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Dari-Trends |
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Employer / Employee Relationships Are Critical To Your Success |
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Do you like to manage people? “That’s the question every producer must ask themselves when
considering an expansion,” says Frank McClellan,dealer training manager at Bou –Matic. Next to “can you make a new facility cash flow, ” its likely the most important question you should ask. That’s because once your work load grows beyond what can be handled by immediate family members, you have to rely on others to help you succeed. While there is inevitable turn over in virtually any larger dairy, he says there are ways to minimize it and eliminate perpetually training new employees. To start, today’s parlors are bright, well-ventilated, comfortable places to work. A good environment makes work more enjoyable. Another area to emphasize is communication with employees. Provide job descriptions and develop mission and vision statements so everyone knows what’s expected of them and where the business is headed. Provide training and keep employees informed. Once you provide employees with job tools, implement a monitoring system. Bou-Matic automation transparently monitors people, cows and equipment. Give credit for a job well-done, he continues. Consider incentive programs or a share in premium bonuses. “Good behavior tends to be repeated if applauded,” McClellan says. “The end result is a good environment for both cows and people.” HOW DO YOU FIND EMPLOYEES? Holtmann —We advertise locally, and by word of mouth from our employees. The latter is important
because it tells us that if someone is willing to ask friends to work here, we're doing a good job. We live close to a major city so we have a lot of competition from other businesses. That makes it difficult to find and keep employees, especially young people who tend to be very mobile. Homen — Since we didn't add many cows for this transition, we didn't need to recruit employees. With the new facility we actually reduced the number of milkers from five to three. Two milkers work each shift. One preps cows and attaches units while the other post-dips and ensures a complete milkout. The three milkers alternate shifts. Theunis — About two years ago we transitioned to Hispanic employees because our area had an all-time low unemployment rate. Now, our Hispanic team leaders, who speak fluent English and Spanish, hire milkers. They have been able to find some excellent employees. Our team leaders are very conscientious about who they hire. Because they work with them everyday, they look for reliable, hardworking coworkers. They can screen employees better than we can. HOW DO YOU TRAIN MILKERS? Holtmann — Milkers have one of the most important jobs on the dairy. They need to know how to handle cows and identify any with problems. They are our eyes and ears. Our milkers go through a six- to eight-week training period conducted by Tony or myself. Recently, we also started utilizing more advanced milkers as trainers. Smith —We moved from a tie-stall barn, so there was a lot we needed to learn about running a parlor. To do that we utilize people around us who have the information. I don't try to do it all. I have a few key people I rely on. One is a parlor supervisor we hired two months before we moved. During those two months I paid her salary to work at other producers' Bou-Matic parlors to learn milking techniques, parlor function, procedures and protocols. She was well-trained and familiar with what needed to be done in our parlor before we ever moved. Now she schedules and trains milkers, orders supplies and oversees parlor maintenance and cleaning. Homen —We trained our milkers by visiting other dairies. Milking in a round barn was an entirely new experience for all of us. Milkers have had to transition from doing a little bit of everything to doing essentially one task, in one spot. Walking is practically eliminated because milkers work within about a 10-foot area. To prevent tasks from becoming monotonous, operators change positions every 30 minutes. Theunis —We rely on our team leaders to train the milkers. We've found that our Hispanic workers are quick learners who are very detail-oriented. HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE MILKERS TO STAY? Holtmann —We've gone from being sole proprietors to people managers. That's been one of the biggest eye-openers in this expansion. Finding how to keep, train and motivate people is a job within itself. We've had to train ourselves to be good employers. In that effort, we concentrate on improving communication. We recognize a job well done and offer compliments when employees do good work. We listen to their suggestions and problems. We have also transitioned from long work hours without regular time off. Shifts are 11 hours with a three-day-on, three-day-off schedule. We offer competitive wages, variety, challenges, flexibility and an enjoyable place to work with updated, modern equipment. We continue to learn all we can about employee management by reading magazines and talking to producers. We hire people from our community, so it's in our best interest to treat them right. Smith — Employees are our No. 1 asset. We're very fortunate to have the best in the area. We treat employees with respect. I think that makes a difference. Turnover in upper management has been zero percent. An employee manual/handbook contains our mission, value, action and historical statements, and outlines our policies and procedures. We also provide job descriptions. Since we hired career-type people, we custom-created some positions to allow them to do what they enjoy. Coupled with this information is the freedom to do their jobs. We don't hover over them, but we do hold them accountable. If they want help, they can ask for it. We also keep the communication lines open. Monthly meetings, with an advisory board present, keep everyone informed. We know our employees' goals and they know ours. We are very conscientious about our employees' work environment. The parlor is bright, well-ventilated and comfortable. It's also a safe place for kids because chemicals and equipment are stored out of their reach. We also promote learning by offering to pay for additional education. Because I was very critical about whom I hired for this expansion, consultants, veterinarians, etc. are selected based on their ability to work well with my current staff. Homen — Our parlor is very comfortable to work in. Our milkers really like the new environment. It's been very easy to find employees. We get a lot of people coming to us looking for jobs. People actually want to work in this barn. Theunis — We offer a very good wage and we work hard to understand the cultural differences between Americans and Hispanics. We treat them with respect, and create an environment that is enjoyable to work in. DO YOU OFFER INCENTIVES? Holtmann — Currently we do not offer any incentives, although we are considering an incentive program. We also hope to offer a benefits package. But margins are tight right now, and we currently employ single men and women who prefer to have the money rather than the benefits. Smith —We have an extensive bonus plan that is based on quality and quantity of milk produced. All premium bonuses are paid back to the employees based on the number of hours they work. One-half is paid quarterly. The remaining is paid at year-end to workers still employed at the dairy. This gives them an incentive to maximize production, produce quality milk and remain employed with us. It's been effective. Production is up 20 pounds per cow per day and somatic cell counts are routinely below 200,000. We believe that counts below 100,000 are achievable. We also offer additional perks based on position. Homen —We have considered offering incentives; however, at this time we currently do not offer any. Theunis — Our Hispanic workers respond more to fair pay upfront so we do not offer any incentives. HOW DO YOU MONITOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE? Holtmann —We have seven employees during the summer and five year-round so we can visually monitor them. In the parlor we also use reports generated by Bou-Matic automation equipment and Dairy Comp 305 to monitor activities such as prep times and attach times. They also help us evaluate any new procedures. These parlor reports, as well as others such as DHIA reports, are available to the employees. We also have friendly competitions between employees. One is to hang up the milk filters after each shift to compare cleanliness. Smith —We have developed an appraisal form to evaluate employee performance. Full-time employees are evaluated every year, part-time employees every six months. We encourage self-evaluation and I include information about personal progress. Homen —We visually monitor their performance. Theunis — With the automation equipment we installed, we can easily monitor employee and parlor performance. |
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Seehafer Refrigeration, Inc. |
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