4xtrahands / farm employee

[CopperBeech]

oh course, if I as an employer want an employee to work outside in the rain, it is my responsibility to provide wet weather gear!

Depends a bit doesn’t it. If you are employing someone full time you would be expected to provide appropriate kit. But if you are paying an hourly rate to someone self employed then you’d kind of expect them to turn up for the job with appropriate kit.

 

[pdagriservices]

People always blame the industry and pay. But let’s be a little bit realistic shall we, it’s not one sided. There are lots and lots and lots of folk desperate for work, who are offered no chance to get into the industry and find themselves facing a closed door ........ or so comes the oft trotted out line on social media. It’s fecking tiresome.

The minute there is a job on offer, most of those folk vanish or are washing their hair. Or “wouldn’t even get out of bed for less than £20 an hour despite having no experience at all, limited skills and lots of social problems which require on site counselling.

The simple fact of the matter is half the young folk desperate to get into the industry don’t actually know what it involves and want to be paid £10-20 an hour for waltzing about doing the nice bits or ‘being willing to have a go’. That’s great but if you’re running a Buisness you need to at least try to have someone who has a clue, will stick at it long enough if you train them up and is value for money in some respect at least.

We pay pretty well, abs previously offered accommodation with fixed employed positions (now use contractors) and from 4xtra hands and other sources had all manner of life forms, few of them much use, including someone who ended up a rapist, someone else who was a woman battering nonce and compulsive liar, abs a variety of other wet blankets.

Funnily enough after most of them left they continued to farm the dream on social media (usually slandering me and the farm here in the process [emoji23])

Christ!! There seems to be alot of heroin addicts, rapists, woman beating bounces liars etc. Employed in agriculture!! I would never in a million years think or even heard of such a thing!!? Have things gone that bad nowadays?

 

[pdagriservices]

Really??.....
”Crap working conditions”..... ......... Good hourly wages, generous overtime pay, occasional £ bonus , use of farm equipment by permission , 28 days holiday, sick pay, pension scheme, use of farm vehicle, modern washing facilities , cloths washer , tumble drier, heated eating room with microwave and kettle ,drying room, safety clothing allowance, modern clean reliable air conditioned GPS steered tractors , continuous training and fully concreted clean farm yards.
Upto the early nineties the two staff members had been here since the age of 16 until their retirement as had their grandfather before them. I don’t think we are too bad to work for.
Sounds bloody awful to me???!.

Would be terrible to work at your place with all them awful conditions!! Know plenty of good young chaps don t get half that!!

 

[CopperBeech]

Christ!! There seems to be alot of heroin addicts, rapists, woman beating bounces liars etc. Employed in agriculture!! I would never in a million years think or even heard of such a thing!!? Have things gone that bad nowadays?

I think folk think of it as an easy option sometimes. I also see a lot of those complaining about no options in ag are too busy running a social media campaign, and often those moaning about the industry (although don’t get me wrong there are major issues) are often folk who’ve had a go themselves and screwed it up or couldn’t cut it. So obviously the reason they aren’t doing it is the industry’s fault

 

[had e nuff]

Really??.....
”Crap working conditions”..... ......... Good hourly wages, generous overtime pay, occasional £ bonus , use of farm equipment by permission , 28 days holiday, sick pay, pension scheme, use of farm vehicle, modern washing facilities , cloths washer , tumble drier, heated eating room with microwave and kettle ,drying room, safety clothing allowance, modern clean reliable air conditioned GPS steered tractors , continuous training and fully concreted clean farm yards.
Upto the early nineties the two staff members had been here since the age of 16 until their retirement as had their grandfather before them. I don’t think we are too bad to work for.
Sounds bloody awful to me???!.

Can't understand why you are struggling to attract someone. I'd have jumped at the chance of a job like that.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

I guess the reality is that if people are prepared to do nothing but manual labour all day then can probably earn good money as labour in the building trade and get paid better money. I don't see much difference between using a dung prong cleaning out calf pens or a shovel loading a cement mixer. Builders normally knock off around 5-6 as well.

Be lucky round here if your builders not got the van packed and gone home by 4.
And Fridays as soon as they've finished their sandwiches

 

[CopperBeech]

Again people always say “but they could earn good money in the building trade” or similar. But they generally aren’t doing that too much like hard work and early starts.

 

[Chasingmytail]

Having said what I said above about employers needing to provide PPE, I think society seems to have changed and young people seem to lack a work ethic, part of the rot set in when Tony Blair wanted so many more to go to uni (so we have lots of young people borrowing lots of money for worthless degrees from second rate institutions ~ really been taken for a ride), another factor is schools don't want to fail anyone, so everyone thinks they are a winner. I noticed the builders all seemed to want to employ farmers son's rather than town boys, as they had a better work ethic. The rise of social media has not helped either, becoming a star on xfactor without putting in the hours and doing the "apprenticeship" like the old musicians did in the past, pubs, clubs etc and learned their trade.

Exactly, lets face it if a child says that want to work on a farm when they leave school the career officer would see this as a drop out. Schools rather see kids aiming for collage. My 15yr old doesnt want to go to agri collage and I cant actually see what he is going to learn anyway. We can send him on individual causes on all sorts of direct training in crash courses or specific courses than learning very little to get an average NVQ at the local agri collage. He doesnt mind working manual working, fit as a butchers dog and stamina he'd be happy going to work for a contractor for a few years and deciding if he wants to specialise when hes more mature.

oh course, if I as an employer want an employee to work outside in the rain, it is my responsibility to provide wet weather gear!

Saturday college workers, self employed and those turning up on probationary 3 months should be willing to bring some kind of decent coat. We had a lad self employed we supplied PPE etc but they still wouldnt bring it in every day and go home because they were soaked through. That drove me nuts. If you are working outdoors no harm in chucking extra workwear in the car either.

 

[ollie989898]

Can't understand why you are struggling to attract someone. I'd have jumped at the chance of a job like that.

I know the reason. Even though he has a modern heated staff room, washer and drier, fully concreted yard and all the attractions, there is no way I could ever lower myself to drive Fastracs all day, even if I was a heroin addicted wife beating fraudster.

 

[7610 super q]

I should imagine the phrase " Progressive farm " is putting folks off.
These days people want to work for proper farmers wearing cloth caps, turned down wellies, and using 1970's tractors and machinery. Only morons want to sit in new Fendts with GPS and all that guff.
Get real folks.

 

[ollie989898]

I should imagine the phrase " Progressive farm " is putting folks off.
These days people want to work for proper farmers wearing cloth caps, turned down wellies, and using 1970's tractors and machinery. Only morons want to sit in new Fendts with GPS and all that guff.
Get real folks.

I suppose the best part of the 1970's were the prices. Which is just as well as the 1970's autosteer and GPS couldn't have been that hot.

 

[manhill]

Maybe you're all struggling to find staff because your working conditions are pretty crap, you're bad bosses and you don't pay enough?

And don't just say "Well when I started working in 1972, I was grateful I wasn't down a coal mine and I used to get a bit of corned beef on a slice of bread if I was lucky. Kids these days have no work ethic etc", standards change and if you can't attract staff in 2021 maybe your business isn't up to standard.

Labour is affected by supply and demand after all

Corner beef AND bread? You lucky boy! When I was young we only had spam or boiled shoe leather.

 

[7610 super q]

I suppose the best part of the 1970's were the prices. Which is just as well as the 1970's autosteer and GPS couldn't have been that hot.

I should cocoa. ( 80's slang ).

 

[ollie989898]

Corner beef AND bread? You lucky boy! When I was young we only had spam or boiled shoe leather.

Well, you may joke but I am able to survive on the closest modern equivalent to spam and boiled leather. I can exist solely on pot noodles and pornhub.

 

[Wellytrack]

Maybe try advertising on some Irish websites.

Very man lads who are brought up on the family farm aspire to work with a larger scale than they are used to, but since they have been on the farm as children are generally handy with most things by late teens.

 

[kfpben]

Really??.....
”Crap working conditions”..... ......... Good hourly wages, generous overtime pay, occasional £ bonus , use of farm equipment by permission , 28 days holiday, sick pay, pension scheme, use of farm vehicle, modern washing facilities , cloths washer , tumble drier, heated eating room with microwave and kettle ,drying room, safety clothing allowance, modern clean reliable air conditioned GPS steered tractors , continuous training and fully concreted clean farm yards.
Upto the early nineties the two staff members had been here since the age of 16 until their retirement as had their grandfather before them. I don’t think we are too bad to work for.
Sounds bloody awful to me???!.

I offer half of one of these items- one of the yards is concreted.
Feel a bit medieval!

 

[delilah]

Falling birth rates. There's not the spare sons and daughters of farmers there once was.

 

[ollie989898]

I guess your problem is that a lot of young folk want to drive the kit and then they earn loads of money in the dry months that they can afford to sit and do not a lot but some fencing or shooting over the winter? I used to know a few guys who were drivers for the big contracting outfits and a several of them just disappeared off to Australia to drive combines come the winter.

 

[pdagriservices]

Well, you may joke but I am able to survive on the closest modern equivalent to spam and boiled leather. I can exist solely on pot noodles and pornhub.

Ah!! I m not the only one so!! Just thought I was a bit odd![emoji3][emoji3]

 

[pdagriservices]

Maybe try advertising on some Irish websites.

Very man lads who are brought up on the family farm aspire to work with a larger scale than they are used to, but since they have been on the farm as children are generally handy with most things by late teens.

And I m one of them!! Been in East Anglia for 19 years!