Reading Time: 4 minutes Many of us have heard it from a disgruntled employee or possibly a family member. Maybe, at some point in our lives, we have even said it ourselves. “I didn’t sign up for this!” Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and they seldom stick around. In fact, 80 per cent […] Read more
‘I didn’t sign up for this!’
The new AgriHR Toolkit from the national ag human resources council can help in heading off conflict before it happens
The annual performance review
Does it really make sense to put employees and team members through a performance appraisal?
Reading Time: 4 minutes You’re busy, of course, so finding an excuse for not doing annual performance evaluations with employees and team members looks so very tempting. Would it really be so bad if you pushed the reviews onto the back burner? The answer is an unequivocal “yes,” according to Dr. Sara Mann, an associate professor specializing in human […] Read more
Time to talk: Building teamwork
In this pair of articles, we find all this talk about communication is more than a trend gone wild. It really does pay
Reading Time: 4 minutes When bad farm managers have bad farm teams, they blame bad employees. And sometimes it seems they have a point. I mean, who hasn’t had an employee who never gets down to work, who makes endless mistakes and who constantly gripes with other staff? But the trouble is, ineffective or inexperienced farm managers can’t see […] Read more
Keep employees on the farm
Do you really know if your employees are thinking of quitting?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Hiring and training the right people is costly, and the last thing you need as you head into the busy season is the added stress of losing a key person. The good news is there is a lot you can do as an employer to keep your staff. Even better, it’s not just about higher […] Read more
Job descriptions
Two farm specialists build the case to prove why job descriptions will save you time, money and aggravation
Reading Time: 4 minutes Are job descriptions worth the effort? Simply put, the experts say the answer is a clear yes. Or maybe we should make that YES! Job descriptions are foundational for good management, says Jade Reeve, manager of agri-jobs at the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council (CAHRC) in Ottawa. Their usefulness goes beyond recruitment, she adds. “They […] Read more
Hiring: Get it right the first time
Searching for the ideal employee starts well before you place the want ad
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a number that should wake us up: 80 per cent of employee turnover is the result of hiring the wrong person. That’s according to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), a national non-profit organization focused on addressing human resource issues in the ag sector. Since hiring and training new employees is a costly […] Read more
Strategies for successful onboarding
There are better ways for getting a new employee off to a great start, and they really do pay
Reading Time: 5 minutes “I wish they’d told me I was expected to make it a priority for my job” is a refrain Michelle Painchaud hears all too often. Employers somehow think that new employees should simply “get it,” say Painchaud, president of a Winnipeg company that specializes in helping farm businesses recruit and retain new employees. Unfortunately, it’s […] Read more
Beating burnout
No one is immune, so it’s smart to know if you’re showing these symptoms of burnout. For most of us, it’s the best way to avoid the trap
Reading Time: 5 minutes Do you feel exhausted no matter how much sleep you get? Do you feel mentally drained, or do you lack energy or feel like you’re not really accomplishing anything? All of these symptoms can point to burnout, says Dr. Arla Day, a professor in occupational health at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. If this sounds […] Read more
‘Redirection’
Is it better to keep farming into your 70s, or to retire off the farm in your early 60s? New research suggests that what you may really need is a rewarding change of direction
Reading Time: 8 minutes It’s easy to see the two pincers coming together, at least when you look at farming from a national perspective. The average Canadian farmer is 55, on the one hand, and the average Canadian retires at 62 on the other. But let’s put a best-case face on it. For self-employment Canadians — the category that […] Read more
C’mon, get happy!
‘Plastician’ Jen Moss tells us why happiness is the right goal if you really want to drive the profitability of your business
Reading Time: 5 minutes Making more money this year would make me very happy. But what if just being happier is what it takes to make our farm more profitable? Clearly, this sounds too good to be true, so I went to Jennifer Moss, the author of Unlocking Happiness at Work. She’s also the co-founder of “Plasticity Labs,” a […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
