Managing people in challenging times
Taking care of yourself, your family, staff, neighbours and running your farm business depends on being in a healthy and balanced place. Fatigue and stress can make it difficult to make smart decisions or to treat people as well as you would normally mean to.
Managing people can be challenging as situations can change quickly and this can impact on both employee requirements and expectations.
If you employ people, the current situation may impact on their future employment within your farm business. It’s important to keep the lines of the communication open so your staff feel informed and supported.
Before doing anything
Get in touch with your Regional Development Program (website)
Access the latest information and tools by visiting Dairy Australia’s Feed Shortage page
Think about your current set up: Managing your farm team (PDF) and
how to deal with changing employment conditions (PDF)
Consider the employment arrangements and systems you have in place, including employee entitlements: Understanding employee’s final pay (PDF)
Keep yourself and your people safe: watch a quick video
If you do need to make changes, be aware of your compliance responsibilities as an employer and seek professional advice via your RDP.
Resources
ESKi
Do you have an Employment Starter Kit folder? It provides easy access to the information and documents you need to employ someone. If you employee people on your dairy farm – order your ESKi folder or make sure your ESKi is up to date
Farmer Assistance
Many dairy farmers will face challenging times as a consequence of ongoing market volatility and dry seasonal conditions.
Support available – Government assistance for farmers experiencing hardship
Farmer relief information: download the Victorian fact sheet (PDF), the Tasmanian service provider fact sheet (PDF) & South Australia fact sheet (PDF)
