“Employee performance is the Achille’s heel of our industry,” said Robert Hagevoort during the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council Annual Meeting held last week in Arlington, Texas. While that statement will surely not come as a surprise to anyone working in dairy, it is hard to know what to do to solve the issue. It also only exacerbates the struggle to even find people willing to do the daily jobs that power a dairy farm.
The demanding nature of working on a dairy is magnified by what the Wall Street Journal refers to as America’s “long-term labor crisis,” continued the New Mexico State University associate professor and extension specialist. Over the last few decades, baby boomers have been retiring, lower birthrates lead to fewer people entering the workforce, immigration policies have shifted, and worker preferences in general have changed. Total employment is not going to grow much, said Hagevoort. This means it will remain difficult to find people to fill roles.
He urged that this makes it even more crucial to manage the talent you have. It is a mindset shift from finding the right person to developing them.
Consider your “talent supply chain,” Hagevoort said. You may already have the skills you need in house; they may just not be in practice yet. While we can’t do much about the labor shortage, we can think about how much money we may be leaving on the table because of undetected or underdeveloped skills.
Of course, this is not just about “finding” skills that people can learn. It is about being intentional around helping both the people you already have and your business succeed. “What that means is you have to have conversations with your employees about their aspirations,” Hagevoort said. Consider what they are interested in, what they have a natural aptitude in, and what they may want to learn more about. Can you find a way to make those desires fit in with what the farm needs? When an employee feels fulfilled, they will also be more motivated.
Everyone possesses different skill sets. As one example, he noted that it is unlikely every person who shows up at your farm to work has the skills needed to work with animals safely. The only way to find that out is to talk to them and observe them.
Consider how you as an employer can help workers do their jobs better and make it easier for them to learn new skills and develop the ones they have. Providing sufficient training in a way that is useful — whether that is translated, with photos, through videos, or another format — makes a significant difference in how well your people can express the skills they have. Regular feedback also focuses in on what is a good fit and what might work better.
Whether it is a hired employee that is promoted or an owner thrust into a more people-facing role, Hagevoort recognized that being put into a management role can be difficult for people in agriculture. More next-generation farmers are taking business classes alongside animal science classes to help meet this need, which he encouraged.
For employees who exhibit those skills to be moved up to middle managers, consider how they can learn soft skills. Can you find the best fit for them based on other team members’ personalities? How can they be eased into a role or receive ongoing support? Anything we can do to make a worker’s job easier is a step toward retaining them and their talents, which you may or may not be able to replace.
