Farm worker recruitment: 6 top tips to find new hires
Finding workers for farm-related jobs can be challenging, especially during labour market shortages, which is why once you find the right people for the job, it’s important to keep them.
When you have the right people working in the right positions, farms become productive and can expand and grow.
Janice Goldsborough, a human resources consultant with the consulting company The HR Basics in Manitoba, recommends producers take their time with the hiring process. Avoid the urge to hire the first person who comes along and instead, find the right people.
“Turnover can be very costly, so taking more time to get the right people on the first try helps farms be more profitable,” Goldsborough says. “When you have the right people working in the right positions, farms become productive and can expand and grow."
Here are six top recruitment and new hire tips:
1. Accurate job descriptions
Viktoria Schuler, director of products and services for the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council, says job descriptions should be clear, direct and realistic.
All benefits and compensation should be clearly stated. Some provinces, such as Ontario, mandate that job advertisements include specific details, including wage offerings. Employers should also be prepared to answer applicant questions and clearly understand where they can be more flexible and accommodating, and where they cannot.
2. Spread the word
When posting job advertisements, Schuler adds that sharing the post with existing employees and community groups, via social media and other less conventional means, can help showcase the opportunity to more people, rather than relying solely on online job search platforms.
3. Pay a fair wage
“Find out how much people are paying for similar jobs in the area, and match wages accordingly. Make sure you’re offering a realistic wage. And if you offer benefits like free housing, put that in the job description as well,” Schuler says.
4. Get creative with benefits
Providing health benefits, vacation pay, retirement savings contributions, and other formal employment benefits goes a long way toward attracting and retaining employees. But compared to other industries like construction or petroleum, agricultural businesses are sometimes more financially strained.
Schuler says that agriculture can benefit from offering several informal benefits which have less impact on the bottom line.
“Flexible work hours or a schedule taking into account a person’s life stage can be a good idea,” she says. “Providing housing is also not traditional, but it is top of the list for some. It really helps in rural areas where housing is scarce. Free housing is a huge benefit that can add up to five or 10 dollars an hour in additional wages.”
5. Fund employee learning
Schuler adds that training opportunities and providing a professional development fund are other means of retaining employees and letting them know you care about them personally, not just how they fit into your business.
6. Feed the crew
“Something else, especially for seasonal workers, is providing meals during harvest and seeding. That can be organizing meals for the crew, ordering frozen meals, anything for them to get meals when they may not have time to cook,” Schuler says.
Whatever the informal benefit is, however, it needs to be communicated to potential applicants.
Contract details
Experts recommend signing a contract with new staff. Chris Hall, human resources partner, University of Waterloo, says contracts should include:
Position title
Whether the position is full-time, part-time or contract
Annual salary or hourly rate
Start date
Vacation day entitlements
Sick days
Other benefits
Length of probationary period
Termination clause
In the contract with new employees, establish key performance indicators and consider including a checklist to ensure clear duties and responsibilities and consistent performance.
Once the perfect candidate is hired, it's critical to ensure job expectations are clear. Dana Gidge, director of HR consulting at RLB in Guelph, Ont., says clarifying expectations with new hires comes by providing new employees with the firm’s written vision, mission and strategy statements so they can determine how they fit into the new job.
As the job progresses, short but regular check-in conversations go a long way toward clarifying expectations and ensuring work is on track.
Conducting a thorough audit of your human resources plan can help you focus on what’s needed to attract and keep top talent.
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