There’s no magic formula for attracting and keeping good workers, but some employers seem to have the knack.
Take Kris Mayerle, who has five permanent employees at his family’s 16,500 acre grain farm and seed cleaning plant near Tisdale, Sask., and a seasonal crew of six for his custom combining operation.
One of those year-round workers has been with the family for 36 years. Another started as a seasonal labourer a decade ago and now runs Mayerle’s custom harvesting business. It is a four-combine affair that goes from April to October as it moves from Oklahoma northward.
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Everyone on this year’s harvesting crew is a returnee or was referred to Mayerle by former employees or customers.
But if there’s a secret to his success, no one’s told Mayerle what it is.
“I must be doing something right to keep some of these guys around as long as I have,” he says.
“But I’m not sure I could put my finger on what it is.”
But he has a list of do’s and don’ts. For example, his year-round employees get every Sunday off, even during the crazy weeks.
“Even during the busy season, they know they’ve got one day to spend with their families or do whatever they want,” Mayerle says.
“They seem to really appreciate that.”
And even when he’s desperate for help, Mayerle won’t just hire anyone and throw him onto a work crew. He wants people who get along rather than workers who get on each other’s nerves.
He’s also tried hard to emulate his “incredibly patient” father, Erwin, whose reaction to a screw-up was to have a quiet word with the employee and point out how to avoid such a mistake in the future.
“Sometimes afterwards, I’d find out he was just furious, but he didn’t show it and that’s something I really try to instil in myself,” says Mayerle.
“I’m not saying I’ve never yelled at a guy for making a bone-headed mistake, but I try not to.”
That last comment is revealing. Yes, Mayerle tries hard to be the kind, patient, nurturing employer that every human resources training manual says you should be. But he blows his stack sometimes. After all, he’s human.
And if there’s a secret to Mayerle’s success, it lies in never forgetting that everyone else is, too.
Take the 36-year employee.
“He worked for my grandpa when he was in high school and my dad hired him when I was two years old, so he knows this farm pretty much as well as I do,” Mayerle says.
“One of the reasons he’s still with us is that he has some land that he farms with us. So it’s not just that he’s getting a wage, we’re partners in a way, too.”
When Mayerle talks about other long-term employees closer to him in age, he refers to them as friends and recalls the camaraderie of the 13 years when he oversaw the Oklahoma-to-Tisdale harvesting run.
Getting that close to employees isn’t something the human resources manuals recommend, but then a farm isn’t a factory or an office. Life and work are intertwined on a farm, Mayerle notes, and that demands that employers be more than justthe boss.
“My dad had two full-time employees and I grew up watching how he treated them,” he says. “I think the relationship you have with employees is really key. You’ve got to respect them and be interested in their lives outside of work. You can’t look at them as just employees.”
The labour shortage is one of agriculture’s most critical issues. Farm employers are trying everything. Some start sideline businesses so they can offer year-round work, while others have added non-wage benefits such as training, advancement opportunities or flex time or pay bonuses to those who stick around.
However, Mayerle’s approach suggests even that’s not enough. His litmus test is whether a guy seems happy when he shows up for work in the morning. If he is, great. If not, Mayerle believes it’s his job to find out why and do something about it.
Sound like a pain in the butt? Sure it is. But, as Mayerle notes, you can’t define his business in terms of acres or equipment.
“My people are the heart of my business. If they up and walked out, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Glenn Cheater is editor of the Canadian Farm Manager, the newsletter of the Canadian Farm Business Management Council. The newsletter as well as archived columns from this series can be found at www.farmcentre.com.
