Progressing people

Learn how to create a long-term plan for labour in your business, with advice on how to promote people, the benefits of workforce and contingency planning, how to manage resignations and how to prepare for a business handover.

Back to: Labour life cycle in agriculture

Workforce planning

Workforce planning is the process of getting the right people on board at the right time and with the right skills and expertise for your business to run well. You can find out more on our workforce planning page, from our People Planning webinar to help work out your staff profile, to getting all your employer paperwork in order.

Promoting your staff

A promotion is a way of giving an employee more responsibilities and rewarding and motivating them to perform even better. This can improve productivity and help you hang on to your most valued employees.

Promoting your staff can:

  • Improve employee performance and ambition
  • Boost motivation and sense of achievement at work
  • Increase loyalty and encourage staff retention
  • Help identify future leaders for your business

Learning lessons when staff leave

When an employee decides to leave the business, use it as an opportunity to find out what you are like to work for and what you can improve for existing and future staff.

You can conduct an in-person exit interview with members of staff who are leaving, or you can ask them to fill in an exit interview form. It’s also a good idea to have a contingency plan in place in case staff leave unexpectedly and at short notice. Learn more and find some useful templates on our business continuity planning page

Succession planning

Succession planning is the preparation required for the continuous trading of the business long term. This could be the eventual handover of running, and often ownership, of the business to family members but could also involve entering into a contract farming or joint venture agreement, or even for one or more employees to take on responsibility for the management of the business.

It’s essential to have a plan for the future if you’re considering handing over your business to someone else to run. There’s lots of helpful information on our business changes and succession page about how to talk to family and employees about any uncertainties or changes you’ve got planned for the future of your business.

You can buy a succession planning handbook from the Country Land and Business Association and also use the resources below to find out more about farm business succession.

DairyNZ has kindly given permission for AHDB to adapt their ‘People’ resources for use by the British dairy industry. We share a commitment to supporting the dairy industry and will collaborate to provide benefit to New Zealand’s and British dairy farmers.

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