Introduction to Recruitment in Sugar Industry
Recruitment is the process of selecting and appointing candidates that are qualified for a particular job. This exercise is necessary for every organization to replace retired workers or those who left for their reasons or laziness and also getting new people for the job. It will be a good idea, for an organization to keep itself with the latest trends in recruitment. Therefore, recruitment is a critical aspect of the business that is continuous and should be done carefully to minimize the risks that arise from mistakes in the process (Collings & Wood, 2009).
It is not possible to get a suitable candidate for a job these days and therefore, active involvement in the process of recruitment is required. Organizations are faced with new sets of challenges as days go by. Tableland mill is a sugar industry that faces challenges in recruitment just like other agencies. As it is a sugar industry, even more challenge is met, because very few people want to deal with sugar (Rapidbi, 2007).
This is a sugar industry that is the latest and technologically advanced in Australia. It was established in 1997 and was the first sugar mill to be constructed in Queensland for 75 years. During the construction of Tableland mill, the environmental conservation was highly put in consideration. The industry grows, processes, markets and exports raw sugar. As per now, there are 85 growers that supply sugar cane to the industry and the cane is harvested from about 8,500 hectares of land and the means of transportation is by road (“Tableland Mill | MSF Sugar,” n.d.). Therefore, this is a growing industry that needs careful management to keep the ball rolling.
Sugar industries are perceived as backbones to the worlds’ economy given their contribution to the gross domestic product and employment. Every human being needs sugar in one way or another for survival. Almost all sectors that deal with foodstuffs need sugar as a primary ingredient. This industry requires a lot of labor because it consists of some processes (“Government has a plan to resolve sugar industry dispute, Barnaby Joyce says – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation),” n.d.).
Tableland Mill is one of the sugar industries that is concerned with manufacture and production of sugar. Therefore, a lot of workforces is needed to produce the best product that has not missed a particular stage. The industry also has different sections, for example, there are people concerned with electricity so that the machine does not stop, there are those concerned with maintenance, and those who ensure everything is in a place like transportation, customers are dealt with well, and every activity carried out is known. It has been a problem to recruit people to work for sugar industries because of reasons below.
Challenges Faced by Tableland Mill
The sugar industry is facing challenges in hiring enough people because a poor public image has been displayed of sugar industries. Young people, who are job seekers, consider sugar factories as dangerous and can fail to work anytime and lead to an accident. Students do not want to study careers related to sugar industries as they consider them to have harsh working conditions and dangerous. For example, a student will say I cannot work in a sugar industry because of bagasse and machines that can catch fire anytime. Tableland faces this challenge because it is an upcoming industry and it is not recognized by many people. That is, its image is not well published (Johnson & Guetal, 2012).
Startup industries tend to attract more innovators than other sectors. Attracting more innovators makes people think that it makes a lot of money which of course is true. Young people who are mostly the job seekers would tend to go for startups because of payment and also most startups do not have a lot of work, and therefore there is time to relax. One would like to go where the impact of their effort is felt unlike in traditional companies where this opportunity is not given (Kaufman, 2008).
Tableland Mill faces this challenge because more industries are emerging every day. Competition is something that cannot be avoided. The new industries are making it hard for this industry to find talent from skilled workers. The new industries have found good economic environments because innovators want to work with new industries. For this reason, startup industries have made it hard for old industries to get employees (Parveen, 2008).
This is one of the main factors that are a challenge in recruitment area. Demographical issues include gender, age, education, ethnicity, and culture. Diversity if well managed and valued, then industry will be very successful. People will be able to combine different skills for quality production. In most sugar industries, people employed are of old age that is about to retire, and employers’ consider them to have more experience. Young people also do not lie working around old individuals with is a big challenge. Women find working for sugar industries as a place for men because they deal with machines and involve a lot of work and dirt. This has made it hard for Tableland mill to have female workers (Darling, 2007).
Retention refers to the ability of an industry being able to retain its skilled workers for a longer period. People are not staying in one place of work for a long time like it used to happen back in the days. This is because the cost of living has increased and people want to look for industries that can offer better payment even if it is just a little bit high workers will move. Competitors are also looking out for new personnel and therefore retaining someone is one of the biggest challenges (Klerck, 2009). There are also those workers that are not comfortable to stay in one place for a long time and there look out for other exciting opportunities.
Demand and Supply of Skilled Workers
The recruitment exercise highly depends on the inside and outside the industry. The industry may demand more employees, only to find few candidates that qualify for the job in the market which is a limited supply. In some cases, labor demand and supply is dictated by competition for the people with desired skills, for example, if competitors offer better working conditions, they likely to affect the industry by attracting many desirable skills. This forces the industry to train the few available workers which are more costly. Therefore, the recruitment process becomes a challenge when there is the limited supply of qualified people (Conaty et al., 2011).
Demand has also made industries to increase salaries for people to get the less supply that is available. This becomes a challenge to Tableland mill because of manufacturers changing wages people may prefer others that it (Mark, 2014). This is because you never know when a sugar industry has increased its salaries until you have no candidates with the less supply available. The industry lacks enough workers that can replace the retiring workers and even those that can be additional personnel. The Tableland mill has faced this challenge of lack of enough trained people that can be employed as workers.
Job seekers today lack enough knowledge and training that can lead to the success of the industry. For n industry to recruit a person, he/she should be valuable to the industry. For this reason, a significant gap challenge exists in the recruitment of new workers. Therefore, this makes employers incur a lot of costs to train the employees which lead to loss of money and time. Tableland Mill is also facing this as one of the major problems (Paauwe & Boon, 2009).
Employee branding entails creating a good image for your industry to get employees. An employer should try their best to differentiate the corporate brand from the company brand, so that job seekers do not feel that it is the same thing. The business name is how consumers recognize the product, while employer branding is telling job seekers what it feels like to work in the industry. Sugar industries should try to give a realistic picture of the jobs offered in sugar industries (Barrow & Mosley, 2011).
Employer branding will attract many job seekers in the sugar industry. The industry should inform job seekers why they should work for them. The culture of sugar industry should be exposed to the people. Managing the manufacturer’s reputation can help attract skilled and talented candidates. Tableland Mill should try this strategy so that attracting job seekers will not be a problem with the rising number of sugar industries (Scott, 2008).
Lack of Knowledge and Training
Tableland mill should make its industry a destination and not a stepping stone to the next step. Losing best employees bring the industry a step back because one has to start looking for other staff which are a problem. The productivity of the industry starts to strain. Coming up with retention programs also makes the employees deliver their best talent (Farh & Tesluk, 2012).
This can be done through; coming up with compensation strategies for the valuable employees. The industry can ensure that the salary is almost equal or slightly above those of competitors. The industry can set goals and give an extra amount to those that have achieved them (Kaufman, 2008). The industry should also ensure that the working environment can attract and retain people example is the dressing code policy should not be so strict. Managers should maintain good relationships with employees and even encourage them to develop and grow personally. Most people like recognition and this motivates them for example, recognizing an employee as the most hardworking.
Advertising helps give out the relevant information like location, job title, and description, and instructions on a job application to the people through various ways. Publications and websites are platforms that are used by many industries to show vacancies. Manufacturers can use internal bulletins and personal recommendations that can help an industry get the best candidates within and outside the industry. Those within the industry can notify those outside (Douma & Schreuder, 2013).
The industry can also use government job centers because they offer advertisement services to their citizens. The industry can adopt social and new media for advertisements. Using platforms like Twitter and Facebook can give clues to qualified people. The Tableland mill should adapt this advertising programs so that it can be connected to people out there who are qualified and seeking for jobs.
To be able to recruit and replace workers in a sugar industry, the industry should ensure other qualified people can carry out the tasks. Sugar industries should partner with universities, colleges, and technical institutions to provide students get enough information and skills required for the industry. This makes them valuable candidates for the sectors. Sugar industries partnering with education sectors will produce candidates that match the employer’s requirements (“Labour Laws – A Primer”, 2011). Therefore, institutions will be able to access equipment, and materials needed for teaching and training. Also, knowledge of the retiring employees will be passed down to the next generation.
Demographical Issues
Conclusion
In conclusion, therefore, employee recruitment is a vital aspect in any industry and should be handled with the seriousness. For this reason, every employer should try their best to stay ahead of their competitors by knowing the current trends involved in recruitment. Employers should come up with various ways of identifying talents before their competitors do. Therefore these means one should not lag behind the current trends as it would be almost impossible to catch up with others. Recruitment is a challenge that every industry is struggling with. Therefore one should look out for the recommendations.
References
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Tableland Mill | Msf Sugar. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.msfsugar.com.au/our-mills/tableland-mill/
The Government has a plan to resolve sugar industry dispute, Barnaby Joyce says – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-27/sugar-industry-dispute-queensland-barnaby-joyce/8390542