Labour and Employment

Before employing workers or outsourcing your hiring needs to a labour hire company, it is important to understand exactly what positions need to be filled and what skills will be required to perform the roles successfully. Think about:

• Where the employee will work (in an office environment, on the orchard or elsewhere)
• What tasks they will need to undertake (be as realistic and specific as possible)
• Who they will report to
• How their performance will be measured
• How much they will be paid

Skillsets are evolving to keep pace with the spread of agricultural technology (AgTech). This means that a number of your workers will need to be technologically savvy in order to operate complex machinery or analyse and act upon the data made available through IoT sensors.

Seasonal farm workers are critical to harvest and play a pivotal role in the Australian horticultural industry, especially during peak periods when many growers rely on the assistance of labour hire contractors to source and administer their workforce needs. With recent labour figures indicating full employment in Victoria and NSW, labour shortfalls could threaten growers’ ability to pick and pack fruit. While there is not yet any such thing as a dedicated Agricultural Visa, the Seasonal Worker Program has proven effective in supplying orchards with workers.