DairyNZ represents all New Zealand dairy farmers, to protect and advance their competitive edge on the global market

Getting new staff started

Having signed someone up for your position is a job well done – but now the hard work really starts! The orientation period is the time where the new employee is brought up to speed with systems and processes on farm, the standards required of them and gets to know the rest of the team. This is a nervous time for new staff as they find their footing in your business. They will want to do a good job, so it is important you help them to do that.

It’s important that orientation is not viewed as a one or two day process. It’s useful to think about it in terms of what your new team member needs to know at the end of one day, one week and one month. This will give you an appreciation of the vast array of things they need to find out about to understand “how things get done around here”. Structuring orientation in this way recognises that people only take in so much in one go, so it is better to spread the process out and make sure they understand your systems. A few ideas are provided in the table below:

One day	Pay period and details Record and agree on condition of accommodation Hours of work including break times Rostering and leave Meet the team Explain team roles Introduce buddy for new person to work with Expectations of standards on farm, for example dress, language or speed on motorbike
One week	Farm boundary and layout Use of tractor and silage wagon Use of other equipment Health and safety Team function to introduce families Meet the neighbours
One month	Understand farm policy Performance development plan complete

Despite a thorough selection process you probably still don’t know too much about the person you have employed. The orientation period is also the time to find out more about them. In particular it is important to find out what they want out of the employment relationship to help them grow themselves and their career. One way to increase understanding of your new team member is to offer them the opportunity to work through the DairyNZ Career Pathways tool. This tool will help your staff member to establish a vision for why they want to be working in the industry and establish training and development needs to achieve the dream. Aligning these with what they will do and learn on your farm is a great way to gain commitment.

For more information: Fact Sheet:Orientation of New Staff View PDF (98kb)
                                    Career Pathways tool
Make it easier: Employee Orientation checklist  View Word File (50kb)
                        Drivers for productive employment relationships View PDF (385kb)