November is traditionally the time that Ohioans gear up for the holiday season. In particular, Thanksgiving has been important to farm families as the fall harvest has been completed. This provides farm families a time to reflect on the past growing season, plan for the next year’s cropping year, and pause to examine the farm business from top to bottom.
Hired and family labor are at the heart of most farm operations. Farm managers are encouraged to take time at the end of 2004 to determine the satisfaction level of their farm employees. Do they believe that they are being compensated fairly? Do they feel like they are part of the farm operation team or are they simply grunt labor? Are there strategies that can be implemented to make employees feel more appreciated and productive at the farm?
Most farm employees receive monetary compensation through wages or salary, vacation and overtime pay, and bonuses. Farm operators should remember that workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and social security taxes are required by federal law. Farm managers may also provide employees with other fringe benefits such as sick or holiday leave, insurance, retirement programs, housing, farm commodities, meals, clothing, education reimbursement, personal use of farm assets, and use of a vehicle. Each farm employee has differing needs and desires. Therefore it is critical that farm managers take time to develop a benefit package that meets the specific needs of an employee. Other perks such as tickets to a ballgame or concert, a dinner certificate to a restaurant, a surprise paid day off and verbal thank-yous all can help indicate to the employee that their hard work is appreciated. What creative ways can you adopt to say thanks to your employees?
Mike Hogan, AG & NR Extension Educator in Carroll County, Ohio has written a factsheet, HRM-2-97 Compensating Farm Employees, that serves as a valuable resource for farm managers looking to improve their compensation program for their employees. This fact sheet can be received through any County Extension office or at http://ohioline.osu.edu/hrm-fact/oo2.html Additionally, farm operators can also visit with their local County Extension Educator for additional help in designing an employee compensation program that will work for the farm business and employees.
Because part of an employees compensation for agricultural workers may be fringe benefits, it is important that employers let employees know the full compensation package. It is recommended that the employee be given at least once of year a detailed summary of all compensation, cash and noncash, to each employee. The University of Nebraska has a table included in their publication, “Compensation Packages for Farm Employees” that will assist farm operators in this task. This table can be found at http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/farmmgt/g1067.htm