Workplace culture on the farm
“Workplace culture” seems like a term for boardrooms, not bunk silos and milking parlors. But the right atmosphere in agriculture can make a difference between farm success and failure.
Adam Seybolt of Stewart’s Shops, Martha Hilton with Wegmans and Richard Stup with Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development paneled a discussion, “Becoming an Employer of Choice,” led by Cornell PRO-DAIRY’s Karl Czymmek at the Northeast Dairy Management Conference, presented by PRO-DAIRY and Northeast Dairy Producers Association.
Czymmek said that defining culture can challenge business owners, including ag operators.
“Culture is the foundation we all build on,” Seybolt said. “It keeps everyone rowing in the same direction.”
He noted that Stewart’s is privately held but 40% employee-owned, which helps workers feel vested in the company’s success.
Hilton said that culture is “the feeling you get when you walk into work. The values board shares who we are, what we do. We lead with values when we make a decision.”
She said employers should prioritize values over work ethic every time they hire, as values are more inherent to the individual and work ethic can be trained and grown through proper motivation.
“I work with all kinds of cultures,” Stup said. “Culture is the way we do things around here, the experience people have in reality. The culture can be different than what’s posted on the wall. A person has a personality but it takes a group to have a culture.”
Czymmek said culture can have a big impact on a business.
“Culture a lot of times is sharing open and honest transparency,” Seybolt said. “We agree on where we are going and growing. It helps with retention and fulfillment – maybe with entry level people to help with education or to grow within a career.”
Hilton believes that culture is everything. “The cost of hiring is $15,000 at entry level, plus training … We strive more for culture match than skillset. Why do we grow so slowly? It’s not a cashflow problem. It’s a culture problem.”
Rather than rapidly grow, Wegmans, which operates 115 stores from Massachusetts to North Carolina, hires more slowly to ensure the right culture fit among new employees.
“There’s a speed of growth cost,” Hilton added. That cost is the price employers pay through diminished customer experience and lower esprit de corps among employees.
Instead of only enforcing standard operating procedures, the company culture should entice employees to want to follow them.
“What are questions to ask when assessing culture?” Czymmek asked about hiring.
Seybolt said to ask about hobbies and what applicants hope to get out of the role. He also finds it helpful once new people are hired to hold quarterly reviews, not just annual reviews to follow up on culture fit.
“Ask lots of situational questions,” Hilton said. “What do you need as an employee to feel fulfilled? What do you see for the future of your growth?”
Czymmek wanted to know how culture develops. Seybolt answered that it forms from the top down and from the bottom up.
“We talk in an open office atmosphere,” he said. “A lot of the culture has been built with the ownership piece. That started in the ‘90s. The ownership was keen on employees treating the business as their own.”
Hilton said that growing talent and thereby culture from within is key to Wegmans success. “I have 17 years’ experience and I’m a ‘baby,’” she said. “Seventeen percent of our population is related, keeping that family feel in our environment.”
Word-of-mouth advertising for openings indicates an employee population that feel satisfied with its company.
“The forward-facing employees have the toughest positions,” Hilton said. Even though many of these are entry-level roles, she believes they hold special significance because these employees represent the face of the company to shoppers.
Stup believes that culture “flows downhill – what you model more so than what you say. What you model is what they model.”
Seybolt and Hilton said that upper management visiting locations frequently also helps promote a positive company culture.
