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Recruitment is marketing. Today, the greatest recruitment tool you have is the job satisfaction of your workforce. You also must “get out there” by making recruitment a continuous process and using and expanding your network.
Employee recruitment, engagement and retention are three important structural pillars in building a strong dairy farm labor force. Strengthening all three creates a culture that benefits both the employer and employees.
“Help wanted,” “now hiring,” “open positions,” “accepting applications,” “open interviews,” “apply inside.” Sound familiar? It sure does to me. Nationwide, nearly every industry is feeling the pinch for employees.
As we exit the pandemic, I believe the greatest challenge for essentially every business – including dairy farms – is hiring and retaining a great workforce.
This article is part two in a five-part series. Be sure to read “Retaining talented employees” in the upcoming February issue.
The upper hand in the workplace has shifted – employees now choose employers.
I often refer to the incredible changes in dairy farms from my time growing up on the family farm in the thumb of Michigan to today. Let’s think about what has happened with feeding cows. When I was growing up, we fed bales of hay – pretty poor-quality by today’s standards – and grain, depending on production.
A day in the life of a dairy farmer involves wearing many hats. One of those hats is that of human resources. No matter the size of your farm, as long as you have employees, you need to be thinking about human resources.
When dairy farmers are asked how they recruit new employees, the response is usually the same: “We don’t need to recruit.” Owners report that the current economic situation has meant no shortage of people looking for work.
In fact, many owners have a stack of applications, most of which will never receive a call back. This is not because there aren’t qualified applicants, and not because the owners don’t care, but simply because there aren’t enough jobs nor time to deal with each.
