54
Help Wanted: Finding and Keeping Employees Jennifer Wright Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council
Help Wanted: Finding and Keeping Employees
Jennifer Wright
Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council
Evidence of Labour Shortagesshare of agricultural employers who said they could not hire all the workers they needed, per cent
Newfoundland and Labrador
New Brunswick
Saskatchewan
Nova Scotia
Ontario
Alberta
Quebec
Manitoba
British Columbia
Prince Edward Island
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55Average
Source: CAHRC Employer Survey 2019.
Ontario Employers Struggle to Find Canadians share of employers who said they receive 0 Canadian applicants for job postings, per cent
New Brunswick
Alberta
Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan
Prince Edward Island
Newfoundland and Labrador
Manitoba
Quebec
British Columbia
Ontario
0 10 20 30 40 50
Source: CAHRC Employer Survey 2019.
Labour Gap Has Grown
17%
Labour gap
20,573
2007
Labour gap
30,640
2017
30%people demand people demand
Unfilled Vacancies Cost the
Province
$591 millionin sales
4.4%of the province’s total
OR
Additional Impacts of Labour Shortagesshare of employers that reported not having access to all needed workers, per cent
0 20 40 60 80 100
Overtime costs
Delayed expansion
Lost sales
Production delays
Excessive stress for owner and…
Canada Ontario
Source: CAHRC Employer Survey 2019.
The Road Ahead
In the Future
Ontario’s agriculture sector faces significant labour
challenges that it needs to overcome:
✓ few Canadian job applicants
✓ disinclination to outdoor work
✓ dependence on TFWP, including SAWP, is a business risk
The Squeeze – Current Labour Market is in High Demand
Immediate investments
in effective Recruitment and Retention methods are essential for business viability
Investing In Your Operation
• Your business success depends on people getting all required work done
• Given the current labour context, your business success is at risk
Mitigate your risk: invest in your Human Resource Management efforts
Smart Businesses Invest in Their People
Workers
Owner, Managers, Supervisors
Smart Businesses Invest in Their People
• Find the Right Staff
• Provide Supportive Training
• Manage for Worker Success
• Clarify Your Workplace Policies
• Provide Fair Compensation
• Build Loyalty to Keep Your Staff
• Ensure Worker Health & Safety
• Meet Your Legal Obligations as an Employer
• Create Staff Plans to Meet Future Business Goals
• Plan Your Successor
Smart Businesses Invest in Their People
• Find the Right Staff
• Provide Supportive Training
• Manage for Worker Success
• Clarify Your Workplace Policies
• Provide Fair Compensation
• Build Loyalty to Keep Your Staff
• Ensure Worker Health & Safety
• Meet Your Legal Obligations as an Employer
• Create Staff Plans to Meet Future Business Goals
• Plan Your Successor
Finding Workers
Keeping Workers
Planning for Success
Finding Workers
• Addressing your needs for effective, qualified, productive workers is paramount to your business success and a challenge when labour is hard to find.
• Be strategic & organized to maximize your success rate.
Key to Finding Workers
✓ Know what you are looking for
✓ Know where and how to look
✓ Know how to advertise your opportunity
✓ Know how to select the best candidate
✓ Know how to ensure the success of your new hire
Making a good & lasting hiring decision today,
is important to the long-term health of your operation.
Know What You Are Looking For
• Set Selection Criteria from the
Job Description which includes:– Description of role
– Responsibilities
– Reporting relationship
– Tasks associated with the work
– Technical knowledge and skills requirements
– Functional competency requirements
– Educational and Experience requirements
– Credentials
Know Where & How to Look
• Recruitment method options:
– internal
– employee referrals
– networking
– advertising
– recruitment agencies
• Determine best approach for your business and situation
Know How to Advertise
• Create a compelling and clear Job Ad
• Provide enough detail for applicants to determine suitability– Job Ad should include: job title, information about
your operation, a description of the job, wages and hours, skills, experience, and qualification requirements, key employment benefits, your contact information, and the application process and deadline
• Highlight what is unique and interesting about your operation
• Strike a balance between creating an exciting ad and being realistic about the opportunity
Know How to Select the Best Candidate
• Streamline your process
• Ensure your decisions are defensible
• Use the Job Description elements as your selection criteria
• Review all applicants against these criteria
• For lower skilled positions:
– provide a realistic job preview
– build a seasonal pool of workers that returns each year
Know How to Select the Best Candidate
• For higher skilled positions:– Use selection criteria to create a shortlist
– Interview shortlisted applicants
– Check references
– Make offer
• The Interview is a critically important step– Ensure consistency across interviews
– Ground questions in job requirements
– Use a standardized rating scale
– Ask behaviourally based questions
Know How To Ensure The Success Of Your New Hire
• Maximize your investment
• Be as clear and realistic as possible
• Ensure effective On-boarding:
– Introductions
– Access to reference materials
– Questions
– Orientation
– Training
– Check-in
Know How To Ensure The Success Of Your New Hire “22% of staff turnover occurs
in the first forty-five days of employment.” – The Wynhurst Group
“46% of rookies wash out in their first 18 months”found a study of 20,000 new hired employees.”
– Leadership IQ
“New employees who went through a structured on-boarding program were 58% more likely to be with the organization after three years.”
– The Wynhurst Group
“Many companies leave executive on-boarding to chance, and as a result experience failure rates in excess of 50% when it comes to retaining new
executive talent.” – Egon Zehnder International, 2007
“The cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least three times salary.”
– The Wynhurst Group
Keeping Your Workers
• Retention is essential in this time of labour shortage and the key to long term success
• Efforts to retain current workforce are typically smaller and less costly than finding new workers
Keeping Your Workers
• Retention best practices include:
– building commitment and buy-in
– communicating your HR policies to clarify your values and expectations
– investing in training and development to support current and future knowledge and skills requirements
– investing in effective people management to support employee engagement and performance
– clarifying your compensation policies
– promoting your benefits policies
– supporting workplace wellness
Keeping Your Workers
• Investment in Retention efforts lead to
– Staff that are more effective
– Employees that champion their work and your business
– Employees that communicate through their networks about your work environment
– Potential new hires to meet growth demands
Meeting Your Demands for Staff
Find and Keep Quality Workers by:
• Developing effective Recruitment strategies• Implementing intentional Retention practices• Planning for Success
When The Labour Pool Is Shallow You Need Every Advantage
Smart Businesses Invest in Their People
Many Benefits:
• Increased productivity• Safer work environment • Lower levels of turnover• Improved employee well-being and greater job
satisfaction
Smart Businesses Invest in Their People
Direct Costs of Turnover ▪ Recruitment advertising
▪ Hiring costs
▪ Orientation & training
▪ Over time costs for those staff who cover for departing employees
▪ Separation costs
Indirect Costs of Turnover▪ Employee ramp up time
▪ Disruptions to client relations
▪ Business reputation
▪ Team morale and cohesion
Smart Businesses Invest in Planning
Are you prepared?
Do you have the right knowledge and skills within your operation to
conduct HR planning and ensure effective HR mgmt?
Means Growing & Nurturing the Workforce
Requires an immediate increase in the Supply of Workers
Requires immediate investments in worker Knowledge & Skills
Mind the Gap: Sustaining Success for Canada’s Rural Businesses
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCIL
Who are we
• National, non-profit organization
• Focused on addressing Human Resource issues facing agricultural businesses across Canada
• Led by industry stakeholders
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
• Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS)
• Agriculture Alliance of New Brunswick(AANB)
• Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA)
• British Columbia Agriculture Council (BCAC)
• Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA)
• Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA)
• Canadian Honey Council (CHC)
• Canadian Horticulture Council (CHC)
• Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA)
• Canadian Young Farmers Forum (CYFF)
• Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS)
• Flowers Canada Growers (FCG)
• Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP)
• Canadian Herb, Specialty Agriculture & Natural Health Products Coalition (CHSNC)
• Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture (NLFA)
• Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA)
• Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)
• PEI Federation of Agriculture (PEIFA)
• Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA)
• Canadian Association of Diploma in Agriculture Programs (CADAP) *
CAHRC PARTNERS
CAHRC COLLABORATORS
Seafood Value Chain Roundtable
Pulse Value Chain Roundtable
Grains Value Chain Roundtable
Food Processing Value Chain Roundtable
Bee Health Value Chain Roundtable
Industrial BioproductsValue Chain Roundtable
HorticultureValue Chain Roundtable
PorkValue Chain Roundtable
Special CropsValue Chain Roundtable
SeedValue Chain Roundtable
BeefValue Chain Roundtable
OrganicValue Chain Roundtable
SheepValue Chain Roundtable
ALBERTAAgCoalition
CAHRC COLLABORATORS
Recruitment & Selection
Performance Mgmt
Training & Development
Succession Mgmt
HR Planning
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCIL
AgriWorkforceSolutions
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCIL
Offerings
The Centre for Reliable Agriculture Research
such as Labour Market Information
&
the Access Point for Customizable Solutions
related to HR Mgmt and Training
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCIL
Programs: 5
National Report: Agriculture 2029
Provincial Reports & Factsheets
Commodity Specific Reports & Factsheets
AGRIWORKFORCE RESEARCH: AGRILMI
• Est. 2012
• Fully Representative
• Solutions Oriented
AGRICULTURE & AGRI-FOOD LABOUR TASK FORCE
QUALITY AGRIWORKFORCE MGT PROGRAM
International Phase
CustomizableAGRIJOBS
POSITION DESCRIPTION
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
COMPETENCIES
FARM EQUIPMENT AND MACHINERY
WORKING CONDITIONS
TRAINING/EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE
QUALIFICATIONS
LANGUAGE
DRIVER’S LICENSE
REMUNERATION
BENEFITS
INSERTCOMPANYLOGO
CustomizableAGRIJOBS
INSERTCOMPANYLOGO
TIPS ON HOW TO CONDUCT THE INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
RATING SCALE
HR Policy Manual
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCILHERE TO HELP
Foreign WorkersNEW!
HR Policy Manual
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCILHERE TO HELP
Training: AgriSkills
HR Mgmt TrainingProduction eLearning:
Poultry, Seed, Mushroom, Beekeeping
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCILHERE TO HELP
Customizable Apps
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCILHERE TO HELP
Association Support: Emerging Labour Issues
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCILHERE TO HELP
Keep Yourself InformedNewsfeed: Weekly news clippings on emerging issuesWebinars: Interactive session with Assoc staff/board on
latest research
Provide New Member BenefitsNewsletter: Quarterly updates on latest HR issuesMagazine: Articles on Effective Staff Mgmt topics Newsfeed: Clippings on emerging issuesStaff Mgt Tools: AgriHR Toolkit, AgriJob MatchStaff Mgt Training: Tips, Webinars, AgriSkills coursesAdvocacy Research: Evidence of member HR issuesCommunications: Assoc App to better connect
with your members
Employer Tools
CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL HR COUNCIL
HERE TO HELP
Staff Management ToolsHiring Staff: Job Ads, Job Board, Interview Guides, ContractsTraining Staff: Tracking Tool, On Farm Training (Poultry, HR)Managing Staff: Job Description, Staff Mgt Tool, Empl HandbookFuture Planning: Planning Tool, Turnover Tool
Staff Management TrainingTips: HR Calendar with tips and instructionsWebinars: Interactive sessions on staff mgteLearning: Courses teaching effective staff mgtHR Toolkit: Reference, instructions & templates
AGRIWORKFORCE INDUSTRY INITIATIVES
