This is part three of a three-part series by Carthage Veterinary Services, LLC. In this series of articles, we hope to shed insight into how rural America can embrace the evolution of their small-town communities through the changing labor pool.
Over the past few months, we have spent some time diving deeper into international labor as it continues to play a large part in the success of our agriculture businesses due to the shrinking domestic labor pool. Throughout this series we highlight the unique challenges and hurdles that come with the integration of international employees into our rural communities, including language barriers, housing markets and education for their children. When progressive communities embrace these challenges, we see example after example of successful integration. However, ensuring basic housing and education are met is not a comprehensive gauge of success for new employees and their families in acclimating to a new culture, environment and career.
When we survey our new domestic and international employees alike on their reasons to join our industry, the responses are very similar – they are starting a career in pig production because they are looking for a better work opportunity. While integration into the community will help ensure we provide a solid foundation and help establish roots in the local community, the new employee’s goal is ultimately for them to see success within their career. And thus, the goal becomes quite simple – if we can set our international employees up for success in their job, they will consider their transition into our industry a successful one.
Success on the Farm
To cap off the series on international labor, we thought it would be best to hear from those with firsthand experience executing the transition. We headed down the road from Carthage to our local on-boarding sow farm. Our on-boarding program is designed around our need to ensure consistent training for newly hired employees coming from every background. On-boarding is essentially a method of rapidly supplying new employees with the education and skills they need to execute their tasks as an employee. Putting time into on-boarding greatly increases employee confidence and ensures they feel like they can help the farm and be seen as a contributing member of the team. We provide full on-boarding training for all new farm employees, domestic or international, and we’ve seen a tremendous improvement in employee retention since the initiation of this program.
When we sat down with farm employees, the diverse backgrounds represented were quickly evident. These backgrounds included a veterinarian who grew up in pig production in west-central Illinois, a farm manager who immigrated from Puerto Rico 12 years ago to work in the swine industry, a production technician born and raised in Carthage who has worked on the farm for a little over one year now and, last but not least, a head of department on the farm who came to the U.S. from Mexico two years ago on a TN Visa.
The on-boarding farm has quickly become a melting pot of diverse backgrounds in one place with one goal – to develop our skills as animal caretakers in order to mold our skill set into one that’s deserving of advancement within the farm and system in the future. The initial challenge for an on-boarding farm is that for many new employees, both domestic and international, this is the first time they have stepped foot in a pig farm. Having a team who is patient and dedicated day in and day out to teaching others is key. Being a new employee is hard, no matter what industry, but especially while learning a whole new language of pig production and a new speaking language at the same time. Having Carlos Perez, the farm manager at our on-boarding farm, leveraging his own personal experience of transition and development while leading the charge for both on-boarding and production has proven highly successful.
“As we get someone new into on-boarding, regardless of whether they are from another country or from the local area, we work very hard to interact and communicate with them. The variation of backgrounds on our team helps improve the interaction with the new employees. Many of us can relate to them because we were in their shoes as new employees not too long ago,” Perez says. “When we see individuals confused or not understanding the process, we sit down and work with them one-on-one. The goal is to be sure they understand there is a team of trainers standing behind them to help walk them through the process and ensure both the farm and our employees succeed.”
Having leaders such as Perez who can relate to international employees new to the country is just as valuable as it relates to off the farm challenges. Many international employees have a lot of questions in general about the community, where to shop, buying a vehicle, getting a license, etc., and being able to talk to someone who has been through the process helps further the connection. Encouraging team members to work together both on and off the farm continues to build relationships among team members, and in turn creates not only coworkers but friendships.
Success in Life
As we continued our discussion with the on-boarding farm, it quickly became apparent the success of international employees and their integration into our rural communities isn’t as complicated as it seems on the surface. Sure, there is the red tape, legal documents and certifications that come with the immigration process, but once employees have made their way to the U.S., the goals for companies to develop a successful employee don’t need to be different between domestic and international employees. In fact, it seems the ultimate gauge of happiness for international employees is very much the same as the wants and needs of domestic. A large part of our happiness in life comes from success at work and the opportunities provided to all of us by our employer. As our chief operating officer Shaun McGinn always says, “If you train people, develop them and promote them, they will be loyal to you and follow you wherever you want them to go.”
Tangible items such as wage increases, gaining skills and certifications through hands-on experience and the opportunity for advancement top the list of what most employees seek. While finding good housing options and good school systems for families is critical to a new employee setting down roots in the community, sustaining their employment in an engaged manner requires giving them both the tools and opportunities within the workplace environment. Fortunately, these tools and opportunities don’t need to be different for your international versus domestic employees, but it does put more pressure on employers to spend the time and attention on those tools to ensure the success of all.
“It’s not for the money. The opportunity to practice my English language is very important. When you speak English, it opens a lot more doors. I also like a challenge, and this provides me with that. The United States is a place for different food and cultures, but also different visions, opportunities and experiences,” says Jaime Moguel Sanchez, who works as an HOD (head of department) at the on-boarding farm and is in the U.S. on a TN Visa.
Also worth noting are the intangible items we might take for granted for all employees. Practicing their fluency in a second language, the challenge of taking on and learning new tasks, and gaining friendship among coworkers were common themes during our discussions. The friendships that have been created between people from highly different backgrounds has created bonds we couldn’t have imagined when placing two different people from two different cultures together on the farm. The lessons learned from those friendships could not be taught by those teaching pig production, but often result in the happiness of employees both on and off the farm.
Lessons Learned
As we wrap up our three-part series on international labor and its impact on rural America, we hope you can appreciate a few of the important take home messages we have learned while putting together this program.
First and foremost, rural communities have a tremendous opportunity to benefit from welcoming new community members from international destinations. Yes, it will require change, but supporting the integration of these new community members by ensuring they have access to basic needs, such as housing and education for their families, has a benefit. For communities that embrace the opportunities that come with this change, they’ll see the vibrant economic growth that comes with a growing population – the renovated and improved services and opportunities will benefit both the new residents as well as the existing residents.
Second, don’t forget employees need more than basic housing and schooling services to make a community their home. Success at work is critical, and international employees define success at work in the same way domestic employees define success at work. Invest in training your new employees and rapidly develop their skills. Provide them with development opportunities to advance within their farm, both in terms of title and wages, and you have a better chance to create long-term employees.
Third, take the time to appreciate the power of the unique relationships and perspectives developed in the melting pot that is our farms. One of America’s greatest assets is our diverse backgrounds, mind sets and skill sets. Our farms represent this diversity and produce not only pigs but tremendous employees. Those employees not only help our farms succeed but help keep our rural communities vibrant and productive.
Long story short, if you are looking to turn international employees into long-term teammates, make sure you provide not only what any new employee needs to survive their transition into the industry but also to thrive. Take pride in their achievements and successes, both on the farm and within their families, as well as ultimately within the communities in which we all collectively reside.
Read the Full Series:
International Labor Shapes Rural America: Revitalization of Main Street
