Ontario Grain Farmer October 2021

ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 31 OCTOBER 2021 This article highlights HR resources available through Grain Farmers of Ontario's HR on the Farm. HICHAM FRAM, M. Sc., agr. Expert Advisor since 2013 MARC-ANDRÉ CHAPUT Ferme Lemage inc. slack if the new hires are not well-suited to the job, according to Painchaud. “If there’s no plan, you lose the momentum of your longstanding A-team players who can get discouraged, demotivated, and not as committed to the job if they see a revolving door,” she says. She says that the best farm owners and operators take time to talk things through, explore what they need to do in terms of human resources, develop clear lines of responsibility, and get everyone on the same page, which results in greater energy and enthusiasm for the business. TIPS AND RESOURCES Fortunately, farmers have several options for helping them develop HR plans that work for them. Michelle Painchaud teaches a course with The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers, hosted by Texas A&M for which these are the main takeaways: • The biggest drivers for employee performance are leadership and culture. • Create a vision with goals that has everyone aligned and energized. • Communicate often and effectively by clearly stating expectations and providing feedback. • Don’t take retention for granted — keep your high-performing employees engaged and motivated. She also developed an HR Audit questionnaire that outlines seven different areas that need to be considered when developing an HR plan: organizational culture, recruiting, orientation, performance management, training, rewards and recognition, and retention. It is a simple, straightforward document that can help identify gaps and opportunities. Her website is at www.ppghr.com. CAHRC also has several resources for which farmer-members of Grain Farmers of Ontario have free access. There is an HR worksheet that takes farm owners and operators through strategic and operational goals, resource impacts, the people and skills that are needed, those that are already in place, what the gaps are, and the HR strategies needed to address the gaps. There is also an HR Plan template in the organization’s AgriHR Toolkit that covers five steps: Strategic Planning, Workforce Analysis, Workforce Requirements, StrategyDevelopment, and Evaluation. Grain Farmers of Ontario farmer-members can contact Sarah Plater Findlay, HR consultant, at HR@gfo.ca for access to these resources. The website is at www.cahrc-ccrha.ca. l