Evolution pathways of employees' work on dairy farms according to task content, specialization, and autonomy

Abstract

-Evolution of employees working on dairy farms is related to the increase in farm size and the decrease in the size of family workforce. Thus, maintaining employees on dairy farms is a major problem for dairy farmers. We hypothesize that maintaining employees is related to their evolution pathways of work according to the tasks assigned, the level of versatility vs. specialization and the level of autonomy. Our aim was to describe different pathways for employees according to these three dimensions of work. Eight farmers and 14 permanent employees on eight French dairy farms were interviewed individually. Eight variables were identified to describe the evolution of tasks assigned to employees, the trend toward versatility vs. specialization, and the evolution of autonomy. Five evolution pathways of employees' work were identified. The longer-term goal is to discuss these results with farmers, employees and agricultural advisors to validate the results and assess their usefulness in a reflexive process concerning employees' career on farm.Keywords: work / hired labor / permanent labor / dairy farms / France Résumé -Trajectoires d'évolution du travail des salariés dans les élevages bovins laitiers selon le contenu des tâches, le niveau de spécialisation et d'autonomie. Le développement du salariat dans les élevages laitiers est lié à l'agrandissement des exploitations et à la diminution de la main-d'oeuvre familiale. Ainsi, pérenniser les salariés sur les exploitations laitières est un enjeu pour les éleveurs. Notre hypothèse est que la pérennisation des salariés relève de leurs trajectoires d'évolution du travail, que nous caractérisons par trois dimensions : l'attribution de tâches, la polyvalence vs la spécialisation et le degré d'autonomie. Notre objectif est de décrire les différentes trajectoires possibles pour des salariés en tenant compte de ces trois dimensions du travail. Huit éleveurs et 14 salariés permanents de huit exploitations laitières françaises ont été interrogés individuellement. Huit variables décrivent les évolutions dans les tâches attribuées aux salariés, la tendance vers la polyvalence vs la spécialisation et l'évolution du niveau d'autonomie. Cinq types de trajectoires d'évolution du travail des salariés ont été identifiés. Les perspectives de ce travail sont de discuter ces résultats avec les employeurs, les salariés et les conseillers, afin d'évaluer leur utilité dans un processus réflexif sur la carrière des salariés en élevage.Mots clés : travail / main-d'oeuvre salariée / main-d'oeuvre permanente / exploitation laitière / France

Analyzing work organization on livestock farm by the Work Assessment Method

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Considering the Farm Workforce as Part of Farmers' Innovative Behaviour: A Key Factor in Inclusive on-Farm Processes of Technology and Practice Adoption

“…From a theoretical view point, researchers should investigate technology and adoption processes on (family) farms beyond a focus on the owner-manager, incorporating workers into the unit of analysis. From a practical view point, support agents (e.g., extension) should pay more attention to workforce management and development (following Malanski et al ., 2017; Nettle, 2012; Nettle et al ., 2018) as well as to farmers’ transformative and inclusive leadership skills (see, e.g., June and Kheng, 2014), as these appear to be important factors in technology and practice adoption and more broadly in farms’ innovation capacity.…”

Graduate Student Literature Review: Challenges and opportunities for human resource management on dairy farms

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