DIG-Lancaster Farming Saturday, November 15,1986
Brockett's Ag Advice
More On Farm Labor
The most important part of
hiring and keeping good employees
is learning what they want from
the job and from the employer.
Sometimes this discovery is dif
ficult to make, other times the
employer and employee are in tune
so well that it is an easy task.
1. Wages or total potential in
come is, of course, a major con
sideration. People of different ages
and with different goals have
different expectations as far as
wages are concerned. Some people
are satisfied with relatively low
wages if there is some future in
centive such as a built-in program
for asset ownership, management
responsibility, bonus based on
quality of work, or fringe benefits
such as a house. Others are in
terested primarily in a job that
allows them to take time off, at
what to them are critical times of
the year such as for hunting or
fishing. Others, of course, look only
at the bottom line which for them is
the wage and fringe benefits being
paid. At the same time the em
ployer must know what he is
willing to pay for the assistance of
an outside person we often call the
hired person. Sometimes the
employer can put together a
package that is attractive to both
parties even though the base wage
can not compare to that of the
competition.
2. Honesty on the part of the
employer is a factor in employee
satisfaction. Nothing turns off an
employee faster than for him to
perceive that the employer has
done him wrong. If a farmer of
fered an employee bonuses, work
incentives, or guaranteed raises,
they should be part of a written
agreement with stipulations under
which those items would be for
thcoming and when they would be
payable. Often I have found that
the wrong an employee feels was
done is really a misunderstanding.
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By John E. Brockett
Farm Management Agent
Lewistown Extension Office
The employer was not aware of the
way an employee understood a
statement made by the employer.
Or the employer misread the
desires of the employee.
3. Complaints about the em
ployee’s work habits can become a
bone of contention between the
two. One of the biggest areas was
“break time.” Most employees
feel they are entitled to a well
earned break if they finish a job
sooner than the employer ex
pected. Some employers feel that
they must keep the employee busy
every minute. The two attitudes
often lead to a confrontation
between employer and employee.
Both may have to give in to some
degree. However, it is the em
ployer’s responsibility to make the
first move towards compromise.
Perhaps the employer may be able
to put things in proper perspective
if he or she recognizes that an
employee who finishes up in less
time than expected is thinking and
may need the break as an incentive
to continue working. Or perhaps
the employer should recognize that
the particular job is “boring” and
requires frequent breaks if the
employee is to stay with it. Made
work or work put upon the em
ployee’s shoulders with inadequate
instructions will lead to a poor
attitude on the part of the em
ployee about the job. Job attitude
is a critical factor in employee
efficiency. If job attitude is very
positive, the employee feels good
about the business and thus puts
more effort into doing a good job.
4. Simple recognition of an
employee’s efforts can be critical
in employee-employer relation
ships. Many farm employees leave
one job and move to another lower
paid job because they did not feel
appreciated in the first job. Ap
preciation can be shown in several
ways. One is an unexpected bonus
or raise. Another even more im-
portant one is public recognition if
the efforts of the employee helped
the employer win an award. One
incentive recognition for the
employees of a good dairyman is
the sharing of the milk quality
bonus the dairyman’s milk com
pany pays. The dollar amount is
not high but the thought appears to
bear results as the hired help
strives for additional months of
quality bonus milk. One form of
recognition that is useful for
several reasons is sending hired
persons to seminars or schools or
meetings in subject matter areas
where the hired help has expressed
an interested. Paying the hired
persons way to a banquet or picnic
or inviting him to attend one
illustrates interest in the thoughts
and feelings for that hired person.
3. A real ticklish area that can
cause some problems with hired
help is having too many bosses
with conflicting opinions. Just as
bad is contention between husband
and wife over the duties, pay, or
work habits of the hired person.
Either one of these situations can
cause confusion in the mind of
hired help and leads to the general
attitude “Why try, I’ll only be
criticized and told to do it dif
ferently by the next person who
comes along anyway?”. These
conflicts can be reduced, if not
eliminated, by the “bosses” or
husband and wife discussing the
problem away from the hired
person then abiding by their
compromised solution. If the
employers involved can not come
to a compromise solution, they
should either discontinue hiring
employees or one of them agree to
take full responsibility for the
labor and the other accept the
decision. Of course, if one of the
employers should be able to show
the other employer that the labor
bill is too high for either the work
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being done or the family pocket
book, the solution may be to
rethink the goals of the business.
6. Finally is the problem of
taking management financial
worries to the hired help. Often the
hired person looks at that kind of
discussion as a way for the em
ployer to renege on a promise or to
pay the employee less or to down
grade the employees contribution
to the business. Do not confuse this
with a frank discussion of tem-
Farm BiU Slide
Want to learn if the conservation
provisions of the Farm Bill will
affect your farm operation? A slide
show is available from the local
office of the USDA Soil Con
servation Service which explains
the four conservation provisions of
the bill.
The conservation provisions of
the Food Security Act of 1985 will
affect the way that many farmers
crop their land in the future. In
simple terms, farmers who grow
crops on highly erodible land will
have to control soil erosion or lose
eligibility for some USDA
programs.
Md.-Del. Forage Council To Meet
NEWARK, Del
Maryland-Delaware Forage
Council will hold its annual winter
meeting December 9 at the
Caroline 4-H and Youth Center in
Denton, Md.
The day-long meeting is jointly
sponsored by local farmers,
agribusinesses and the
Cooperative Extension systems of
Marvland and Delaware. Lunch
porary financial problems that you
and the hired person may be able
to solve together. That can ac
tually be beneficial with some
hired help. But the constant har
ping on the economic doldrums of
farming, or your particular farm,
may cause the hired person to feel
that doing a good job may not be
worthwhile, because things are so
bad the business is going down the
tubes anyway.
Show Available
The slide show explains the four
parts of the bill - sodbuster,
swampbuster, conservation
compliance, and conservation
reserve. It also tells which USDA
programs are denied if erosion
provisioners are not met.
The slide show operates on a
carousel projector and has a
narrated tape. Organizations in
terested in using the slide show
should contact the USDA Soil
Conservation Service office at the
Agricultural Center, P.O. Box 520,
Leesport, PA 19533-0520 (215) 372-
4655.
and exhibits will be part of the
program, which will begin with a
series of speakers at 9 a.m. and
conclude following group
discussions at 2:15 p.m.
The
The $5 tickets must be purchased
by Dec. 1 from county extension
offices in Newark (451-2506),
Dover (736-1448) or Georgetown
(856-7303).
KEN CLUGSTON VERNON SEIBEL
665-6775 665-2782
CRAFT-BILT
CONSTRUCTION INC.
FARM-HOME BUILDING
R.DJ2 MANHEIM, PA.
PH: 665-4372
BUILDING & REMODELING F 0
DAIRY
SWINE POLE BUILDINGS
BEEF STORAGE
RESIDENTAL