I decided to create the Horticulture Industry Survey for a few reasons, the idea sparked from MorePeople’s bi-annual Salary Survey, which provides great insight across all the industries we work in – food manufacturing, fresh produce, agriculture, horticulture and garden centres.
However, I found that even with the comprehensive survey, I was being asked the same questions from candidates and clients including salaries for specific roles and locations and what people can do to retain employees away from salary alone.
Background
I’ve been specialising in the industry for 5 years now and recruitment is always changing, especially both employer and employee expectations. There’s been an increased demand for more talks, seminars and panels around gaining the right talent and retaining staff, too.
So, I thought instead of just telling people information I’ve learnt, let's create a survey with data from hundreds of people across all parts of horticulture, and create a resource for the industry to utilise. Recruitment can be incredibly stressful and time-consuming, and I wanted to give people a place to start.
Before deciding to do this, I wanted to do some digging and understand whether it was something people actually wanted. I did some research and asked people, in which the response incredibly positive. I then put a ‘mini form’ out there asking what people would want to see and moulded some of the questions and content around this.
We’re all so incredibly busy, so ensuring the data collected was relevant and useful was my number one aim.
The results
There were a few things that I would say stood out to me in the findings.
The first was incredibly positive and a huge shout-out to the YPHA. Of people under 35 who could be a part of the association, 79.7% of them are members. I think this shows the positive impact the YPHA has, as well as how much people value networking and education.
One I’m surprised and intrigued about is the culture question. We asked on a scale of 1 to 5 how important culture is to people in the workplace. 43% answered extremely important (1), 35% answered not important (5) with a smattering in between. When doing these surveys, we tend to see answers heavily leaning one way or the other, but this is split nearly down the middle. I do wonder whether people know what culture within a workplace means, as surely no one wants to be in an unhappy environment. This also didn’t align as I’d expected it to when we asked the question on why people left their last role – poor culture was the highest answered option.
Impact
As mentioned, I wanted this report to be a tool that can be used across the industry. We want to keep as much talent engaged in Horticulture as possible. This is so important, especially given that 45% of people said they’d thought of leaving the industry due to salaries, and the top-picked answer when we asked about industry challenges was lack of perm/skilled people.
One thing I think is worth noting and considering is the salary differences across genders. Of course, this was only a small data set in comparison to the whole of UK Horticulture, but the average salary answered for people who identified as female was £40k - £49k, whereas male was £60k - £70k. There are a few points that could have affected this; it could be that less women in senior management filled in the survey, there are simply less women in senior management positions, or that there is inequality in the industry across genders.
Flexibility is one point I think could really make a difference to people working in Horticulture. Flexibility doesn’t mean working from home or hybrid. You can’t do a lot of roles from home. Flexibility means being able to amend working times for things like childcare or going to the doctor without having to book a day off. It’s things like this, that whilst take time to implement within a business, make a huge difference to employees and employee retention.
What’s next?
I hope that it serves as an educational piece for the industry. I’d like to be able to hear about small, positive changes that both employers and employees have made.
I’d like to get as much feedback as possible on people's thoughts and questions following the report. If it’s beneficial, there’s no stopping us doing it again, but it can be evolved to make sure it’s as useful as possible.
I want to encourage anyone reading the report to ask me any questions they have. We can break down salaries, genders, roles, qualifications etc further – just ask!
Please reach out to me, Sarah, with any feedback or questions on the report.
You can reach me on 01780 480530, sarah@morepeople.co.uk or https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwant/
