YOUR INDUSTRY
Recruiting staff early one strategy for summerfruit harvest success The successful labour recruitment and retention strategies growers used last season will be key to the next harvest says Tracey Mansfield labour coordinator for Summerfruit NZ. Elaine Fisher
Tracey Mansfield
“We can’t predict accurately what the labour situation will be but despite borders opening, the transient workforce may not be back this year.
Covid, so growers had to reach students in different ways including by emails, paid and free social media.”
“The backpacker workforce, which summerfruit growers once heavily relied on, may never return to pre-Covid-19 numbers. Summerfruit growers have had to look at alternative sources of labour for the past two seasons and those who have had success in securing staff have used various tools to do so. “For employers, being organised early will again be crucial, especially to attract university students who are key to the workforce. “In some cases, contracts were signed as early as July or August, for work in December 2021. Having the numbers needed at the beginning of the season was crucial because there was no one looking for work throughout the season as there has been in the past,” says Tracey. Recruitment initiatives including PickNZ and the Opportunity Grows Here campaign (see story on page 34) were also key to attracting workers. “PickNZ promotes seasonal work in our fruit and vegetable industries. It is a job board that many of our growers used to advertise roles. Opportunity Grows Here was directing traffic to the PickNZ website and our team was also directing job seekers there to find employment,” says Tracey. “Student Job Search was also important in attracting university students to work over the summer. But the traditional job expos targeting university students through one on-one engagements couldn’t be held because of 18
The ORCHARDIST : MAY 2022
Clyde Orchards manager Kris Robb says recruiting early paid off for the harvest, as did the company’s reputation as a good employer. “We picked and packed all our fruit so were lucky. We had a great team of staff of all ages including school kids, and a great team of university students, many of whom returned from previous seasons and brought heaps of mates with them. “Advertising early on about who we are, what we do and the jobs available, paid off. In the end 90 percent of staff were with us the whole season and the cohort who committed as early as August and September saying they would come, came and stayed. We would have been buggered without them. “All the backpackers we employed this year had worked for us previously. We didn’t have any new ones. Those who are here are now keen to return home, so now for us it’s about succession planning. “Word of mouth and reputation are important, so we make sure we treat people well, with good work conditions, good accommodation and good renumeration. If some cannot return, we hope they tell their friends we are good employers.” Kris says the Seasonal Work Scheme of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) (see story page 35), which incentivised staff to complete the entire season by offering a bonus, was significant in helping Clyde Orchards complete its harvest.
