Attracting & Retaining Quality Employees
“You just can’t find anyone willing to work anymore.” I hear this quite often from ranches struggling to find and retain quality employees. When we look deeper into the situation it is often no surprise, as we expect our ranch employees to give long hours in sometimes difficult conditions with mediocre compensation. In the Ranching […]
A True Story About A Real Manager
About 15 years ago I met an absentee owner who was responsible for a family ranch that was losing money. It had lost between $200,000-$300,000 year after year for a long time. Over those years she’d made several threats to the two managers that if things didn’t turn around, the family would have to sell […]
What is Sweat Worth?
Most family ranches are subsidized with free, or underpaid, family labor. Sometimes the difference between what family members get and what it would cost to hire someone else to do the work they do is made up with the promise or expectation of sweat equity. But sweat is not a recognized form of currency and […]
Coming Home to Work
If you have a family ranch, whether you know it or not, you have a family employment policy. At least your kids think you do. In the absence of a formal, written policy, kids often grow up with the expectation that regardless of their education, experience or talent, there will be a role for them […]
Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later
Abby of Dear Abby, passed away last week. I don’t intend to take her place dispensing relationship advice, but I do get my share of Dear Dave letters. Here’s a Dear Dave inquiry I had last month: Dear Dave, We have a problem. Our ranch manager is a family member but does not have […]