Mutual benefits in upskilling staff

Working as an Extension Coordinator with Dairy Australia’s Gippsland team, Zoe is new to the role but brings a suite of experience and expertise from her ongoing work to connect people in agriculture.

“If your employees are upskilled, then there is a bit of passion there,” Zoe says. 

“And then you have people who are really keen to come to work because they want to see good results like the farmer does.

“That passion is purely because they’re knowledgeable in an area and they want to see those good results happening.”

While it may seem logical to let employees attend training days and other informative sessions only outside of busy periods, Zoe does not believe this is the best approach, as these upskilling events are held at certain times for a reason.

“For example, if you have a pneumonia problem with your calves – and an employee upskills during calving and learns that teats on milk feeders need to be at a certain height to avoid the risk of pneumonia – the employee could come back on farm and act on that knowledge,” she says. 

“All of a sudden, you could see pneumonia cases plummet. That would obviously be a huge win for the farm, and the solution is as simple as letting an employee have a day off work to learn.”

Zoe says upskilling is not only for employees but for employers as well, with Dairy Australia offering a multitude of courses for all expertise levels across a wide range of topics. 

In some cases, it may make sense for an employer to complete training first. If they perceive the gained knowledge to be worthwhile, encourage their employees to upskill in the same area at the next available opportunity.

Zoe recently met a farmer who attended a Young Dairy Network calf rearing day, who wanted to know where the next event was. At that next event, five of the farmer’s employees were in attendance. 

“The farmer found the event interesting enough that she wanted to send her employees along as well, so the entire team was upskilled. That is really great to see,” Zoe says.

For farmers who aren’t able to upskill themselves, find opportunities to send their staff to training and then listening to those employees is incredibly beneficial. For any farmers on the fence about upskilling their employees, Zoe believes the benefits to staff retention is almost reason alone to support people in their development.

“If you’re going above and beyond for your employees and giving them days off to upskill them, they tend to stick around,” she says.

“Because you’re creating that relationship with them that you genuinely want them there and are willing to take on ideas that they learn.”

To find out more about how Dairy Australia provides support with employing and managing people, and building skills for successful careers in dairy farming, contact the GippsDairy team today or visit dairyaustralia.com.au/people.