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F
ARMERS ARE UNDER A SEVERE COST PRESSURE
CAUSED BY THE STEADY INCREASE OF THE PRICES
OF INPUTS INCLUDING MINIMUM WAGES. A WAY
TO COUNTER THE PRESSURE IS TO INCREASE
PRODUCTIVITY. IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES WE HAVE
DISCUSSED ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO EITHER INCREASE
INCOME AND/OR TO DECREASE COST TO MAINTAIN A
SUSTAINABLE PROFIT.
Basically, farmers must attempt to farm bigger and/or better to maintain
sustainable profits. It is therefore necessary to approach the attempt to
maintain profits from different angles.
In this article we will focus on the employees of a business and
their relationship with their employer known as labour relations.
Financial pressure is forcing owners/managers of a business to look
differently at their workforce. Employee costs have risen consider-
ably and are these days one of the higher costs of a business.
Productivity on a farm relates to the number of employees per-
forming a task, the time taken to perform the task and the result of
the employee’s efforts. When employees are more productive, they
save time and/or use resources more efficiently with better results.
The result being lower costs and/or higher income.
HOW DO I IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY?
To get a job done people are involved and they use other resources
(tools and equipment) therefore
job = people x resources
. People are
thus a fundamental part of getting a job/task done and their attitude is
important. The principles to be discussed are applicable whether you
have only one employee or more.
In the early day’s employers did not realise the importance of the at-
titude of employees on productivity. The general idea was that people did
not want to work, they had to be forced and were abused to get them to do
a job. The result was very poor labour relations. Things went so bad that
eventually government attempted to regulate this relationship by law. In
South Africa we have several labour laws including the Labour Relationship
Act. By abiding to the prescripts of the laws, employers are already ad-
dressing an improvement in relations. However, there is more to establish-
ing sound relations than just the matters addressed in the laws.
It has been widely reported that the attitude of employees has
a major influence on productivity. Employee relations are a key ele-
ment of workplace happiness and employee engagement. With poor
management of staff, the result is a negative attitude of the staff, and
vice versa. Employees with a negative attitude will work slowly, do a
specific task haphazardly, damage tools and other resources, deliver
work of a poor standard, come late for work, take unnecessary sick
leave, and so forth. These are all counterproductive actions leading
to lower productivity.
When employees are motivated and managed properly, they will
have a positive attitude and will be committed to perform responsibly
and will be loyal employees. The result – improved productivity. The chal-
lenge for employers is how to treat employees to motivate them to be
productive. Working with people can be rather difficult because of dif-
ferences in personality traits, emotions, abilities, behaviour, and actions.
Briefly, you must treat your employees as human beings and as you
would like a manager to treat you. Treat your employees with dignity,
respect, be fair under all circumstances, recognise their efforts, give
them responsibility, train them properly and reward them appropriately.
Communicate regularly with your employees regarding your vision and
mission and aims of the business and their role in achieving this. Do
not forget to communicate with your employees regarding their perfor-
mance and provide recognition and appreciation when necessary for a
job well-done. Do not bad-mouth your employees. But also, be firm and
strict in what you expect from them. If an employee has transgressed,
take the necessary steps according to your disciplinary procedure and
code. In this regard also treat them fairly and strictly.
When advising that you must treat your employees as human
beings, we are not implicating that you must treat them as a ‘pal’, far
from that.
To achieve high productivity and ensure all-round business excel-
lence, you need buy-in from your employees. You need a commit-
ted enthusiastic workforce. To achieve this, you must also consider
the way you appoint people. Ensure you know what qualities you are
looking for. Have you got a proper job analysis? Do you provide any
in-house training? Do you know the strengths and weaknesses of each
employee and do you utilise them accordingly? The point is, how can
you manage your workforce if you do not know every individual? To
be productive a person must be motivated and have a positive attitude
and the necessary abilities and skills.
Manage your workforce with wisdom to increase productivity and
thus increase your profits. Higher productivity can result in reducing costs
and/or increasing income, resulting in better profits which will be to the
benefit of all involved with the business – employer and employees.
Working towards a
committed
and
enthusiastic
workforce
Marius Greyling, Pula Imvula
contributor. Send an email to
mariusg@mcgacc.co.za
Having good relationships with your workforce will
increase productivity and thus increase your profits.
MADE POSSIBLE BY
THE MAIZE TRUST
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