Attracting employees in agriculture. (contracting)

[Tubbylew]

Boils my p1ss now to see so many doing absolutely nothing and getting everything handed on a plate paid for by those knocking their pan in.

Trouble is nowadays it doesn't seem to matter how much you earn it's hardly seems enough to get on and improve your life, seems to be a general malaise floating about everywhere at the minute, a couple of weeks back the news was full of folk on £50k plus a year moaning they can't make ends meet, earn a good amount and the chancellor is ready with his hand out. Country seems borked, dunno what it's gonna be like for my kids, I suppose it's ever been thus?

 

[Spencer]

Trouble is nowadays it doesn't seem to matter how much you earn it's hardly seems enough to get on and improve your life, seems to be a general malaise floating about everywhere at the minute, a couple of weeks back the news was full of folk on £50k plus a year moaning they can't make ends meet, earn a good amount and the chancellor is ready with his hand out. Country seems borked, dunno what it's gonna be like for my kids, I suppose it's ever been thus?

And yet every generation is better off than the last

 

[kiwi pom]

Trouble is nowadays it doesn't seem to matter how much you earn it's hardly seems enough to get on and improve your life, seems to be a general malaise floating about everywhere at the minute, a couple of weeks back the news was full of folk on £50k plus a year moaning they can't make ends meet, earn a good amount and the chancellor is ready with his hand out. Country seems borked, dunno what it's gonna be like for my kids, I suppose it's ever been thus?

The more you earn the more you spend, the trick is to not spend it in the first place, then you don't have to go out and earn it.
Always remember paying off the mortgage of our house (very quickly) and people saying "you'll be upgrading now"? er no, why would I want to do that, we bought a house that suits our needs and it's all paid for, why would I want another mortgage just to have a more expensive house.


OK I'm lazy, I'm hearing it now


Funny how things work, I've gone from wanting to work every possible hour as a kid (had 3 jobs when I was still at school) to just doing what I need to.

 

[Tubbylew]

The more you earn the more you spend, the trick is to not spend it in the first place, then you don't have to go out and earn it.
Always remember paying off the mortgage of our house (very quickly) and people saying "you'll be upgrading now"? er no, why would I want to do that, we bought a house that suits our needs and it's all paid for, why would I want another mortgage just to have a more expensive house.


OK I'm lazy, I'm hearing it now


Funny how things work, I've gone from wanting to work every possible hour as a kid (had 3 jobs when I was still at school) to just doing what I need to.

I literally don't know what folk spend £50k a year on, went to the big smoke with the wife earlier looking for kitchen stuff for her sister, we're still using the same broken cast offs we were given when we got married years back, depends what you want out of life I guess.

 

[kiwi pom]

I'm not sure that everyone in that 20% would benefit from working or companies would benefit from them either. Some people have long term health conditions and just can't do it.

Health is everything at the end of the day, there's also a lot of people who can't find work that fits in with kids etc.
There are some very narrow minded and negative opinions of the employee section of the public on here. Some deserved of course, there's always been lazy chancers but that's true of all groups not just the unemployed. Most people are just trying to get by and be reasonably happy.

Not many actual employees on TFF though.

 

[toquark]

3 local hotels been bought by Indian chap.

Closing them down and filling them with asylum seekers.

Glad our taxes are spent so wisely.

Got to ask ourselves, who are the daft ones. Easier keeping them than livestock I'm sure.

Same here, maybe the same guy.

 

[oldoaktree]

I literally don't know what folk spend £50k a year on, went to the big smoke with the wife earlier looking for kitchen stuff for her sister, we're still using the same broken cast offs we were given when we got married years back, depends what you want out of life I guess.

Tax, National Insurance, mortgage, heating , electricity ,WiFi ,tv subscriptions, transport , generally a car ,fuel, tax on both these , food and drink , child care, Moblie phone, odd night/day out , holiday don’t suppose there’s much left after that lot there’s plenty more id guess

 

[puppet]

Find someone who likes machinery then look after them with plenty ideas in this thread. Nobody likes bills but if I want the contractor to finish later then he passes the overtime costs to me. 4 men for 3 hours at £20 is £240 which in the scale of things is well worth paying to get decent silage.
Even the big outfits here now run 9-9pm as plenty hours, tiredness leads to accidents and gives them time to get maintenance done in the mornings.
Some are avoiding Sundays if possible. On our small scale here we are happy to cut and ted 120 acres over a weekend ourselves so that the silage team can pitch up on the Monday.
Keeping staff employed is not easy. Lot of contractors are also farmers which provides work at home or running plant and haulage jobs for wet days.
A roadside cutting operation quite a good option too.

 

[Tubbylew]

Tax, National Insurance, mortgage, heating , electricity ,WiFi ,tv subscriptions, transport , generally a car ,fuel, tax on both these , food and drink , child care, Moblie phone, odd night/day out , holiday don’t suppose there’s much left after that lot there’s plenty more id guess

What hope is there for folk on minimum wage?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Tax, National Insurance, mortgage, heating , electricity ,WiFi ,tv subscriptions, transport , generally a car ,fuel, tax on both these , food and drink , child care, Moblie phone, odd night/day out , holiday don’t suppose there’s much left after that lot there’s plenty more id guess

I can see why people are asking for 4 day weeks. Gotta pick kids up from school and childcare when two parents have to work.

Gone of the days when the dad doesn't do much with kids

 

[thesilentone]

Any advice? Alot of guys having sales and giving up the ag contracting game. We don't plan on doing that and have a healthy business doing predominantly grass silage for dairy farms, slurry pumping/spreading and ag construction work.
Happy to pay good wages for good people.
I have friends and family who work for local big cement works, chemical factory's etc that work all sorts of fancy shift patterns.... 4 days on 4 days off etc etc and overtime after so many hours or on weekends etc. i am not against trying any of that but wouldn't know how to do it.
Basically i want to bring being employed by an agri contractor into the modern ways of the world.
Any body doing it already? on farms or contractors?

At the moment......it sounds a bit harsh.....but i feel we just get all the erm.....leftovers of staff.....if you sort of get what i mean.

Any tips for attracting, keeping and encouraging staff appreciated
thankyou

I congratulate you on understanding and facing the challenges, and there are many.

Contracting has such seasonal demands for hours worked, made more challenging by the weather, planning the right amount of labour in the right place at the right time is tough, especially if you want to offer a work/life balance to your employee's. Who in there right mind, as an employee wants to work 100 hrs a week ??

But, going back to the challenge of attracting people to the Industry, where do you start ?

Any person looking for a career, needs to see a map of what they are going into, where does it start, and where does it end. What skills are to be gained, and what personal progression can be made. So, the distinction between a basic tractor driver, who can dip the oil in the morning and top the diesel tank and a skilled sprayer/combine/ SP forager/tatty harvester/etc needs to be decided.

Going from basic driver, to skilled operator does not happen in one step, it takes time, experience, training and knowledge. What are those steps, and how should they be rewarded ?

Being able to drive a piece of equipment is only small part. Being able to carry out good qualified routine maintenance is another, as is optimising the performance of the equipment being used. These skills all require different levels of reward, and something to inspire to.

So, different levels of operator standard with different levels of reward start to shape a career path, supported by good training. As an example these could: Level 1: Driver Level 2: Operator Level 3: Specialist Operator Level 4: Master Operator or similar, all with clearly defined responsibly and tasks at each level. These steps could take several years, after different levels of training have been completed.

The challenge of working hours is a real one that everyone is facing when flexibility is required. I don't know the answer, but start and finishing times need to be more flexible, graveyard shifts are starting to pop up in other industries to attract those that do not want to be stuck by the traditional working hours. However, when you only have one skilled chopper driver or similar and it's p'ing down so don't get started until later in the day, well, what can be done ?

There is no doubt there is a demand for skilled seasonal labour ( and equipment) and maybe an outside agency could/should offer this to business.

Getting a formula for contracting that offers career progression and work/life balance can be achieved, but is not an easy one I'm afraid.

 

[had e nuff]

I literally don't know what folk spend £50k a year on, went to the big smoke with the wife earlier looking for kitchen stuff for her sister, we're still using the same broken cast offs we were given when we got married years back, depends what you want out of life I guess.

It's easy to spend 50k. Me and the wife have about 52k joint income before tax, ni and pension contributions. No mortgage or rent. Nothing on tick. We can spend it all no problem. Mind she has 2 horses that eat money

 

[workin f nowt]

It's easy to spend 50k. Me and the wife have about 52k joint income before tax, ni and pension contributions. No mortgage or rent. Nothing on tick. We can spend it all no problem. Mind she has 2 horses that eat money

Try feeding the scabby things hay.

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

Not many actual employees on TFF though.

Farm and 3 off farm jobs
One for a big employer circa 200 people (but 1000's internationally). 25yrs now
Working for one man band firm dealing with customers at their home.
And own little side business too.
All part time. As much or as little as I want

 

[had e nuff]

Try feeding the scabby things hay.

It's buying the hay that's expensive. It's her money and they make her happy.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

The more you earn the more you spend, the trick is to not spend it in the first place, then you don't have to go out and earn it.
Always remember paying off the mortgage of our house (very quickly) and people saying "you'll be upgrading now"? er no, why would I want to do that, we bought a house that suits our needs and it's all paid for, why would I want another mortgage just to have a more expensive house.


OK I'm lazy, I'm hearing it now


Funny how things work, I've gone from wanting to work every possible hour as a kid (had 3 jobs when I was still at school) to just doing what I need to.

Tax, National Insurance, mortgage, heating , electricity ,WiFi ,tv subscriptions, transport , generally a car ,fuel, tax on both these , food and drink , child care, Moblie phone, odd night/day out , holiday don’t suppose there’s much left after that lot there’s plenty more id guess

What hope is there for folk on minimum wage?

I've seen it with the youth of today, the 20-somethings.

No mortgage, no kids, not saving up for anything, just working enough hours to cover phone & car costs (a maybe rent) and using the rest of their hours for leisure time.

Many of them seem content to tickle along doing 40hrs a week on minimum wage.

 

[had e nuff]

I'm employed and it's not just the money that's important. My boss always thanks me every night for all I've done that day. Other perks like free firewood,free eggs and potatoes. When they get lambs and cattle killed for the freezer I always get some to take home. Little things go a long way. And flexible on time off. Always early finish on Friday.

 

[SteveHants]

Trouble is nowadays it doesn't seem to matter how much you earn it's hardly seems enough to get on and improve your life, seems to be a general malaise floating about everywhere at the minute, a couple of weeks back the news was full of folk on £50k plus a year moaning they can't make ends meet, earn a good amount and the chancellor is ready with his hand out. Country seems borked, dunno what it's gonna be like for my kids, I suppose it's ever been thus?

It's interesting talking to my parents, who unlike many people of their age seem not to have developed selective amnesia and/or stay in touch with what young people are doing (mum was a teacher, is now a school governor).

Back when they bought a house - you had a deposit, could get 3-3.5 x the husband's salary as a mortgage, they wouldn't take the wife's salary into consideration.

Now, the average salary is circa 30K, the average house price is (has fallen to!!) 285,000, which is nearly 7 times the average salary (so double back when my parents bought).
Lets assume you were going to start a family and you wanted an ex-council 2 bed semi, I think by me, where house prices are not mega high, you'd not find one for much under £200k. So, you'd have to save £20,000 before you'd even started as a deposit.

Average rent in England is £1276/month, so lets say you were "only" paying £1000 rent per month because you were a young couple with a smaller home. Take home pay on 30k is about 2K per month (just over), most young people will be on significantly less than that because they haven't progressed yet. How long is it going to take, even two of you earning that to save 20k? Most peoples energy bills are well over £100/month for starters.

No wonder most don't bother.

I'm right on the cusp of that - the only reason I could ever afford a deposit is because I built a sheep business which I then wound down and sold all the stock from. Had I been a single person earning well under 30k (which I was), I wouldn't have had a cat in hell's chance of saving that.

So yeah, I can see how someone on 50k might struggle, especially of they were renting at well over £1000 per month.

 

[jpd]

Try feeding the scabby things hay.

what will he feed the horse on then?

 

[thesilentone]

It's interesting talking to my parents, who unlike many people of their age seem not to have developed selective amnesia and/or stay in touch with what young people are doing (mum was a teacher, is now a school governor).

Back when they bought a house - you had a deposit, could get 3-3.5 x the husband's salary as a mortgage, they wouldn't take the wife's salary into consideration.

Now, the average salary is circa 30K, the average house price is (has fallen to!!) 285,000, which is nearly 7 times the average salary (so double back when my parents bought).
Lets assume you were going to start a family and you wanted an ex-council 2 bed semi, I think by me, where house prices are not mega high, you'd not find one for much under £200k. So, you'd have to save £20,000 before you'd even started as a deposit.

Average rent in England is £1276/month, so lets say you were "only" paying £1000 rent per month because you were a young couple with a smaller home. Take home pay on 30k is about 2K per month (just over), most young people will be on significantly less than that because they haven't progressed yet. How long is it going to take, even two of you earning that to save 20k? Most peoples energy bills are well over £100/month for starters.

No wonder most don't bother.

I'm right on the cusp of that - the only reason I could ever afford a deposit is because I built a sheep business which I then wound down and sold all the stock from. Had I been a single person earning well under 30k (which I was), I wouldn't have had a cat in hell's chance of saving that.

So yeah, I can see how someone on 50k might struggle, especially of they were renting at well over £1000 per month.

You must bother, and do everything you can to improve your lot. Maybe you are a good example of what is wrong today "Why should I" attitudes stink !
Your parents weren't better off than you. You see a lending ratio of 3-3.5 x salary as low. When I first borrowed money for a house it was 1.75-2.0.
That is not the issue, it's about affordability, and what % of your income is required to make the mortgage payments. My guess is, that has not changed much, if at all.
There are no end of starter properties in City's for £150k, if your City averages £200k, and you can't afford it, then move !
Get a good education, get some great further education and skills, then make a target of what you want to do, and what you want out of life, then go for it !!