Favourable seasonal conditions, record export forecasts, a tight labour market and rising costs locally and globally are creating both challenges and opportunities for Australian agribusinesses in 2022, writes Jess Roberts*.
For months anecdotal conversations between agribusiness leaders have focused on hiring difficulties, the pressure to increase salaries and to develop retention strategies.
Businesses have approached each other with the age-old question, is everyone facing the same pressure as us, or are we uniquely affected but this perfect storm?
Rimfire Resources has recently published the 20th Edition of the Agribusiness Salary Review – this industry-wide workforce trends report has been able to put quantitative data behind the anecdotal conversations. Overwhelmingly the results show hiring and salary pressures are affecting the industry at large.
According to the Agribusiness Salary Review, within the last 12 months, salaries have increased within 93.5% of agribusinesses, which is a 14% uptick on 2021 figures and the highest representation of salary increases seen since 2008. Additionally, actual salary increases in 2022 were significantly higher than the budgets estimated in the 2021 HR Review.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in June 2022 show 31% of businesses are facing difficulties finding staff, with 79% of those indicating the ‘lack of job applicants’ is the biggest barrier to finding suitable employees.
And, despite only 26% identifying ‘pay conditions’ as detrimental to sourcing staff, the key action planned by organisations to address the candidate shortage is to increase wages or salaries. By comparison, the Agribusiness HR Review indicated 42% of employers in agribusiness cited the primary reason job offers were declined by candidates in the last 12 months was due to the salary level offered.
Evidence of the tight candidate market is apparent in SEEK’s April Employment Dashboard, reporting National Job Advertisements across all industries in April 2022 were 59.7% higher than April 2019, while applications between March 2022 and March 2019 were down 47%.
Within agribusiness this increase was even more marked, with the Rural Jobs index recording a 122% increase in job advertisements between April 2019 and April 2022.
Additionally, ABARES has stated the Australian labour market tightened considerably in the first half of 2022. Results from Rimfire’s Rural Jobs Index (RJI) confirm this, with records from the RJI showing total online job advertisements in Agriculture in the 2021/22 financial year are up 149% on the 10-year pre-pandemic average (Diagram 1).
Diagram 1. Rural Jobs Index: Annual Job Advertisements.
For more than a decade, findings from the Review have indicated technical roles within agribusiness are the hardest to recruit for. They also remain the most common role employers look to international candidates for.
However, HR Review results indicated international recruitment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. This sentiment is reinforced by the ABARES June Quarter Economic Overview which states, “so far, international arrivals have been slow to restart in 2022 following the lifting of restrictions, with arrivals in March 2022 being around one-fifth of those in March 2019.”
Within these conditions it is unsurprising that agribusinesses are looking to retention strategies. HR Review results indicated eligibility for bonus schemes and an increase in bonus payment percentage has occurred in addition to an increased prevalence of counter-offers.
In a changing workforce landscape, employees also have new requirements regarding working conditions. In response, close to 90% of Agribusinesses now offer flexible start and finish time to some or all their employees.
In many cases the employee needs to be in a role which allows flexibility and has a reliable work history. Almost threequarters of agribusiness plan to hire graduates within the next 12 months as part of broader career progression/succession planning initiative.
For detailed information on the HR Review results, please contact Rimfire Resources directly.
*Jessica Roberts has worked in generalist HR and specialist compensation roles in Australia and the UK across the energy, retail and agribusiness sectors. Holding a bachelor’s in business, majoring in human resources, she offers expertise in many aspects of HR and reward practices. Based in Rimfire’s Melbourne office, she supports agribusiness organisations across Australia with their HR and workforce needs. Email: jroberts@rimfireresources.com.au or phone 1300 380 701.
