Good employers are often recognised for having engaged employees and retaining staff.
Accessing employees can be a big challenge for many farm businesses.
So how do busy farmers go about becoming 'employers of choice'?
Understanding the "why" as an employer can help in maintaining focus and achieving business goals, according to internationally renowned human resources consultant Nollaig Heffernan.
In a recent episode of Dairy Australia's DairyPod podcast, Dr Heffernan shared some insights as to how being a better employer can improve a farm business.
Dr Heffernan said an employer's "why" - or objective - is typically to maintain quality of life.
"When you understand why you're employing, fundamentally you're buying time," she said.
"You may be buying expertise and buying expertise is buying time as well because if somebody is an expert at something or has a skillset, they're faster at doing it, so you're still buying time.
"When you think about employees as buying time, your head starts thinking differently."
Dr Heffernan said when employment was thought of buying time, that labour was used more efficiently.
"'Why' is a lofty goal that is about leadership, about seeing down the track, about suffering a bit of short-term pain today in order to have long-term gain," she said.
"Often people lose sight of that when they're facing an employee that shouldn't have been there in the first place because they didn't really understand why they needed the employee.
"They didn't really articulate their 'why' in relation to that employee and, as a result, they run into tension down the line because that's not a happy marriage."
Dr Heffernan said good employers see their staff as an asset, while poor employers see their staff as a cost.
She said this was an emotion-driven concept, as humans typically feel negative about a cost and want to erode or diminish it.
"We feel good about an asset because we have pride in it and we want to look after it and invest in it," she said.
"One of the simplest things we can do to show someone they have value is to respect them.
"Speak to employees as a human, not as a labour unit, and take time to listen to their opinion and act on it."
Dr Heffernan said the leading cause of job dissatisfaction was lack of role clarity and therefore it was important to create a structure so people know where they stood.
"True delegation is about developing somebody to move up a role," she said.
"If you think of your business as a triangle and you've got a lot of people working at a lower level doing everyday tasks, they can move up and start managing people.
"Be very clear about what you're paying your staff, what they're doing, whether they have the skills they need to do that job and what training you're giving them."
One key challenge employers face was when an ambitious employee was looking to progress in the business but there was no gap for them to step into.
Dr Heffernan said this was a difficult conversation to have.
"They've shown interest and determination, but in reality, if you go down the line of thinking you really need to keep this person then you start shifting business objectives because you want to hold onto this person and that's really dangerous," she said.
"As wonderful as it is to have excellent talent in your business, if you start changing your business for that talent then you become a bystander in your own business and you give a lot of power and influence to that individual."
On the other hand, Dr Heffernan said successful employers acknowledged when someone was not the right fit for a business.
"It's really important employers have the courage to let go of people that shouldn't be in their business," Dr Heffernan said.
"Saying 'I really just need somebody' is such a dangerous and slippery slope because the next thing you do is stop looking or just breathe a sigh of relief because they're filling a gap.
"Then you start thinking they're not quite the right person but they're somebody so they'll do.
"That's really dangerous for a business. Good businesses wait for the right person."
Getting the simple things right was a good place to start when employing people, Dr Heffernan said.
"Good businesses will have a very firm foundation for employing people, they will have very clear business awareness and how a potential employee will 'slot in'," she said.
"A new employee needs to be able to slot into the business rather than be 'bolted on'.
"This is done by having the foundations in place such as a contract, making sure they understand their roster, how they will work with other people and exactly what this person is expected to do any time they're in the business."
More employment tips from Dr Heffernan are available on Dairy Australia's DairyPod podcast series.
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