For the past ten years, I have consistently advocated for better staff retention.
That has included working with large manufacturers and food-production businesses employing hundreds of people, as well as local farms where the entire team may consist of only one or two employees.
The scale may be different, but the underlying challenge is often remarkably similar.
Businesses spend considerable time discussing how to attract more applicants, fill vacancies faster and find people with the right experience. Far less time is spent asking why good employees leave, or whether the next capable manager is already working within the business.
In poultry, this is particularly important.
The sector requires dependable people who understand animal welfare, biosecurity, production standards and the realities of working with livestock. That knowledge takes time to develop. When an experienced employee leaves, the business does not simply lose a pair of hands. It loses practical knowledge, consistency and often someone who understands the farm better than any external candidate could on their first day.
Retention is not about keeping everyone
Staff retention is sometimes misunderstood as trying to prevent every employee from leaving.
That is neither realistic nor necessarily desirable.
People move, circumstances change and not every employee will remain suitable for the business. Good retention means creating an environment in which capable employees have genuine reasons to stay, develop and take on more responsibility.
It means understanding why people leave rather than automatically assuming it is about money.
Pay clearly matters, particularly when agricultural employers are competing with manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and food production for the same practical workforce.
However, people also leave because they cannot see a future.
They leave because the rota is unpredictable, communication is poor, training is informal or nonexistent, and additional responsibility is given without recognition or a clear path forward. Statistics consistently link these cultural and operational failures to higher stress and disengagement, driving workers right out the door.
Sometimes they leave because they have been carrying out large parts of the next role for months, only to watch the business recruit someone externally when a formal vacancy arises.
Internal candidates are often overlooked
One of the most common weaknesses I see is the absence of a structured internal progression process.
A Farm Worker may gradually become the person who trains new starters, covers the manager’s days off, completes important checks and deals with problems when nobody else is available.
Yet when an Assistant Farm Manager position becomes available, the business immediately looks outside.
This does not mean every experienced Farm Worker is ready for promotion. Technical ability alone does not automatically make someone a capable manager.
However, internal employees should be properly considered.
If someone is not ready, the conversation should not simply end with “you need more experience”. They should be told what experience is missing, how they can gain it and when their progress will be reviewed.
Without that structure, development becomes dependent on whether an individual manager happens to recognise potential.
That is not a progression strategy, especially at a time when data shows a steady decline, making talent already on your farm your most valuable asset.
A job title is not a development plan
Many agricultural businesses operate with very flat structures.
There may be a Farm Manager, an Assistant Manager and several Farm Workers. On a smaller farm, it may simply be an owner and one employee.
This can make formal progression more difficult, but it does not make development impossible.
Progression can include:
- Learning ventilation and environmental controls
- Taking ownership of production or welfare records
- Supporting audits
- Training new employees
- Planning daily work
- Providing holiday or rest-day cover
- Learning basic maintenance
- Understanding performance data
- Leading a turnaround or another defined area of responsibility
These steps should be discussed, recorded and reviewed.
If employees are expected to develop through observation alone, the business will usually produce inconsistent results. The most confident person may progress, while someone equally capable but less vocal is overlooked.
A clear development structure gives people something to work towards and gives the business a stronger internal succession pipeline.
Retention begins during recruitment
Retention is often treated as something that starts after an employee joins.
In reality, it begins with the first job advert and the first conversation.
If a role is presented as Monday to Friday but regularly requires weekend cover, the retention problem has already started.
If “occasional overtime” means employees routinely working substantially longer hours, the problem has started.
If accommodation, travel between sites, early starts or physical requirements are not explained properly, the employee may accept a job that was never sustainable for them.
A successful recruitment process should create informed commitment.
That means being honest about:
- The normal rota and how it operates in practice
- Weekend, holiday and sickness cover
- The working environment
- The actual level of responsibility
- Transport and location requirements
- Training and support
- How performance will be assessed
- What progression could realistically look like
This may reduce the number of people willing to accept the position.
That is not a recruitment failure.
Hiring someone who understands the role and remains with the business is more valuable than quickly securing an acceptance from someone who leaves during the first few weeks.
Recruitment should examine potential, not only previous titles
Poultry businesses often recruit from a relatively small pool of people who already hold the exact job title required.
For some senior or highly technical appointments, direct experience is essential.
For other positions, employers may be unnecessarily limiting themselves.
A strong Assistant Farm Manager may be ready to step into their first Farm Manager role. An experienced Farm Worker may already have the judgement and reliability required to become an Assistant Manager with the right support.
Recruitment should therefore assess:
- What must the person know on their first day?
- What could be learned within three or six months?
- What evidence shows that they can take the next step?
- What support would reduce the risk of promoting them?
- Is an external candidate genuinely stronger, or simply easier to recognise?
Internal promotion should not mean lowering the standard. It should mean assessing existing employees against a clear standard and giving credible people an opportunity to demonstrate readiness.
The first 90 days matter
Recruitment does not finish when the contract is signed.
The first weeks should connect directly with what was discussed during the hiring process.
A new employee needs to know:
- What is expected of them
- Who is responsible for their training
- What they should be able to do after 30, 60 and 90 days
- How concerns should be raised
- When their progress will be reviewed
- What support is available if they are struggling
The same principle applies to internal promotions.
Promoting someone and then expecting them to “step up” without guidance is not development. It is leaving them to succeed or fail alone.
An internal candidate may understand the farm exceptionally well but still need support with people management, difficult conversations, prioritisation or reporting.
Those gaps should be anticipated rather than used as evidence that the promotion was a mistake.
Retention is an operational responsibility
Retention cannot sit solely with HR or recruitment.
Managers influence whether expectations are clear, whether good work is recognised, whether rotas are managed fairly and whether employees feel able to discuss problems.
Senior leaders influence whether pay remains competitive, whether managers receive training and whether internal development is treated as a priority.
Recruitment influences whether people understand the role before accepting it and whether potential is assessed fairly.
Retention is therefore not a single initiative, annual survey or staff benefit.
It is the combined result of job design, recruitment, management, training, communication and progression.
Poultry businesses will always need to recruit externally. New people bring experience, ideas and different ways of working.
But external recruitment should complement internal development, not replace it.
Before searching the market for the next Assistant Farm Manager, Farm Manager or Area
Manager, businesses should first ask:
Who already works here?
What potential have they demonstrated?
What development have we provided?
Have we given them a genuine opportunity to progress?
Very often, the retention strategy and the recruitment strategy should be the same conversation.
Is your recruitment strategy building a long-term retention pipeline?
Finding and keeping the right talent in the poultry sector requires a specialized approach. Whether you need immediate hiring support or want to audit your current onboarding and recruitment processes, our specialist team can help.
Connect with me or contact the team for more advice on agricultural hiring and retention support.