding concern that has become even more magnified in the past five years: finding and retaining top talent.
It’s with good reason that employee turnover keeps farmers up at night. Anecdotally, many signs point to a shrinking rural talent pool, due in part to an aging hired farm workforce and the stagnation of rural population growth in the United States. In fact, rural populations have essentially remained the same the past 10 years, and despite small growth in 2018-19 (.02%), rural populations that year still grew at much smaller rate than metro communities (.6%).
All this together not only makes it difficult to find hard-working, trustworthy and knowledgeable farm employees, the high-demand market makes it even harder to keep great help.
Hiring top-level talent doesn’t have to mean you should be prepared to say goodbye. Here are three tips to retain the best employees you’ve worked so hard to hire and train.
- Compensate thoughtfully.
Yes, this means a paycheck that is commensurate with their effort and experience, but for today’s top farm talent, it means more than that. What benefits are in place? Have you considered your employees’ cost of employment (gas, vehicle wear-and-tear, etc.)? More importantly: what operational goals can the employee help reach? Is he or she incentivized for helping reach those goals? Are you providing bonuses or fringe benefits after particularly grueling parts of the season, like planting or harvest?
When it comes to compensation structure, a little thought can go a long way.
- Aid in employee development.
Employees leave for such a wide variety of reasons, so it’s important you eliminate the reasons you can control. Compensation isn’t the only reason employees leave. Sometimes, it’s simply the desire to accomplish more, to be challenged, or to learn new skills. This can be frustrating for the farm manager, because, often, they could have achieved those same things by staying right where they were.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to employee satisfaction, so it’s important you talk to your employees regularly, in a structured manner. Conducting a quarterly or biannual review, for instance, provides not only the opportunity for you to discuss performance but for the employee to share what they enjoy working on and where they would like to grow. Ask them questions like:- What accomplishments this quarter are you most proud of?
- Which goals did you meet? Which goals fell short?
- What motivates you to get your job done?
- Can I do anything to make your job more enjoyable?
- What are your ideal working conditions to be the most productive?
- Focus on Employee Engagement.
Employee engagement is the mental and emotional connection that employees have with their company. Employees who are engaged at work have longer tenures and are less likely to miss work or to be injured on the job.
A shared sense of purpose and culture is one way to boost engagement. Employees remain engaged when they feel that their work has meaning, and that all hands are pulling in the same direction. Set aside time to build authentic relationships with employees, listen to their feedback and understand their career goals and aspirations. Employees who feel as if their input is valued and opportunities for growth are more engaged.
Flexibility in work is also an excellent way to boost or maintain engagement. Two years into the pandemic, the American workforce has required adaptation, and workers have appreciated the increased flexibility. Farming will never be a remote job, boots will need to be on the ground and farming operates on Mother Nature’s schedule, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be taken. Offering flexible hours during less busy times, paid time off and childcare benefits are just a few ways to foster employee engagement and keep your top employees.
For more tips on recruiting your next top farm workers, see Modern Approaches to Farm Recruitment.
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