Contact:
Travis Senn
Director of communications
(920) 948-7666
tsenn@voiceofmilk.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. ― Finding, developing and maintaining a reliable workforce is challenging for any business, especially dairy farms. A farm’s workforce is its lifeblood.
To gain an advantage in a competitive labor market, modern farms are increasingly focusing on enhancing their workplace culture and fostering environments of growth and development.
The Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative have dedicated their co-produced Dairy Stream podcast to the issue. A four-part series, “Success in Succession Planning,” kicked off in May, with the penultimate episode released this week. The series examines recruiting and onboarding talent, employee retention and engagement, coaching and counseling and HR management and legal matters. The series was sponsored by Compeer Financial and Syngenta.
The series includes appearances from a variety of HR professionals and dairy farmers, including Laura Finger of Finger Family Farm in Peshtigo, Wis., Sandy Larson of Larson Acres in Evansville, Wis., and Christine Bender of McFarlandale Dairy in Watertown, Wis.
“Workplace culture is critical for any business, but increasingly so for farmers,” Tim Trotter, CEO of the two organizations, said. “Dairy Stream prides itself on providing resources for farmers, from farmers, to adapt to an increasingly complex business.”
Bender said building rapport with your workforce is the most important thing a dairy farmer can do.
“It’s important to be objective and non-judgmental,” she said. “Your goal is to help the employee.”
Trotter believes farmers already possess the tools necessary to overcome any workforce challenges.
“Dairy farmers are innovators,” Trotter said. “Dairy Stream has always strived to showcase their stories and share their solutions to complex problems.”
EPISODES:
(Use of audio clips is encouraged with attribution to “Dairy Stream, co-produced by Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative.”)
Episode 1: Recruiting and onboarding talent, featuring HR professional Lori Culler and dairy farmer Laura Finger. Listen here.
- 1:38: Where should farms start with sourcing and recruiting talent
- 3:44: Share the reality of the job
- 5:23: Best place to post a job
- 6:33: How Laura recruits for her farm
- 8:49: How to assess the talent pool
- 9:56: What to share about pay and benefits
- 13:46: How to select the best candidate
- 18:26: Ensuring the farm and candidates expectations are met
- 24:04: What is an effective onboarding plan
- 25:43: Making the handbook ‘fun’
- 27:00: How to build a positive employee culture
- 28:00: First week is critical, don’t forget about 30, 60, 90 day check-ins
- 31:22: How to check-in with new employees
- 32:34: Biggest mistake with onboarding
- 33:35: Ensuring all the backgrounds and cultures of employees are thriving
- 36:58: The future of recruiting and onboarding
Embed on website:
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Episode 2: Retention and engagement, featuring HR professional Joni Booth and dairy farmer Sandy Larson. Listen here.
- 1:12: Importance of retaining employees and how to do it
- 4:43: Putting employees in the right role
- 6:41: How Sandy retains employees on her farm
- 8:38: Do incentives work
- 12:35: Retention interviews
- 18:53: Retention interviews by groups
- 20:41: Community factors for employees
- 24:44: Keeping employees engaged
- 27:40: Confidential feedback
- 29:14: How Sandy keeps employees engaged
- 32:04: Engagement for short versus long term employees
- 33:35: Making employees feel a part of the team
- 36:06: Do incentives or benefits keep employees engaged
- 38:57: Resources to keep employees engaged
Embed on website:
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Episode 3: Coaching and counseling, featuring HR professional Michelle Gubser and dairy farmer Christine Bender. Listen here.
- 1:52: Difference between coaching and counseling
- 3:26: Christine shares her perspective of coaching and counseling
- 6:05: What coaching should look like with for an entry-level to manager position
- 9:58: Coaching environment
- 14:41: Address a common problem with the whole team
- 17:00: Poor performance versus bad behavior
- 21:12: Professional way to talk about performance
- 22:31: How employees can share concerns about issues
- 25:40: Employee feedback, audits
- 29:05: Resources for coaching and counseling employees
- 33:25: How to handle the constant-problem employee
- 36:50: How to handle a late employee
- 40:03: How to handle an employee that calls in sick that isn’t sick
- 42:25: How to handle an employee that keeps breaking items
- 45:39: How to handle an employee that isn’t making progress
- 48:37: How to handle a challenge with a family member on the farm
- 51:23: How to handle a common problem with the whole group
Embed on website:
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Episode 4: HR management and legal matters, featuring Employment Law Attorney Troy Thompson of Axley Brynelson Law Firm. Listen here.
- 1:25: Four categories of farm employment policies
- 6:15: Displaying employment HR items
- 7:42: Helping farm managers and supervisors be successful with HR items
- 12:20: Common HR mistakes
- 20:53: Avoid employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims
- 26:35: Documentation of claims
- 26:04: Protecting your farm from unfair competition
- 30:47: How to stay organized with HR matters and foreign labor
- 32:38: HR management with seasonal workers
- 35:16: Worker compensation claims
- 40:21: Reasonable accommodations or medical leave of absence
- 43:54: Handling underperforming employees
- 46:08: Professionally terminating an employee
- 47:44: Disputing unemployment claims
Embed on website:
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Tweet about this:
Four-part Dairy Stream podcast series focuses on farm workforce. @VoiceOfMilk @DairyForward
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About Dairy Stream:
Dairy Stream focuses on policy, sustainability, market trends, new technology, processor updates, business partner news and farmer involvement. Dairy Stream is co-produced by the Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, sister organizations that fight for effective dairy policy in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
Dairy Stream is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, PodBean, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
About DBA:
The Dairy Business Association is Wisconsin’s leading dairy lobby group, championing smart and sensible regulations affecting the dairy community. The nonprofit organization is comprised of farmers, milk processors, vendors and other business partners who work collaboratively to ensure that dairy farms of all sizes have the support they need to keep America’s Dairyland strong. More information: www.dairyforward.com
About Edge:
Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative provides dairy farmers throughout the Midwest with a powerful voice — the voice of milk — in Congress, with customers and within their communities. Edge, based in Green Bay, Wis., is one of the top cooperatives in the country based on milk volume. More information: www.voiceofmilk.com.
