WESTMINSTER, Colo. — In today’s highly competitive ag labor market, attracting and retaining talent has never been more challenging. At the recent Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference, Teresa McQueen, corporate counsel for Western Growers Association, shared best practices for reducing turnover, elevating company culture and becoming an employer of choice.
McQueen defines an “employer of choice” as an organization that can say, “People choose to work here, choose to stay here and would recommend us because our day-to-day experiences match our promises.”
To understand the full value of being an employer of choice, it’s important to look at how the ag workplace has evolved. For one, McQueen says increased competition for a limited pool of reliable workers has created less tolerance for uncertainty.
“Historically, farms and ranches have operated on a more informal system, and that worked great when workers stayed around for years ... and those operational, procedural things — your company culture — were passed down informally, because ‘It’s just the way that we do things here,’ which was great when people stayed around for years and before things got really complicated,” she says. “It just doesn’t work in a modern workforce. In a modern workforce, uncertainty in employees creates turnover.”
The system of informality, in which employers rely on their employees to communicate expectations and policies, results in both uncertainty and informal decisions becoming expectations, McQueen says. “And that’s how your operations kind of get away from you.”
Another major morale killer rooted in the old way is the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset, McQueen says.
“It’s frustrating and demoralizing for employees, and it would be frustrating for all of you,” she says. “I’m sure if you came up with a great idea, an innovative way to do something, and you were told repeatedly, ‘Wow, this is a really great idea, but we’ve always done it this way,’” that mindset sends a message to employees that there’s no room for collaboration or inspiration.
Clarity, Consistency and Trust: The Path to Employer of Choice
Clarity in your purpose, consistency in your practices, trust and stability are a competitive advantage and the principal goals in becoming an employer of choice, McQueen says.
“When you have trust with your employees, they feel the work environment is stable,” she says.
Being an employer of choice is not only about being a place where people want to work but also a place employees refer others to work as well, says McQueen, who adds that reputations — good and bad — spread quickly among crews and communities. A bad reputation can fuel turnover and erode employer trust rapidly.
McQueen sees many benefits to being an employer of trust from low turnover to “fewer no-shows at critical moments in your operations.” Higher quality and consistency and “things being done right the first time, not the third time” also result in a stronger pipeline.
“Your operations already run on consistency from equipment maintenance, feeding routines, harvest timing, safety procedures — consistency with people management is exactly the same thing,” McQueen says.
Successful Supervision
Supervisor consistency is critical. Every supervisor across locations and crews needs to coach, and not push, with consistency, says McQueen. All employees must be treated the same and with respect whether they are domestic or H-2A workers.
“Make sure that you’re training your supervisors because they’re the key for a lot of us,” says McQueen, adding that people don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers.
“Supervisors are also key when it comes to risk,” says McQueen, so be sure to have a system and train supervisors to listen for the “red-flag issues.”
McQueen also advises employers to limit who can terminate or send workers home and to ensure supervisors understand they are not responsible for making big decisions like whether harassment or discrimination has occurred. Their role is to assure the employee that they will take the matter to the appropriate decision-maker immediately, says McQueen, who emphasizes that critical situations must be addressed in a timely manner.
“Because if a supervisor thinks that those particular types of decisions, which are huge risk factors for an employer, if they feel that’s within their power, you are going to have inconsistency because they’re using their personal judgment, which isn’t always what you want,” she says. “You want those decisions made from an organizational standpoint. How will we as an organization want to manage this risk?”
The bottom line is consistency every time, says McQueen.
“You want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what they’re supposed to do, and they’re doing it the same way each and every time,” she says. “Consistency leads to making fewer mistakes and creating a safe work environment.”
Define Your Employee Value Proposition: The Promise You Can Keep
1. We start on time, and you know your schedule.
2. We explain pay clearly and fix issues fast.
3. We promote crew leaders from within and train you to get there.
4. Our housing/transport rules are clear, consistent and respectful.
Documentation is another critical component of consistency.
“Recordkeeping is huge,” she says. “It legally protects you. It also builds trust operationally with your employees. It’s one of the ways that you build trust, because you’re documenting things. You know what’s being done consistently, and you can show what’s being done consistently.”
Consistency with pay practice — another big risk zone — is also key. Whether it’s piece rate, minimum wage or overtime, this is one of the places you want to make sure you’re doing it correctly and you’re in compliance with state and federal laws, she says.
Ensure simple, consistent timekeeping is being used by every person who’s responsible, she says, and create a one-page pay policy sheet in English and whatever the second-most predominant language is among the crew.
Employers of choice offer:
- Consistent pay practices.
- Compliant hiring practices.
- A safe working environment.
- Rapid response to issues involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation.
Why They Stay Interviews
Retention is decided in the first seven days on the job, says McQueen. While many employers conduct exit interviews with employees when they decide to leave, far fewer conduct “stay interviews” with engaged employees in the company. These interviews can provide insights into what’s working and where improvements can be made that can aid with retention of new employees.
She recommends conducting 10-minute, five-question stay interviews once per season.
Stay interview questions:
- What’s working well?
- What’s making your job harder than it needs to be?
- What would cause you to leave?
- How is your supervisor doing?
- What’s one change you would make this week?
What’s Ahead for the Team
Ask yourself this, says McQueen: If an employee left this week, what would they say about your organization? What would they say about you as an employer? What are they telling other people?
“Are you developing [employees] so they can see a path [forward] at a place they want to stay, which is going to aid you in retention, referrals and returns?” McQueen asks.
On the path to becoming an employer of choice, McQueen’s advice is to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the thought that everything needs to be tackled at once, and instead, pick one thing to improve each season.
“Take small steps to create practices that are easily repeatable, and they become the thing that you do; they become your culture,” she says.
McQueen’s 90-Day Employer of Choice Plan
- Weeks 1-2 — Quick compliance and process audit (pay, timekeeping, hiring, safety)
- Weeks 3-4 — Train supervisors on consistency, retaliation awareness, documentation
- Weeks 5-6 — Launch first seven-days onboarding checklist and buddy system (who new employees can go to for help)
- Weeks 7-8 — Publish an employee value proposition and a “How Pay Works Here” one-pager with translations
- Weeks 9-10 — Start a scorecard and run stay interviews for your highest-risk crews
