GEAPS 580: Hiring and Retaining Good Employees in the Grain Industry

Course dates: Sept. 12-Oct. 17, 2011
Registration deadline: Sep. 7, 2011

Registration is now closed.

Course goal: The goal of GEAPS 580 is to educate grain companies about ways to overcome the challenges of finding, hiring and retaining good employees.
 
Course description:  This course provides information and advice about how grain companies can do a better job recruiting, hiring and retaining good employees. The course discusses grain-industry challenges finding and retaining good employees, documents needed before hiring, generational differences among employees, recruitment, interviewing, employee selection and job offer, on-boarding programs and orientation, retention, performance reviews and mentoring and coaching.
 
Target audience: Grain-company and facility managers or supervisors responsible for employee recruitment, hiring and retention; grain companies and facilities without Human Resources staffing or expertise; company or facility managers with limited experience in employee-recruitment and retention issues; company or facility managers experiencing challenges with employee recruitment and retention; grain-company managers that hire for seasonal help.
 
Lead developer: Barb Quandt, West Central

The Course of Study

Lecture I — Raising Awareness: Tackling the "Image" Challenge
This introductory lecture will discuss common challenges that the grain industry faces when it tries to find and hire new people, and how the challenges can be overcome. The challenges include a general lack of understanding about grain-industry jobs and careers, a lack of interest in them, and a bias against working in remote locations. Grain companies can address the challenges by getting in front of young people with a positive message, and ramping up awareness in their local communities.
 
Lecture 2 — Before You Hire: Having the Right Documents
Before a company hires anyone, it’s crucial to have the right documents already assembled. They include: A thorough, accurate job description, an employee handbook, and a job-orientation packet. This lecture will discuss what each of the documents should include, and how to assemble them effectively. Because of its importance, the lecture will emphasize creation of a good job description.

Lecture 3 — Blending the Generations at Work
From the Baby Boomers to the Millennials, each generation brings a different set of skills attitudes and expectations to the workplace. This lecture will discuss those differences and how grain companies can manage and accommodate each one effectively. The main goals: hiring and keeping good people of all ages and maximizing their strengths.
 
Lecture 4 — Effective Recruiting
This lecture will discuss how grain companies might consider directly recruiting people they need. It will cover determining precisely who to target in recruitment efforts, how to select the right advertising media for your target, potential benefits of participating in job fairs and what to expect, working with employment agencies and recruiters – and how to select them.
 
Lecture 5 — How to Conduct an Effective Job Interview
How do you decide who to interview? What questions do you ask? What questions should you avoid? Who should participate in the interview? This lecture will take a hard look at the interview process, a key element in identifying and selecting the right people – people who are qualified and motivated, and who might be inclined to stick around for the long term.
 
Lecture 6 — Selecting the Right People and Making the Right Offers
You’ve advertised the job, gathered the resumés and conducted the interviews, but the process doesn’t end there. To get the right people on board, you need to know how to make final selections, make offers that people can’t refuse, and then hold their interest while they make the transition into a new job. Defections can occur during this on-boarding phase, but with knowledge, preparation, competitive compensation package, and some personal attention, they are preventable.
 
Lecture 7 — On-boarding and Orientation
Is your company regarded as honorable, progressive, fair, caring, stable, fun and successful? If it is, people are going to want to work there – and stay there. In fact, actively marketing your company’s reputation is a key component of the on-boarding process. This lecture will cover simple but effective on-boarding strategies, as well as new-employee orientation. What do you do with the new hire on Day 1? Day 30?
 
Lecture 8 — Key Factors in Job Satisfaction
It’s no secret that employees value certain things about their jobs more than other things, and retention often depends on knowing precisely which is which. This lecture will cover the factors that are most likely to lead to employee satisfaction and longevity, and dissatisfaction and rapid turnover. Money talks, but not as loudly as many people seem to think. Wage and benefit packages are usually not the main concerns. Instead, employees tend to place more value on being able to balance the demands of their jobs with demands and interests of their personal lives.
 
Lecture 9 — Conducting an Effective Performance Review
Performance reviews relate to retention. If an employee is doing well and you want to keep him on board, it’s clear that his good work should be acknowledged. Of course, substandard work also requires recognition. In both cases, a performance review is an appropriate way to start the formal recognition process. This lecture will discuss the importance of performance reviews, what they should include, and how to do them well. Importantly, it will also discuss how performance reviews often require action.
 
Lecture 10 — Coaching for Retention
Leaving employees to their own devices in case of problems on the job can lead to trouble.  The employee may be dissatisfied in some way and want to quit. Or, depending on the problem, he may have to be fired. In many cases, it’s often better (and more economical) for both company and employee to talk about the issues and get them resolved before they lead to a departure – voluntary or forced. This lecture will discuss how company mentors and coaches can be useful in the process and help a company avoid the costs of replacing employees. Coaches can also help companies deal with issues such as succession planning.