First, a few hard truths, current unemployment in the UK is below trend. Secondly, UK inflation is slightly higher than on the continent but its difference is almost statistically insignificant. Third, in many sectors of the economy, there has been dislocation, especially in historically important sectors such as the automobile. Fourth, the UK's demography is better than Germany and Italy, but worse than France. Fifth, its energy sector remains very dependent on imports (about 60%).
We employ 172 people on our farm, 61% are part-time employees, 100% are British nationals, but 45% lived outside the UK before the Covid epidemic. Pickers are the largest group and they are 77% women, while our dairy production is about half and half. Our butchering operations are 100% men, but there are only twelve of them and it is considered hard manual labour.
The most interesting thing is that nearly half our staff worked on the continent for several years before "returning" to the UK. The pandemic was the most important factor. 100% of our staff were born in Norfolk, and about 20% of our staff's ethnic origin is other than European. Unlike London, we don't have the benefit of choosing from a wide labour pool. Our biggest advantage is that for most of our staff, the commute is less than 15 minutes.
49 of our employees were forced to return home because of either Brexit or Covid for them there was real anxiety and stress, for the other 63 there was not, for them the job fit with their aspirations. I will not say that being a picker is a life-affirming job, but it is very well paid because we only pick vegetables when they are ripe so they have to be handled with care, 85% of our picking is done "in-doors" in one of our twenty greenhouses, and both my wife and I will pick at least once a week, it is hard work.
Our staff's experience of Brexit has therefore been varied, but as far as we can see they all seem happy with their current job prospects, especially when they can all see the expansion plans that we have discussed with them. Everyone understands that this is a farm and that the jobs on a farm are very manual, although we introduced several systems to make the work less backbreaking, the fact that our pickers only work for three hours a day is indicative of the harshness of picking. Milking cattle is a twice-a-day (early morning and evening) task that employs two shifts of six.
So far, our turnover has been ridiculously low, Since 2019 when we started the full farming operations we have lost a total of 6 members of staff. Only two left because they hated the job, which we can understand, and the other four left because their family was relocating.
In general, for our staff, Brexit has been an issue probably more so than for the majority of workers, statistically 45% of our workforce was based on the continent. However, all our staff seem to like the work, and we receive at least 10 emails per month from job seekers. All of these job seekers are from the area, some are young some less so, some want to start farming and see us as a school, which makes sense.
Years ago I saw an interview with Mark Cuban who had just bought a basketball team, and the first day he sat at a desk in the middle of the sales team and started cold calling potential spectators//clients who had in the past gone to a basketball game. His role was not as cheerleader, it was as one of the guys doing the work that needed to be done. Whether I work as a stockman, a picker (I am forbidden from working in our processing plant), or even as a boxer (preparing the boxes going to our direct-purchase clients), the job of the leader is to not only lead but lead by example
For us, Brexit was the starting point of our decision to become farmers, it was an opportunity to change our lives. For 49 people on our team, it was not really voluntary, their return was a consequence of forces over which they had no control. They had left the country for a variety of reasons, some economic and other social, and they had to give up on these dreams, for them, Brexit was a factor in their change of circumstances.
We anticipate that beginning in 2024 our turnover, especially among the picker and the dairy sector will change a lot. Our pickers are generally young women of childbearing age, and the vast majority came to work for the farm to supplement income while their children were at school, but as these children grow, their desire for full-time work also increased. Therefore we anticipate that nearly half our pickers will either leave our operations or transition to full-time employment.
It is our responsibility as employers to maximize our staff retention, and my wife has had the best ideas. One was that an increasing number of our pickers could also become mechanics. In the past, most farm equipment could be "man-handled", in other words, a man could lift and carry equipment. The new equipment we operate is no longer "man-handleable" Physical strength is no longer much of an issue because the equipment is too heavy, so we have begun offering our pickers the option of transitioning to our maintenance operations. We are also looking at multitasking in the dairy operation, because our cheese and butter operations are expanding, instead of hiring more staff, we train our staff to fill that role on a part-time basis. Very few activities have to be carried out at a specific time (milking and feeding are the exception -- that has to be done at a specific time), but picking does not.
We consider it our responsibility, as employers, to offer our staff options to expand their role within the context of a growing farm operation. They see how we are working at decreasing our energy dependency, and how we are integrating their ideas into our operations.
Personally, Brexit was the best thing that ever happened to us, but that is just our family. There are always losers and winners when the environment changes. Obviously, those working in the automobile sector have been gravely affected. There is no doubt that with falling home prices (high-interest rates and Brexit) everyone in the UK feels poorer than before, but in general, for the vast majority of Britons, Brexit has not changed a thing in their lives, of course, you never of hear about them...no newspaper headlines sell for "Nothing has changed"
Note: Uber pro Brexiter Nigel Farage made the papers this morning. I don't pay much attention to nut jobs like him, but I remember that NF was huffing and puffing on his way to the airport to "leave the UK forever!". Talking to one of my daughters this morning, she told me a funny rumour: His little airport stunt was all for show, he never left the country, and even the suitcases he carried were empty. What a perfect metaphor for this guy: empty suitcases for empty rhetorics!
Note2: From early comments, I should be clear that in my opinion exiting the EU was a mistake, I voted against it, the true cost will take years to be determined, but the overall cost is not as massive as many presume. Yes, exit shaved a few points of GDP.
Comments