I do an awful lot of on-farm training all over the United States and Mexico. I find there is an unwritten agreement about work that is not clearly defined between workers and owners. The worker’s perspective of this agreement is money-based: “I need to work to support my family and my lifestyle.” The owner’s perspective of work is results-based: “I need to get results through people.”
Owners usually do not speak Spanish, relying on their herdsman or another bilingual employee to explain how to do work to Spanish-speaking employees. This is usually just enough to get basic results. Generally, the bilingual person may get involved in hiring new employees, who receive compensation as established by the owner. The bilingual employee then inherits the responsibility to manage these employees, simply because he or she is the foremost person who communicates with them. Not only does this unwritten agreement place a huge burden on the bilingual person in the middle, but now the worker is working under the direction of a perceived boss. Is that boss the owner or the bilingual person giving the employee direction?
Let’s use milkers as an example. Problems often develop when milkers don’t work the same way on all shifts or someone who wants more money is causing chaos in the parlor. Owners become disappointed because milkers don’t finish on time or mastitis and somatic cell count (SCC) problems develop. Now we have a conflict about the unwritten agreement and a bilingual employee, usually a Hispanic worker who tries to avoid conflict at all costs, sitting squarely in the middle.
Successful dairies resolve this problem by clarifying the unwritten agreement with a written agreement. Here is how they do it.
Owners
First, owners write out specific, simple pay scales for cow pushers, milkers and supervisors. The range permits compensation for new hires at the low end of the scale while paying experienced workers more at the high end of the scale. There is incentive for a high-end cow pusher to move to a milker position when one opens up because the range of milker compensation exceeds the range of cow pusher pay.
Then, they clearly define in writing the responsibilities for the herdsman or bilingual supervisors. These need to include both the physical work required and the personnel management expectations. These expectations may range from simply translating for milkers to becoming their manager or supervisor.
Be careful here. Not every Hispanic worker wants to accept responsibility when it might cause conflict with his or her friends, relatives or fellow countrymen, even if it means higher compensation. Evaluate an employee’s personality, and then ask your bilingual worker if he or she wants the position.
Next, owners define the dairy’s correct milking routine, wash-up procedures, mastitis treatment protocols, etc. for the dairy. They discuss these in detail with the bilingual herdsman or head milker who then teaches other Spanish-speaking workers. Written goals, such as SCC or bacteria goals, are the results expected from the supervisor and his or her team when doing their work correctly. Owners who do these three steps successfully delegate responsibilities and find they are more in control than if they had tried to do all the communicating themselves.
Herdsmen, head milkers and supervisors
Bilingual herdsmen and supervisors should understand when they accept their positions that they are a boss, coach or leader. This means they must not only work as a team with other employees, but they must also communicate with the owner to understand his or her established principles and goals so they can explain these to their team.
A working boss or coach is expected to:
- Understand all aspects of the workplace at a much greater level than the rest of the workers
- Explain and show workers how to do their work correctly
- Watch while working to be sure other workers are doing things correctly
- Review the somatic cell count, bacteria and mastitis records to know if workers are reaching the employer’s goals
- Give workers feedback
Positive comments build workers’ satisfaction and confidence. Negative effort or results provide the opportunity to teach or retrain workers. Giving no feedback erodes your position as the boss, and it leads to disrespect.
Workers
Workers should bring to work the right attitude, which is “I am here to earn money by doing what I am asked to do as well as I can for the hours I work.” Workers enter into an oral agreement to work for a specified amount of money at the start of employment so pay is no longer a consideration until conditions change.
Hispanic workers should realize owners expect results. Work correctly and expect to be treated fairly but to also be judged on performance. At the same time, understand that you are important. When you work correctly and as a member of a team of milkers, you can have success and satisfaction in your work.
Workers are the players on the team. Just as with soccer, every team has a coach who calls the plays and enforces the rules. Milkers who see their bilingual supervisor as their coach recognize the importance of following the rules and working for results.
Therefore, the unwritten agreement between owner and worker is more than just, “You work, I pay” or “I work, you pay.” It implies much more. Owners who clarify pay scales, delegate management responsibility to a bilingual employee and make goals very clear fulfill their part of the work agreement. Employees fulfill their part of the work agreement when they come to work with the right attitude, expect to be managed and work as a team toward results. The bilingual employee cannot be caught in the middle.
In all of this, clarity, organization and communication are key. The inability to speak Spanish or to understand English is not an excuse; it is a gap that has to be bridged. The bridge is written agreements, job descriptions and protocols that can be translated from English to Spanish.
