Struggling to get or retain good staff ?

[multi power]

how about 50 quid as long as you don't moan

I could maybe manage an hour

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Property developers manage to make good money and they sell to the public and pass it down the line because they have to or they would have a staff shortage , the same appears to be happening in ag , admittedly at a very slow rate .
When the supermarket buyer comes out there has to be a point where the grower/farmer says "no we cant do it for that price" , that price will/is very very slowly rising.

Afraid you come across as still wearing nappies.

Have you any idea on property margins of late? New tax laws that have come in on smaller sites? Do you actually know anything about business which you haven't learnt from your iPad?

Did your family once own a farm and had to sell by unfortunate means leaving you with biggest scar in your heart? Did you want to be the one telling others what to do rather than having to work for one as you apparantly do now?

If your true personality is anything like what you come over on this forum as then I strongly recommend you keep your true identity private!

This as a forum after all.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

@student101 Have you the skill to do the two jobs you have quoted ? They will be for the well seasoned operators who have " the nack" what ever age they may be ,the top operators can demand a premium

Watching an experienced operator work any machine they get on is very impressive.

I have spent hundreds of hrs on machines in my younger years, like many on here, I am sure. just like many on here, I thought i was good at it.

In comparison to them I'm worth half / hr, but I don't moan as much!

The construction industry is fickle. I have never seen such a Workforce just throw toys out of pram and leave site for the slightest irritation. It's hard to compare them to the ag world for that as one of many reasons.

 

[two-cylinder]

@student101 Do you want a sprayer operator job £40000 and a house ?

Know someone like that, always at work never sees the house apart from sleeping and doesn't get any leisure time in the growing season to enjoy his wages.
There has to be a work/off work balance in life and that's what is missing with farm work today.

 

[Will 1594]

Watching an experienced operator work any machine they get on is very impressive.

I have spent hundreds of hrs on machines in my younger years, like many on here, I am sure. just like many on here, I thought i was good at it.

In comparison to them I'm worth half / hr, but I don't moan as much!

The construction industry is fickle. I have never seen such a Workforce just throw toys out of pram and leave site for the slightest irritation. It's hard to compare them to the ag world for that as one of many reasons.

Yes know what you mean have a Lithuanian chap here stacking spud boxes , stacking 8 high has a steady pace but always keeps up and every box is like lego ,pure perfection He maybe the most expensive on the team but the cheapest by far for workrate and consistent quality

 

[DrWazzock]

My business hasn't been able to afford to employ anyone other than close family for 60 years.

Nobody would do what I have to do myself. But I do it for the survival of my business which has been going since about the year 1600.
What I do isn't particularly arduous but other people would find it boring, unsociable hours, a bit of hardship, low paid etc. So let them set up their own business and see how they get on, or find somebody who will mollycoddle them.

 

[multi power]

Herdsmen do not do a 70 hour week, they just tell others that they do. Their house is not taxable as it is for their job,
What other job in the country side pays £45000?

And they don't get 45k either ?

 

[multi power]

@student101 Do you want a sprayer operator job £40000 and a house ?

Where and how many hours, that is tempting

 

[hindmaist]

Now that labours down to a few hours per acre on efficient farms,I'm not sure how important the hourly rate is going to be to our unit cost of production.

 

[student101]

Afraid you come across as still wearing nappies.

Have you any idea on property margins of late? New tax laws that have come in on smaller sites? Do you actually know anything about business which you haven't learnt from your iPad?

Did your family once own a farm and had to sell by unfortunate means leaving you with biggest scar in your heart? Did you want to be the one telling others what to do rather than having to work for one as you apparantly do now?

If your true personality is anything like what you come over on this forum as then I strongly recommend you keep your true identity private!

This as a forum after all.

Wrong on every count

 

[student101]

Can you please tell me where these £25 an hour machine operator jobs are ?

@multi power


You see them come up on Indeed and the likes , if a site cant get a 360 or telehandler driver they have to tempt someone away from current employer and it becomes a bidding war, great for the drivers ...

Youll find a few here ..
https://www.cv-library.co.uk/search...=&salarytype=annum&sd=advancedsearch&search=1

upto £37.00 ph for crane drivers here https://www.cv-library.co.uk/job/206714627/Pendulum-Crane-Driver?hlkw=crane-driver

You get an idea here as to who gets paid what , ag is pretty low on the list.
https://www.totaljobs.com/salary-checker/average-construction-salary

Construction managers get quite a bit more than farm managers https://www.totaljobs.com/job/senio...uction/in-crawley_west-sussex?sort=4#76648068

 

[unlacedgecko]

Can you please tell me where these £25 an hour machine operator jobs are ?

@multi power


You see them come up on Indeed and the likes , if a site cant get a 360 or telehandler driver they have to tempt someone away from current employer and it becomes a bidding war, great for the drivers ...

Youll find a few here ..
https://www.cv-library.co.uk/search...=&salarytype=annum&sd=advancedsearch&search=1

upto £37.00 ph for crane drivers here https://www.cv-library.co.uk/job/206714627/Pendulum-Crane-Driver?hlkw=crane-driver

You get an idea here as to who gets paid what , ag is pretty low on the list.
https://www.totaljobs.com/salary-checker/average-construction-salary

Construction managers get quite a bit more than farm managers https://www.totaljobs.com/job/senior-site-manager/randstad-cpe-job76648068?entryurl=/jobs/construction/in-crawley_west-sussex?sort=4#76648068

Don't tell every f cker. These high salaries only exist because there is a shortage. Supply and demand and all that.

 

[D14]

We’ve struggled to find the right staff over the last two years even though we pay over the odds compared to others at £14/hour flat rate. We’ve had a couple start and then we’ve finished them because they are simply dangerous. We had one guy fabricate his experience which was highlighted within days and then another guy who just didn’t turn up on time but didn’t see the issue with it. So we’ve restructured things and dropped some rented ground that was 10 miles away, so now we don’t need full time staff and instead can get away with seasonal staff. The net benefit to us is we are £36,000 up per year saving on a full time salary. Seasonal staff cost remains static but we have lost the marginal income on the rented ground.

 

[Douglasmn]

I don't see how higher rates has helped the small builder, there are 000's of homes being built around here mostly by the big names.
Low wages , arguably keep the family farms going 'cos noone else will do it.
Mind on that by 4pm today all of the nations dairy farmers pretty much will be on site, There won't be ,any folk laying blocks.

Plenty of construction teams working through the night. People seem to have this strange idea that only farmers work long and unsocial hours.

 

[Turra farmer]

From what hear and read many farms struggle to get good staff so I thought I`d start a discussion as to why this is , its pretty obvious why to me and many others .

• Crap pay is the first one , agricultural rates are about half of what the construction industry pays , construction machine drivers can get £25.00 ph and labourers around £14.00, I use construction for a comparison as its generally outdoor heavy work and varying skills are required.
• Welfare facilities , weve been through this and many still think its a joke https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index...es-do-farmers-even-know-what-they-are.192544/
• Health and safety , only in agriculture can you get away with such a disregard for health & safety ....currently , it will change .

My take is if you want to stay in agriculture you have to move into the 21st century , failure to do so will result in the big corporate farms buying you up / closing you down, directly or indirectly, I understand that if pay was bought in line with construction food prices would have to rise , food has never been so cheap and never has so much been wasted .

If I was paying machine operator and labourers the rates you suggest are the norm , then I'd be out of business in months

 

[Chae1]

@holywell farmer is in construction industry. What's your view on rates.

Lots of jobs going driving plant up here building new bypass the awpr. The rates spoken about would be right. But many of these guys are living in caravans away from there home and families. Difficult for them to get time off. When jobs finished the contracts over and they have to find something else. Don't envy them personally. Not many local people went to work for them that I'm aware off.

Building job not too good up here either. Company that's building fathers new house have laid off large proportion of there workforce, painters, site agents, joiners. Going to be difficult for them to get other jobs before Xmas and New year.

Don't hear of many people working on farms getting laid off due to a downturn in business?

 

[kiwi pom]

Getting and retaining good staff is a problem in all industries these days not just farming. I don't know what the answer is but I don't think its just about the hourly rate, people don't seem to know or want hard work, they think things should just be handed to them for the minimum of effort.
I think its a bit of a lottery finding good anything be it employees, managers, or on the other side employers finding great is extremely rare. So if you do find great be it an employee or boss try and hold onto them.

I know of a bloke at the moment that's leaving a secure job just because, well its all a bit to much of an effort really. He hasn't started his new job yet but he's already looking on all the job aps for something else.
What are you supposed to do with that?

 

[Turra farmer]

@holywell farmer is in construction industry. What's your view on rates.

Lots of jobs going driving plant up here building new bypass the awpr. The rates spoken about would be right. But many of these guys are living in caravans away from there home and families. Difficult for them to get time off. When jobs finished the contracts over and they have to find something else. Don't envy them personally. Not many local people went to work for them that I'm aware off.

Building job not too good up here either. Company that's building fathers new house have laid off large proportion of there workforce, painters, site agents, joiners. Going to be difficult for them to get other jobs before Xmas and New year.

Don't hear of many people working on farms getting laid off due to a downturn in business?

Who is laying off ?

 

[wasted years]

Plenty of construction teams working through the night. People seem to have this strange idea that only farmers work long and unsocial hours.

I've never seen one, the point being made was that construction payed higher wages and that in some ways helped the small guy.
There are plenty of small scale builders for sure but its the big ones that do the big builds and in many ways thats not much different to farming.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

These top end operator drivers may be on good money but for how long in one go / place?

Their lifestyle is different to farming, every month could be 400 mile away from the last, contracts are for v short periods, hardly mortgage friendly.

They need to earn good ££ because they aren't all employed 12 months a year.

Farming may be long hrs but it's usually same location, same sort if continuous work.

Construction may be closer to ag than most other industries but I don't think it's that close