You manage crops, livestock, machinery, money, land, and all the elements that add value to your farm operation. You also manage people. You re a human resource (HR) manager& whether you know it, like it, or not.
Are you adding value to the operation as an HR manager? Are you consciously thinking about HR management? Is your HR management happening by default or design? Is your HR management planned?
This is the first in a series of columns designed to help you think both more strategically and also more practically about your HR management and what it can help you achieve.
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HR management deals with people often your most challenging resource (after all, tractors never show up late or ask for a raise) and as with your other resources, planning pays off. The questions below will guide you through HR planning, the first step in HR management.
1. What tasks need to be done, and how will you sort the tasks into jobs?
Do you assign and sort tasks on the fly? Job design impacts the employee personally. It impacts their success and value to the farm, and it impacts your success as a HR manager. What if you need someone to operate large machinery, to shovel grain, and to deal with calving while you are away? Is that one full-time job or one full-time job plus a part-time job (calving or shovelling)? Will one employee who is successful operating large machinery stick around if they have to shovel grain or work at night during calving? Will you find someone with the right mix of skills?
When you re thinking about tasks, consider things that add value to the operation but are not happening now. What if you hired someone to watch the futures market or investigate a new mix of stock feed? What if you hired an economic or science graduate? OK& the reality is you probably won t, but think outside the box sometimes.
2. What does success look like for the job?
Careful thought into this question will make much of your HR management easier. Knowing what makes the job successful will allow you to hire the right person, provide clear expectations to the employee, and assist in sound performance management practices.
Examples of success could be cleaning the milking parlour (including the stuff that manages to hit the walls) in 45 minutes, learning to operate the combine in a two-hour or less training session, or knowing and following safe procedures for using a ladder in the orchard.
3.When do you need the people, and when do you need to start looking for them?
The job will often answer the first part of the question but the second part when to start looking for candidates isn t so easy to decide. Your answer will be determined by a number of factors, such as your recruitment and selection strategy and current labour market conditions.
For example, it might be wise to start looking for students to fill seasonal jobs early if the labour market is tight. Another thing to consider is when do you have time to conduct the search? Remember, as the farm manager, one of your assigned tasks is HR management. Make sure you have the time to do it right.
4. Are there transitional complications?
If you’ve been using family members, such as your children or parents, and now you re hiring employees, HR planning can give you and your family a forum for a business discussion which can address possible emotional impact.
Involving the family in the planning can increase their buy in and their awareness of how an employee will impact family life. For example, is the employee going to be in the office (kitchen table) every morning to get their assignment? Are they having lunch with the family?
If the family members have been doing the work, they have valuable knowledge and can contribute to the planning process. And when planning, many heads can be advantageous.
5. What are the economic and labour market conditions?
Planning doesn t happen in a bubble. Consider the external conditions. Over the last few years there have been a number of dramatic changes in the labour market. In 2008, unemployment rates were very low and it was difficult to find workers. In 2010, the unemployment rate in some areas has increased an additional two per cent, which has made a difference in the people available for hire.
As we said at the beginning of this column, your management of your crops, stock, machinery and money involves planning, and you do that planning because you know it adds value to your overall operation.
HR planning can add value too. In fact, HR planning is the first step in HR management by design.
Remember, a plan may not be foolprool, but it s better than operating by the seat of your overalls!CG
Leah Knibbs is the owner of Knibbs/ associates hr consulting and a partner in Knibbs/associates sourcing people. Both organizations provide HR services to agriculture organizations. Knibbs describes herself as a professional HR consultant who knows how to milk a cow. Contact her at [email protected] or 306-861-9864.
