مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد ارزیابی توسط کارمندان مدیریت کارکنان در مزارع لبنی – الزویر 2018

Employees, many of whom are not native English speakers, perform the majority of work on large US dairy farms. Although management of employees is a critical role of dairy owners and managers, factors that improve employee engagement and retention are not well known. Objectives were to (1) identify key dairy farm employee management issues based on employee perceptions, (2) evaluate strengths and weaknesses of farms based on employee responses, (3) investigate differences between Latino and English-speaking employees, and (4) investigate differences in perception between employers and employees. Employees from 12 US dairy farms (each with a minimum of 10 employees) were interviewed by phone following a questionnaire provided. Employees provided their responses to 21 Likert scale questions and 8 open-ended questions. There was a wide range in employee turnover among farms (<10 to >100%). Latino employees had much shorter tenure and were more often employed in milking and livestock care than English-speaking employees. Employee perceptions differed among farms regarding whether they would recommend their farm as a place to work, teamwork within the dairy, whether rules were fairly applied, availability of tools and equipment, clear lines of supervision, and recognition for good work in the previous 15 d. Latino employees (n = 91) were more positive in many of these measures than their Englishspeaking counterparts (n = 77) but less often provided ideas to their employer on how to improve the business. Employers, surveyed on how they thought their employees would answer, underestimated employee responses on several questions, particularly the interest of employees in learning about dairy. When asked to cite 3 goals of the operation, there were differences among owners, managers, and employees. Although employees rated their commitment to the farm and their interest in learning as high, based on turnover, there was an obvious disparity between reality and ideal employee management. Consequently, employers should act on identified management shortfalls to improve employee retention.

INTRODUCTION

Large dairy farms (>500 cows) constitute only 6.7% of US dairy farms but account for 64% of annual milk production (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2014). Dairy herd size has increased in past decades and is expected to continue increasing (Barkema et al., 2015); consequently, the importance of employees will continue to grow. Dairy labor is increasingly provided by immigrants (Schenker and Gunderson, 2013), with 51% of all US dairy labor estimated to be foreignborn employees (Adcock et al., 2015). The ability of those workers to speak English may be limited (Maloney et al., 2016). Furthermore, they are less likely to understand farm goals or receive primary training from other employees compared with their English-speaking counterparts (Erskine et al., 2015). Compounding the challenge of employee management is that dairy employees, whether immigrants or locals, are increasingly likely to lack a farm background (Fuhrman, 2002). The cost of employee turnover on dairy farms is high (Billikopf and González, 2012). Furthermore, high turnover on some farms makes it more difficult to hire new workers. Employee turnover is a complex issue but is affected by management of employees (Daouk-Öyry et al., 2014). Labor supply, including migrant labor, has tightened in the last few years. Based on US Census Bureau data, there was a 62% decrease in average number of annual arrivals from Mexico in 2010 to 2014 compared with 2000 to 2009 (Camarota and Zeigler, 2016). Due to immigration policies, birth rates, other job opportunities, and changes in what work people are willing to do, it is anticipated that fewer individuals will be available for dairy farm work in the future.