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REGARDLESS of whether yours is a small cattle enterprise with only one or two employees, or a feedlot employing 30, running an agribusiness of any size is an enormous juggling act, with multiple management responsibilities needing ongoing attention.

However one area on which managers cannot afford to lose focus is staff, particularly when this can impact on profitability and day to day operations.

Here are some reasons why it’s worth finding the time, in any manager’s busy schedule, to invest in developing staff.

Employee Retention

There is a real cost in both time and money in recruiting and training new employees, so why not keep the great employees you already have, by developing and nurturing your current employees?

For instance, to prove the importance of adequate training, a study performed by the Dale Carnegie Training Centre suggests that 40 percent of poorly-trained employees end up leaving their companies within their first year on the job.

Attracting the best

When looking to hire people, consider presenting all of the great benefits that your business offers – things that they might not be getting if they choose to join one of your competitors. That might include being part of an exciting upcoming development project, variety and responsibility in the day-to-day operations, or simply the culture your business has fostered.

By gaining a great employer reputation, the best candidates will be attracted to your business.

Assists promotion from within

Ongoing training and development of your employees delivers greater opportunity to promote from within. Who else knows your customers, your business, and the way the business ‘ticks’ better than a current employee? Besides that, studies* suggest that performance of external managerial recruits is much worse than those promoted from inside an organisation. (*Wharton University, Pennsylvania)

Assists engagement

Bored employees may adopt bad attitudes which in-turn may be passed-on to other staff and damage relationships with your suppliers or customers.

So important is employee engagement, some larger corporates employ personnel who specialise in this area for their company.

Investing time in your employees does not need to be limited to training. Spending time recognising your staff achievements and showing appreciation goes a long way to fostering positive relationships.

We often hear today that workplaces have a high turnover of staff and ‘it just isn’t like the old days’ when our parents and grandparents stayed in the one job for life. But addressing employee development is just another way to assist retention and foster great employee relationships which can be long lasting.

Source: AgCareers.com Australia