{"id":13594,"date":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/people-power-pays-off-2\/"},"modified":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:00:00","slug":"people-power-pays-off-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/people-power-pays-off-2\/","title":{"rendered":"People Power Pays off"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Willie and Sharon Muir farm at Tuturau on the banks of the Mataura River, just south of Gore. Since buying the original family farm at age 20, Willie has bought neighbouring land and the couple now farm 138 hectares and peak milk 360 cows.
A nearby support block supplies silage and replacement heifers are grazed at Kelso. Cows have historically been wintered off-farm under outside grazing management. However, this season Willie purchased standing crop from a nearby farmer and fed the cows himself through the winter on swedes and balage. This change in wintering policy came as part of a \u201cbig picture\u201d review of their business several years ago.
After some challenging times, including losing their home to fire when their son Jack, now five, was a young baby, Willie and Sharon decided that they needed to reassess their approach to farming.<\/p>\n

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Willie and Bruce work through a performance management meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t enjoying it as much as we used to, we were constantly busy and were missing out on the family time that we wanted,\u201d Willie says.
Before the arrival of Jack and Holly, 4, Willie and Sharon did most of the farm work themselves. They now employ two full-time staff which means Sharon can step back from the day-to-day farm work and focus on raising their children and the administration side of their business. The farm labour requirement is about 2.5 full-time labour units but finding reliable casual staff to fill the part-time requirement while meeting employment legislative requirements was proving a challenge.
After some number crunching they found that for an extra $12,000 they could employ a second full-time employee instead of a part-time employee. They were saving a similar amount because of their change in wintering policy and that helped them justify their decision.
\u201cWe win on both fronts,\u201d Willie says.
\u201cWe are getting great results from our wintering, plus by having the third person year round we are able to operate a better roster for no increase in costs. Our staff are happier and more productive and so are we.\u201d
Willie admits that the way they managed staff was \u201cfairly casual\u201d in the past. He and Sharon decided that an overhaul of their human resources (HR) systems was needed to drive their business to the next level. They sought the help of HR consultant Melissa Vining from Progressive AGRI in Invercargill to help them improve their skills.
\u201cWe knew what we wanted to do, but we weren\u2019t sure about how to get started,\u201d Willie says.
\u201cNow that we have the key systems in place we can build on them and fine-tune them as we go along.\u201d
Melissa reviewed their farm business and their existing systems and helped them define what their vision was for both their business and themselves. This involved understanding what farm outcomes needed to be achieved and what that would require in terms of staffing.
\u201cThe Muirs had some good systems in place already, but there were gaps that needed to be rectified to ensure they met their legal requirements and had effective systems to manage and monitor performance,\u201d she says.
Melissa\u2019s key recommendations for the Muir\u2019s business were to provide more detailed job descriptions, start six-monthly performance reviews, and implement a health and safety plan for the farm. She also set up some new systems for managing rosters, time sheets, and recording leave.
Melissa says that getting the job description right is a critical component in employing the right person for the job and managing their performance on an ongoing basis. If the job description doesn\u2019t accurately reflect what is required of the employee then managing performance can become difficult and there is greater potential for misunderstandings and conflict within the farm team.
Willie and Sharon spent considerable time developing job descriptions for their 2IC and farm assistant job roles to ensure the farming outcomes would be achieved efficiently. This was done by breaking each position into its components, identifying what each employee needed to be responsible for and how performance would be measured. This analytical process helped the Muirs gain greater clarity about exactly what they were expecting from their staff and gave them the tools to communicate this effectively.
The job description provides the basis for performance reviews because it outlines the expectations of the employee and how ongoing performance will be measured.
The Muirs conduct a formal performance review every six months with each employee. Remuneration reviews are part of this process on an annual basis. The meeting is to review past performance, clarify future expectations and ensure there are sound development plans in place for the employee. They also use this opportunity to review the farm\u2019s performance and make sure the employee understands how they have contributed to the results.
The employee is given a performance review template before the meeting
to allow them time to rate their performance in each area covered in the job description. It also encourages them to think about their own goals and what training and development they would like to undertake.
Willie also does the same preparation and the discussions about how the ratings have been decided acts as a starting point for the performance review itself.
\u201cWe try and give examples of when things have gone well and when things could have been done differently to achieve better outcomes. We also explain to them what they would need to do to achieve a higher rating.\u201d
The second part of the meeting involves discussing the future \u2013 what the employee wants to achieve in the short-, medium-, and long-term, defining goals that will help them achieve this vision.
The Muirs also share their vision and goals for their farm and take the opportunity to make it clear how the employee contributes to those. Willie says this part of the review helps them understand their employees better, describing those discussions as quite enlightening.
They then develop a training and development plan that aligns the farm goals with the employee\u2019s goals.
The final part of the performance review meeting involves discussion about job satisfaction and what the Muirs can do to make the job more fulfilling for staff.
\u201cWe make a point of asking them for feedback about our performance as employers. We want to do things better and we want them to feel able to raise any issues that they have with us so we can deal with them before the issues become major,\u201d Willie says.
He believes that a formal performance review meeting is important because although he is regularly assessing employee performance and providing feedback on an informal basis, the performance review meeting provides a more structured forum to discuss past performance and, more importantly, to plan for future performance.
\u201cIt shows our staff that they are important to us, that we are prepared to put time and energy into understanding their goals and helping them succeed.\u201d
With the people management side of their business now running smoothly the Muirs feel confident about leaving their staff to run the farm when they are away.
\u201cWe can now leave the farm \u2013 whether for a weekend or a fortnight \u2013 and know that we have the right people and the right systems in place to deal with any problems. We go away and we don\u2019t have to worry like we used to,\u201d Willie says.
The time and effort that initially went into overhauling their HR systems is paying dividends and the Muirs are now more confident in their ability to manage staff well as well as having peace of mind that they are complying with their legal requirements as employers.
\u201cWe are enjoying farming again. Our staff is more engaged and this has spinoffs for our productivity and profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key Points<\/strong><\/p>\n

Farm: Rowalan Farm Ltd \u2013 Willie and Sharon Muir
Location: Mataura, Eastern Southland
Area: 119ha effective and 19ha support block
Cows: 360 Friesian and crossbred
Production: 175,000kg milksolids (MS), 486kg MS\/cow, 1470kg MS\/ha
Staff: Bruce, 2IC, Randall, herd manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breeding quality stock has been a lifelong passion for Willie Muir but he told Claire Cameron that with an increasing reliance on employees in his farm business he now has his sights set on improving his people management skills.\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":13595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t