Kite Consulting and the RABDF are working together on a project looking at how to help young people in the dairy industry learn the skills necessary to become excellent people managers as they develop their careers. The results of the project, which include a survey of over 200 young people already working on dairy farms in the UK, will be announced at Dairy-Tech 2019.
Retaining and motivating staff is a major challenge for the UK dairy industry. As farms increase in size and the labour market changes after Brexit, being able to manage staff well will become increasingly important. The aim of the project is to find out what the industry can do to help equip its young people to be great managers of people in order to recruit and retain the best possible labour.
“We’re building on the labour survey undertaken for the 2018 Dairy-Tech, which looked at the labour issues facing UK dairy farms and how young people could be attracted to work on them,” explains John Allen from Kite Consulting.
“We expect the findings from this survey to be a catalyst in developing and providing the resources young people will need in order to become good people managers themselves. The project will help us understand the barriers and gaps that are stopping this become a reality at the moment and identify the skill sets that will be needed in the future.
“As an industry, we need to equip future generations to withstand the challenges that they will face. We know the ability to manage staff is crucial to the success of a dairy business and its ability to change and adapt as necessary. This project aims to demonstrate what resources are need to help young people develop into the people managers the industry will need,” John concludes.
