For the last 15 years I have been involved with the dairy industry in the capacity of a rural bank manager . Prior to this I worked as an accountant, property valuer and seasonal farm worker.
Ironically I started with another topic in mind “key factors to staff retention in Northland dairy farms”, however after numerous discussions with clients the topic evolved into the change in employment trends in the New Zealand dairy industry. The rational for the selection of topic was fundamentally due to the banking relationships held with clients with a large percentage complaining about the difficulty in attracting and retaining staff.
I believe that there is an economic cost to many Northland dairy farmers in regards to staff turnover and retention which inhibits many farms and farmers from reaching their potential. I also believe that via better staff retention communities will be less nomadic and with a stable environment there is the ability to establish roots to aid and add to the community dynamic.
During my tenure as a rural manager there has been significant change in the dairy industry and the purpose of my research is to understand how this has impacted employment in the dairy sector.
I reviewed historic research conducted in a similar vein with a view to identify themes behind their work to enable me to establish my own hypothesis. Common threads were collated from this research work in to a survey to complete comprising questions around these threads from both an employer and an employee perspective.
Michael Skudder
