Tips On How To Retain Workers On The Farm

After hiring workers, one of the ways of keeping them on the farm is to make them feel part of it.

You can do this by:

• Sharing your farm’s vision with them. This will make them human workers, rather than robots since they will have a clear vision. Tell them the objectives of the farm and how the workers fit in.

• Write an agreement and clear scope of work. This will help reduce cases of unfulfilled tasks since each worker knows what they are supposed to do.

• Take time to know and understand your people, for example, if you are hiring from a tribe that is not yours, learn a few things about their culture and behaviour.

• Understand that each person has weaknesses and strengths. So, make sure you build on these to make your workers effective.

• Refer to people by names, not position. We all value individuality; this is an age-old tactic that is always rewarded with loyalty. When you call a worker by their name, they know you care about them and this improves confidence and morale.

• Build a conducive environment for them such as housing and sanitation facilities. Farm workers should not stay in grass-thatched houses without toilets. Set up entertainment, too. For example, there are farm owners who even installed satellite TV for the workers in order to stop them from going out of the farm to watch football. These look like expensive ventures, but they help keep workers on the farm.
• Allow their wives or husbands to either visit or stay on the farm. This will discourage them from leaving to go visit their families and in some cases the spouses become unpaid workers.
• Accept and value feedback from workers as long as it is geared towards building the farm.
• You must also have passion and enthusiasm for your farm and the workers will definitely follow your passion.
• Listen, accept mistakes, but also encourage openness among workers.
• Carry out a constructive disciplinary process and never take sides in case of any altercation.
• When they perform well, praise them. If you give them tasks, evaluate them regularly to see if they are meeting targets.