Farm staff rates

[7610 super q]

If someone told me it was £8 an hour flat rate I would tell them where to go there and then to their face if necessary.

£7.50p OK then ?

 

[7610 super q]

Training...

Hi - Low.......off you go.

 

[ollie989898]

£7.50p OK then ?

That and a free pork pie per day and you're on.

 

[Pitman]

Agree with everything said - getting people with experience and doing the work as efficiently as possible has no boundaries as far as age goes. But the bit that seems a bit strange to me is if you leave school and work at tesco its bare minimum, 6 quid. if you work behind a bar it can be even less....but then to sit on your arse in air con all day means your worth double that? I think we all need to take a long hard look in the mirror and say if you can drill and spread fert and take responsibility then yes your probs worth into teens of quid, but to drive round the block with a trailer on the industry needs to let those with artic licences go and do that and actively encourage outside of farming people to come drive tractors.

 

[Crex]

I would say it is a bit strange to equate stacking shelves at Tesco with navigating 30 ton of tractor and trailer at 40k. I think there is significantly more responsibility to being a safe tractor driver than there is stacking shelves. It should result in higher pay.

 

[Pitman]

Pay however much it takes to fill the role. If you can get someone for minimum wage, or below if they're self employed, do it.
Do 16 or 17 year olds add anything to insurance premiums?

I think you have to pay a premium and name them certainly through our broker it's only anyone over 25 without being a named driver

 

[Pitman]

I take the point we perceive there to be more responsibility, but surely the only reason they command a higher premium than those stacking shelves is nobody wants to give a normal 17 year old off a housing estate the chance to learn from scratch so we all try and poach people from other farms by offering a higher price and this is simply supply is short and demand is high?

 

[nick...]

Being in charge of maybe £100,000 of machinery is not comparable to stacking shelves in Tesco.
Nick...

 

[lloyd]

Being in charge of high speed tractor and trailer is a very responsible job
so should be payed appropriately but should also bring with it a driver who
has experience of handling such a rig.

I have seen many tractors flying down a bank
with a narrow bridge at the bottom far too fast then hitting the brakes hard to avoid
oncoming cars.
They wouldn't be sat on my tractors long. Interestingly they are drivers of varying ages.
I have 50k and load sensing air brakes on trailers that work but they should be used not abused.
One can see a day not far away when the rules toughen up!

 

[New holland]

A lot of young boys around our way have gone into construction work driving dumpers and diggers £16 a hour start at 8 and finish at 5 and a hour for dinner and 1/2 hour for morning break plenty of jobs around for construction

 

[Pitman]

Think there is a strong feeling of they know they're home at a set time every night regardless and no weekends, easy to keep the spouse happy and all that- but farming has no chance of competing with those wages so maybe its best to get the job club to actively promote farm work and get new people to work than just try and outbid other more profitable industry labor users

 

[Beowulf]

Think there is a strong feeling of they know they're home at a set time every night regardless and no weekends, easy to keep the spouse happy and all that- but farming has no chance of competing with those wages so maybe its best to get the job club to actively promote farm work and get new people to work than just try and outbid other more profitable industry labor users

Profitability has no direct connection with labour costs. It's all supply and demand ultimately, and desirable employers will always have an advantage over undesirable ones (farming being one of them).

Evenings and weekends off will ultimately win, even when paying higher wages. Dads are far more involved in the kids' upbringing these days, and family time is more valued; for example.

I have an advantage being self-employed, but if I wasn't I would take the job with the regular hours over the one that paid better.

The problem with most farming jobs is that the pay is as crap as the hours, so it takes a lot to persuade someone to join the ranks. Farmers have the levers to effect the change in that respect, but most choose not to.

 

[Kidds]

I'm sure boys round here are £7-10/hr from 16-26yr old.

I've chirped about this before on similar threads, I know plenty of sub 25yr olds that run rings around and are a damn sight better than a lot of older and ''more experienced'' operators.

That's because by 25 years old anyone with any sense has gone and got a better job than driving a tractor.

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

That's because by 25 years old anyone with any sense has gone and got a better job than driving a tractor.

Well I must be a head case then....

 

[Rowland]

Agree with everything said - getting people with experience and doing the work as efficiently as possible has no boundaries as far as age goes. But the bit that seems a bit strange to me is if you leave school and work at tesco its bare minimum, 6 quid. if you work behind a bar it can be even less....but then to sit on your arse in air con all day means your worth double that? I think we all need to take a long hard look in the mirror and say if you can drill and spread fert and take responsibility then yes your probs worth into teens of quid, but to drive round the block with a trailer on the industry needs to let those with artic licences go and do that and actively encourage outside of farming people to come drive tractors.

Supper markets paid suppressing well it’s over the minimum wage .

 

[ollie989898]

Think there is a strong feeling of they know they're home at a set time every night regardless and no weekends, easy to keep the spouse happy and all that- but farming has no chance of competing with those wages so maybe its best to get the job club to actively promote farm work and get new people to work than just try and outbid other more profitable industry labor users

Oh well fudge me, there I was shouted down not two weeks ago for saying I would rather pish off early than work 12 hour days 7 days a week!!

 

[Bertram]

It's all very well to compare it to stacking shelves at Tesco. But don't forget it's a matter of choice. I'm happy to admit that at 17/18 I really enjoyed driving tractors and would happily work for £7/hour, even if I could have earned £10 at Tesco.

Actually, that was probably the most I ever earned driving tractors, I reckon I'd be on less per hour now!