Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Building Your Reputation as an Employer Bernard L. Erven Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics Ohio State University

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Introduction Farm employers must compete aggressively for quality employees. Lack of quality employees jeopardizes the business. Challenge is to attract and keep people who have excellent non-farm opportunities.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers The Challenge Build a positive reputation as an employer. Bring creativity, imagination and self-confidence to this long-term challenge.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Three key ingredients Design jobs with employees in mind. Build a farm team. Select appropriate personnel practices.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers First Key Ingredient: Design Jobs With Employees In Mind Uninteresting or boring jobs cause problems. Capitalize on employees’ interests and the advantages they see in farm work.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Managers design jobs Start job design with tasks essential to the success of the farm. Proceed from essential tasks to what employees want in their jobs. Pay attention to a job’s details.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Job design requires paying attention to: The fact that no job is perfect. Suggestions from employees. The negative stereotypes of farm work.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Job design guidelines 1.Design jobs to encourage use of a variety of skills. 2.Design jobs so that an employee does a total job. 3.Design jobs so that the employee understands the significance of the job. 4.Include responsibility, challenge, freedom and the opportunity to be creative in the job. 5.Make feedback a part of the job.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Second Key Ingredient: Build A Farm Team Emphasize team building. Build cohesiveness. Involve the team. Reward team effort. Employ working managers.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Teams are built through four stages: 1.Forming 2.Storming 3.Norming 4.Performing

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Third Key Ingredient: Select Appropriate Personnel Policies Appropriate personnel policies help build a positive reputation. The employer’s positive reputation gives new employees pride in having been hired. The following 14 personnel policies help build the desired positive reputation.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 1. Like, enjoy and appreciate employees Bring a positive attitude to the employer/employee relationship. Understand that employees sense employers’ attitudes. Work to prevent a single employee from poisoning attitudes. Focus most attention on highly valued employees rather than on the least valued.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 2. Use written job descriptions Job descriptions help employees understand their jobs. Job descriptions satisfy curiosity about what others do. Training and performance evaluations can be based on job descriptions.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 3. Provide training Train, train, train! Remember that most employees do not like to do what they do not do well. Treat training as an investment in people.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 4. Show trust Show trust by delegating authority and responsibility. Use trust to build a sense of “team.” Use delegation to free up time for the most important and long-run management responsibilities.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 5. Catch people doing things right Catch people doing things right and say thank you. Emphasize the positive during performance appraisals. Combine talk about problems with plans for improvement.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 6. Develop pride Build pride in the farm. Recognize employees. Show outsiders that employees are a source of pride.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 7. Celebrate successes Celebrate the farm's successes. Reinforce the notion that supervisors and employees work together and then celebrate together. Use celebrations to express appreciation.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 8. Communicate clearly and often Understand that employees want to communicate. Don’t wait for employees to ask. Create communication opportunities.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 9. Compensate fairly Pay attention to external and internal equity. Compare what an employee is earning to what he or she could earn elsewhere. Compare pay internally on basis of job’s value. Avoid basing pay on seniority.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 10. Provide exceptional non-monetary benefits Understand what benefits other employers offer. Consider a wide range of benefits. Consider a cafeteria approach to benefits.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 11. Provide extraordinary informal benefits Offer creative informal benefits and rewards Consult 1001 Ways to Reward Employees

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 12. Promote from within Use promotion to recognize contributions. Use promotions to show confidence in employees. Show employees that they have advancement opportunities.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 13. Make the business family-friendly Understand employees’ family frustrations. Anticipate family caused frustrations and pressures. Help employees deal with their family responsibilities. Provide nontraditional assistance.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers 14. Be proud of advancing employees Be proud when employees are ready for career advancement. Accept the disappointment of losing an outstanding employee. Turn the loss to advantages for other employees. Work to have each employee leave with a positive attitude.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers Summary Each farm needs high quality employees. Making the farm an appealing place to work helps overcome the frustration of mediocre workers.. The three key ingredients for success are: 1.Design jobs with employees in mind. 2.Build a farm team. 3.Select appropriate personnel practices.

Strategic Business Planning for Commercial Producers