On November 16, 2017, the USDA released its October 2017 survey data detailing that average wages for all hired workers are up 3% year-over-year and the national average for field worker wages is now $12.51/hour.
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West Mathison started his career in agriculture at the age of six, pulling weeds in the Stemilt nursery. As he grew up, he gained experience running crews in the orchards and supporting human resources during college.
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Andrew & Williamson’s Amalia Lommel has been deeply involved in agricultural human resources issues during her 24 years at the company. As the Director of Social Responsibility, she's helped lead cultural change initiatives as well as the company's involvement with EFI and Fair Trade USA. A&W grows berries in California and Mexico and grows tomatoes and cucumbers in Mexico. Amalia shared with us some of the insights she's gained as A&W blazes new trails in human resources management.
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The Net Promoter Score was introduce by Fred Reicheld in 2003 after several years of customer satisfaction research. Reicheld found that not only could you reduce your customer satisfaction surveys to a single question, but you could also use it to predict growth. “In fact, in most of the industries that I studied, the percentage of customers who were enthusiastic enough to refer a friend or colleague—perhaps the strongest sign of customer loyalty—correlated directly with differences in growth rates among competitors.”
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The Agricultural Guestworker Act (AG Act or H2C) would replace the H2A program and allow an additional 500,000 non-residents to work year-round on US farms and ranches.
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On Saturday, as sexual harassment continued to make national headlines, the Yakima Herald brought the issue home to the agricultural community in WA state. The article pointed out the challenges with farmworkers reporting harassment, and mentioned some resources for prevention
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With a new bombshell dropping nearly every day implicating celebrities, politicians and business leaders in sexual harassment, employers may be starting to break a sweat. Agriculture isn’t exempt. In fact, female farmworkers are especially vulnerable with 60 percent reporting having experienced sexual harassment.
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A report in Rural Migration News describes the four strategies agricultural employers are using to address the labor shortage: satisfy, stretch, substitute, and supplement.
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As of April 2017, only six states in the US report average farmworker wages below $12/hour--AR, LA, MS, GA, SC and AL. This USDA wage survey data includes field workers, livestock workers, and other roles like tractor drivers. For all farm labor, the US average is now $13.23/hour.
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Did you know that about 8.6 trillion text messages are sent each year? That includes 6 billion per day in the US alone. And farmworkers are no exception to the texting trend.
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