Managing Human Resources on the Farm

Effective human resource management begins with planning. Successful implementation of a plan requires that personnel be recruited and then managed effectively. Managing personnel involves the major functions of work scheduling, training, motivation, evaluation, and discipline.

Personnel Planning

Effective personnel planning starts with a self-assessment by personnel managers. Their personal characteristics, attitudes, strengths and weaknesses, and supervisory skills directly affect the working relationships among employees and others in the farm business.

Personnel needs depend on the work (tasks) to be done, the types of products grown, and the machinery and technology of each farm. An analysis of personnel needs should result in a statement of the kind and amount of work to he done, which, in turn, provides a basis for determining the number and types of workers needed.

Matching current personnel family and nonfamily with tentative job descriptions is a critical step in developing job descriptions for new employees. Identifying mismatches between job descriptions and current responsibilities may help point up training needs, adjustments in job descriptions, shifts in responsibilities, and, most important, tasks that cannot be adequately handled with existing personnel.

Hiring Employees

A personnel plan provides the basis for hiring, which includes recruitment of potential employees, interviewing applicants, and choosing which employees to hire.

No one family members included should be hired without an interview. The interview provides an opportunity to compare applicants, give applicants information about the job, and get opinions from family members and current employees about which applicant to choose.

The person you hire should be the person who best fits the job description. Farm managers are often tempted to hire the "best" person, the most experienced worker, the one most likely to stay many years, the one willing to work for the lowest wage, or the one likely to have the fewest questions. However, such an approach can negate the good planning and hiring work that the manager has done up to this point.

Managing Personnel

For a team of family and hired workers to function efficiently and effectively, one or more supervisors must carry out the following five personnel management functions: work scheduling, training, motivation, evaluation, and discipline.

We will illustrate the importance of each function with a hypothetical problem situation and discuss the key principles that underlie each function.

Work Scheduling. Kirk supervises his brother and two other employees who spend 90 percent of their time feeding and caring for cattle at four different farms. Kirk believes that varying an employee's work helps maintain job interest. Kirk and the employees report for work at 7 a.m. Each day begins with Kirk providing instructions for what each person is to do that day and at which farm the work is to be done. By 7:30 a.m., all employees have moved to their assigned farms and are at work. If they run out of work during the day, they seek out Kirk for instructions on what to do next. Employees wonder why they don't go directly to the farm where they will be working and start work immediately rather than wasting the 30 minutes getting their daily instructions from Kirk.

Work planning and scheduling increase labor efficiency. Waiting for instructions, searching for a supervisor, duplicating the work of another employee, waiting for equipment to be available, doing maintenance work during critical periods of the production season, and wasting planting and harvesting time because equipment was not ready for the season are examples of inefficiencies caused by poor work scheduling. In the above scenario, employees are wasting time waiting for daily instructions, and, in all likelihood, wasting time searching for Kirk when they run out of work.

Work scheduling should be based on a list of tasks to be accomplished, the machinery and equipment needed for the tasks, the people available to do the tasks, and the time in which the work must be done. A task list identifies what needs to be done within the next period or periods of time. The work schedule accompanying the task list identifies the workers and equipment for the tasks. Providing instructions to workers about the tasks they are to do and when and where they are to do them is the final element of the work schedule. The instructions do not have to be given every day if employees are well trained and well supervised. Kirk might consider more advance planning and scheduling for his workers.

Training. For 20 years, Jerry has employed part-time tractor drivers to help during planting and harvest seasons. He has always been able to hire retired farmers, and sons and daughters of neighboring farmers. In the past, Jerry has required extensive tractor driving experience of all new employees; but with the decreasing number of farms in his community and increasing nonfarm employment opportunities, Jerry has had difficulty finding experienced tractor drivers. Thus, he has started hiring people with little or no tractor driving experience. Recently, a new employee was seriously injured in a tractor accident.

Farm managers who hire workers with little farm work experience must provide extensive training to new employees. The complexity of many farm tasks, the risk of injury to untrained workers, and the labor inefficiencies that result from undirected, on-the-job stumbling make training essential. Jerry's employees operate equipment in potentially dangerous situations. They must have the proper training in order to reduce the risk of accidents.

Farm workers have a fatality rate that is more than 50 percent higher than that of construction workers and farm accidents often involve farm family children. The farm, with its complicated machinery, sophisticated equipment, and sometimes dangerous chemicals, is often inherently dangerous. Work is often done under severe time pressure by workers who are tired and under stress. Shortcuts such as removing protective devices, not replacing "Slow Moving Vehicle" signs, and speeding on the highway are often tempting. It is essential to incorporate safety guidelines into training programs and to regularly reinforce the guidelines.

Hiring experienced workers is sometimes considered an alternative to carefully planned and implemented training programs. In fact, all employees require training. Experienced employees may require considerable training to change poor work habits, inefficient practices, and lax attitudes toward safety that can endanger themselves and fellow workers. Some employers even prefer to hire inexperienced workers for some tasks such as milking, farrowing, and pest scouting because training can focus on the skills that are needed and not on retraining or changing old habits.

Motivation. Linda and her brother Tom own and operate an apple farm. The apples are sold at their farm market. Linda supervises two employees in the market her 26-year-old son, who works full time, and a retired police officer, who works 20 hours per week. Their morale and attitude are critical to the success of the market because of their regular contact with customers. Linda has noted her son's decreasing interest in the market, which she believes is due in part to the fact that Tom encourages him to leave the market and help with production. And while Linda appreciates the retired police officer's positive attitude and cheerfulness, she wishes he would spend less time discussing basketball with the customers and more time discussing apples.