Seeding HR innovation

Incorporating technology is becoming increasingly vital for farmworkers, from managing irrigation valves to monitoring soil moisture levels. Software has finally made its way into the farm office to make managing these workers easier. As you modernize your human resources technology, remember the following tips and best practices for buying and implementing HR software.

Agriculture is undergoing a digital transformation that means less paperwork, binders and filing. Software will be the direction HR managers will automatically turn.

As digital natives enter the workforce, we can reliably expect them to complete tasks for the farm on their connected devices.

Ultimately, as the regulatory landscape becomes more complicated, HR managers will require immediate, context-specific advice to make informed decisions that safeguard the farm and enhance efficiency, without the delay of consulting external experts or legal advisors.

From the outset of looking for a software solution, you need a vision of what success looks like on your farm. Consequently, I’ve broken down my advice into two sections: buying and implementing. Take a look at these tips for choosing the right HR software for your operation.

Find a cost structure that works for your farm

When software fails due to inadequate financial commitment, you’re stuck with the question: “Did it fail because it was bad tech or because we didn’t give it a fair shot?” Establish that commitment before implementing a new tool. It may be easier to obtain if you can find a software vendor that is flexible with pricing such as post-pay, pre-pay or fixed-fee contracts. Make sure how you pay for the software is aligned with how it provides value and that your finances can support it.

Your existing systems will dictate your future systems

Are problems on your farm not being solved because the amount of time/money/effort to upgrade your legacy system is too high? Your existing software is the foundation that will support your HR functionalities in a future of increased regulation and scale. If it is not up to the task, wait to add new systems until you replace your legacy system. If you can’t wait and add new software anyway, be aware that things might be suboptimal. Try to nail down these tradeoffs during the buying process.

Don’t just take a broken process and make it digital. If it is broken, it will still be broken!

Look for industry partnerships that you trust

While it’s important not to dismiss software that claims farming expertise outright, verify its credentials and assess the company’s credibility and understanding of the agricultural sector. Poorly designed software can lead you to compliance problems. You can tell a lot about a company by who they rely on and who relies on them in the industry.

Insights you can realistically execute are what matters

The firehose of data from these systems is sold as the most important value, but it can often be overwhelming. Quality HR software will take this noisy data and add a layer of insight that is understood and acted on by any HR manager, preventing liability. When evaluating a new software’s “data” features, ask yourself if what it gives you is truly actionable for your specific farm. If not, could the software be doing more to help you act? Even better software will have embedded knowledge to act autonomously.

Next, let’s walk through some of the best practices for implementing ag HR software to get the most out of a platform while avoiding common pitfalls.

Get in the weeds on HR software integrations

Integrating your new system with your existing systems can be a huge opportunity to increase the ROI of your HR stack, but only if you understand the different integration types.

Export/import is the most common integration method among ag software. The second is an application programming interface, which is how different systems talk to each other over the internet. It can dramatically improve deployment speed and ongoing convenience. The opportunities for systems with an API are plentiful as they enhance the value you get from either system.

Set expectations for employees

First, establish who is going to use the new software. You’ll likely figure this out during the buying process, but clearly defining this will help in the next step. Second, establish who is going to benefit from the new software. If those who benefit from the new system aren’t those who have to use it, then it is vital to communicate the importance of the new system to the company. Lead by example and make clear that using this new system is now part of their job responsibilities.

Be willing to change your workflows

Don’t just take a broken process and make it digital. If it is broken, it will still be broken! A couple of workflow optimizations are particularly potent in an agricultural software context.

The first is taking serial operations and turning them into parallel operations. Serial means doing things one after another, while parallel means doing things at the same time or in batches. Are there processes in your HR office that can be parallelized with software that couldn’t otherwise be in person?

The second is time shifting. Think about the tasks interrupting your work that you wish you could do beforehand. Software that enables scheduling and saving “in-progress” work is crucial to working your terms rather than constantly reacting.

Designate a champion

The most successful software deployments are those where a single person in the company owns the setup and usage of the new software. Adding any system will add a fixed administrative burden cost, and these new software systems often cross multiple company departments. Because it impacts so many, it’s hard for anyone to own it. However, we’ve seen a much smoother implementation when someone is designated to this cross-functional position.

Give the champion decision-making authority and establish them as the main point of contact with your software vendor. Finally, the champion can provide contextual support to other employees, resulting in buy-in up and down your farm’s org chart.

When working with a new agricultural HR system, remember that you are buying a partnership. Realize the constraints and opportunities available to your company, and when purchasing and implementing, push this partner to do more for you and to do it better.

James Hall is the CEO of Harvust, an HR and compliance platform for agricultural employers.