"Help Wanted" - Top Equine employers share secrets on how they attract and retain quality workers. by Jennifer O. Bryant
Reprinted with permission from Stable
Management Magazine
www.stable-management.com
The horses in your barn depend on their caretakers. Inattentive
or inexperienced workers can jeopardize their health and well-being and
may even cost you valued clients. But you have a hard time just getting
people to work for you at all, much less keeping them around long enough
for them to learn the ropes and become valued staff members. Is it
simply impossible to find and retain good help these days? Thankfully,
no, say experts. Some top barns have worker retention rates other
outfits would envy -- five years, eight years or more -- and receive more
applications than they have available positions. How do they do it?
Through a combination of good management skills, realistic expectations
and awareness that short-term investing such as paying better wages or
offering better benefits may be most cost-effective in the long run.
The Employer's Side
Seth Burgess owned and operated an Arabian breeding farm for 10 years, during which time, he says, he experienced many personnel related difficulties. One year he distributed 17 W-2 forms for just five positions.
Spotting an unfulfilled niche in the horse industry, Burgess went on to found Equimax, an equine employment service headquartered in Alpine, Texas, that serves as a clearinghouse for job seekers and employers. He has written articles and spoken on the topic of finding good barn help, including some common complaints and misconceptions of both employers and employees.
The happiness factor. Burgess says he's found that struggling, inexperienced stable and barn managers most of whom tend to have little or no management experience may well feel disillusioned or let down. "Unhappy bosses make unhappy employees, and unhappy employees are unreliable and [likely to] leave the job," he says.
Reacting, not proacting. Another common hiring error, says Burgess, is to take a "crisis management" approach. "Many barns think the hiring process consists of just two steps: advertising an opening when someone quits and hiring the first likely candidate who comes along." Actually, Burgess says, the employment process consists of five stages:
Planning: Consider your needs; formulate clear, realistic job descriptions; design
a work environment and an employment package to attract the types of workers
you want.
Advertising: Notify the appropriate marketplace(s) of your personnel needs.
Interviewing: Screen likely candidates; field questions; sell yourself as an employer
and sell your operation.
Investigating: Check
a candidate's references and other considerations, such as the person's
right to work in the U.S.
Career
building: Create opportunities for professional development
by giving appropriate and well timed feedback, increase responsibilities
as performance warrants and offer learning opportunities.
Under compensation. We all know that making a living in the horse business can be tough, especially starting out. Nevertheless, quality workers are in demand and those people can reasonably expect to receive a competitive wage-and-benefits package. As Burgess points out, "Consider the costs to your business of not paying more. Constant turnover and the effort and stress of replacing workers are a drain on your business."
Unrealistic expectations. "Some farm managers are plagued with rapid turnover as a result of employee burnout," says Burgess. "The problem may stem from the manager's inability to evaluate how much work a person can reasonably do in a day: He wants one person to do five people's jobs. Or workers may be given insufficient time off: Some farms expect their employees to work seven days a week; others give a half day off once a week. That's simply not enough. You might get people to come to work for you, but you'll lose them quickly."
The Employee's Side
While stable managers can make poor personnel related decisions, some employees have such unrealistic expectations that they're almost destined not to stay long, says Burgess. "Impatience tends to be an issue with young people," he explains. "A recent graduate, for example, may take a job as a groom. Six months later, that person wonders why he or she hasn't been promoted to barn manager yet. The person may blame the job or the employer and leave. Many employers shy away from hiring job-hoppers because they assume the employee won't stay long and soon the worker may find that he or she is having trouble getting hired at all. It would have been far better for that person to find a reputable, fair employer and build a future with that business. As an employee, you want your employer to worry about how to keep you, and that's what leads to raises and promotions."
Job satisfaction surveys have shown that money alone usually doesn't make for contentment in the workplace. And let's face it, few people get into the horse business for the money. According to the 1998 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, the average annual wage of stable workers is barely above $16,000. Most people who work in this 'industry do so because they like working with horses. But no matter how wonderful the horses are, the job still won't draw rave reviews if the employer is perceived as someone who doesn't respect employees or who's unfair or excessively cheap.
Tips from Master Managers
Top reining horse trainer Ed Fear, who with partner Dottie Smith operates Ed Fear Quarter Horses in Beecher, Ill., runs a tight ship yet manages to create a rewarding and relaxed working environment. He has a lot to oversee: a 48 stall barn at his home base, a second barn full of young horses located 18 miles away and a large staff of assistant trainers, grooms and farm maintenance workers. He puts in 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week and his workers don't put in much less. Yet, 15 of his employees, including Barn Manager Jimmy Lewis, have been on staff for eight or more years. Fear rarely has to put up a "help wanted" sign because of his excellent reputation as a trainer, a teacher and a manager.
"The best way for me to keep good help is to teach them," Fear says. "I don't hold secrets back." He speaks proudly of Assistant Trainer Tracer Gilson, an employee for two years, who came to the operation a relatively inexperienced rider and trainer and who last year took home $14,000 in National Reining Horse Association winnings. To give them well rounded equine education, Fear involves Wilson and his other assistants in breeding and sales decisions as well as in the riding and training.
Of Lewis, Fear says, "He has the authority to hire and fire in that department. I give him good equipment and I pay him well." With Fear's extensive show schedule, having someone at home he can depend on is a must, and the trainer considers Lewis and his crew every bit as important as his assistant trainers.
"So often [barn and maintenance workers] get treated like underlings," Fear says. "There's none of that here."
Fear describes himself as a "very demanding" manager who tries to lead by example and who expects people to pull their own weight around the barn. "I'm not a drill sergeant and I'm not a motivator," he says, explaining that he expects employees to be self-starters and independent thinkers. At the same time, he says, "We do a lot of laughing and joking around."
The hours may be long at Ed Fear Quarter Horses, but the boss tries to let workers know they're appreciated. Fear realizes that "It's hard to get good help for five-fifty or six dollars an hour. I pay a good salary. I give a Christmas bonus, we have a Christmas party and I give my people a nice lunch room. If I sell a high-priced horse and I get a big commission, I'll give everybody a bonus."
Many of Fear's philosophies are echoed by Robert Croteau, equine manager
for Iron Spring Farm in Coatesville, Pa., one of the best known warmblood
breeding farms in the U.S. The farm employs between 20 and 25 people during
its peak season and Croteau is in charge of reviewing resumes, interviewing
and hiring all personnel.
"I look at [managing and training employees] as a work in progress,"
Croteau explains. "When I hire, I look for communication skills and
a good work ethic. I'm not impressed by an equine science degree
or stable-management certification; I've found it's easier to take someone
with little or no horse experience and teach them the way I want things
done." Iron Spring employs a number of Mexican workers -- all authorized
to work in
the U.S. -- and he's pleased to see many of them progress from stall
mucker to groom over a period of
four or five years. "We help them with a career path," he says.
"They learn sophisticated horse management skills, such as taking temperatures,
applying spider bandages and handling all types of horses."
As a manager, Croteau says, "It's important to let people know what
they've done well, and to treat people
equally. If I have to reprimand someone, I let them know their
mistake and then let it go." He "touches base daily" with all his employees
and holds staff meetings at least once a week. He says he strives
to give clear directions and to let employees know what's expected of them
and he uses written goals as an aid in establishing performance benchmarks.
In return, Iron Spring employees receive competitive compensation packages. Hourly workers, such as stall cleaners, can rent housing for "a reasonable rate" and also have some flexibility in their schedules. Salaried workers, such as administrative assistants and some breeding/laboratory technicians, get housing, annual merit based raises, health and dental insurance after they've been employed for about six months and greatly reduced board for a horse after about two years on the job.
Croteau dislikes rapid turnover as much as the next manager ("I like
for [employees] to stay for at least a year"), but he says he realizes
that "Some turnover is good. People grow and learn and eventually
outgrow the position and move on." [SM]
What About Working Students?
You may have been one yourself when you were younger -- an unpaid or slightly paid barn worker, mucking stalls and grooming in exchange for rides or lessons. Sound familiar? You were a "working student:' and the tradition is alive and well in today's horse industry. Working student positions give aspiring horsemen a chance to learn from experts and to receive instruction they otherwise might not be able to afford, and it serves as a source of enthusiastic yet inexpensive help. But as at least one equine professional has learned, using working students is not without its potential drawbacks.
K.C. Van Dyck, who operates Wellspring Farm in Wilmington, Del,, almost lost her business last year after she was accused of violating her state's Child Labor Act, Minimum Wage Act and Wage Payment and Collection Act by maintaining a large and (mostly) well received working student program in which youngsters could do barn chores to earn rides. As reported in the October 1999 issue of The Horse of Delaware Valley (and confirmed by Van Dyck), an unknown person filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor against the Wellspring owner in the summer of 1998, Van Dyck was questioned about her working student program and, despite protests by supportive parents, was later ordered to pay more than $18,000 in unpaid wages, with fines and penalties bringing the total owed up to $50,000. She negotiated an agreement that avoided her having to pay the fines but that required her to make significant changes to the program.
She now must pay workmen's compensation for working students, who must secure working papers and therefore must be fourteen years old or older. She has had to raise the board at Wellspring to cover the additional costs. The source of the problem, says Van Dyck, is the way Delaware classifies equine facilities. The state does not consider horse stables "farms," "Farms" are classified as agricultural businesses, which are governed by more lenient labor laws. Van Dyck's advice to other stable owners and managers? Learn your state's labor laws and how it classifies horse farms before you advertise for working students.