Enterprise labour

Full time — part time

Less than half (43%) of the enterprises were full-time, followed by 22% that were part time. Seasonal full-time and seasonal part-time each accounted for a further 12% of them. At least three families with full time enterprises had other seasonal or part-time enterprises. A characteristic of ‘stand alone’ enterprises was that half of them provided full-time occupations.

Working hours

Thirty-five respondents estimated their usual working hours per week. In several instances their time was divided between more than one enterprise. Thirteen (37%) worked forty hours or more per week. Two of these noted they worked eighty hours or more per week. Half of this group reported working between 50 - 55 hours per week. For 26 respondents their work was seasonally intense, meaning not that work necessarily stops between seasons but that it just decreases. Farm-stay entrepreneurs noted the long hours demanded of them. Farm tourism operators noted as well that their ‘off-seasons’ were decreasing with more round-the-year travellers. The respondents had difficulty in calculating the actual time they contributed to the enterprise, especially in tourist based enterprises like farm stays where farm and house tasks could also be deemed to be enterprise tasks. There were no time sheets, especially not for the entrepreneurs working long days that were often ‘topped up’ by additional commitment as the need required.

Employment — waged and unwaged

Ten of the enterprises reported employing full-time waged workers, a total of 22 workers, a further nine employed a total of 11 part-time workers. Twenty of the enterprises employed seasonal, contract or casual workers. These enterprises particularly offer the opportunity of employment to rural women, with more than double the number of women being employed than men. Family members were not greatly involved as waged employees, although children home from university or school holidays regularly became seasonal/casual waged workers. Thirty enterprises reported unwaged labour contributions from family members, from all branches of the extended family. The greatest unwaged contributions to the enterprises are made by the spouse who is not the major operator (although these people will generally have access to enterprise profits). There is no gender division in the tasks. Extra hands pick up the extra jobs that for whatever reasons the major operator is unable to complete.

Labour saving technology

Thirty-one of the enterprises used labour saving technology. Most favoured were telecommunications technology, the fax, the cell phone and the computer. Other methods of communication were important like express mail and air freight facilities. While a variety of labour saving technologies were identified for farms, the greatest technological impact was to be found in the home. Thirty-seven homes in the study featured new technology. This high level is indicative of the home base of many of the enterprises and the active participation of women not only in the enterprise but in farm activities. There were linkages between enterprise and home technology. Answer phones, faxes, and cordless phones were obviously interchangeable and were sometimes listed under both home and enterprise.

Labour management

The majority of respondents (25) had no problems with the availability of labour, however, twelve respondents reported that they had difficulty finding the skills their enterprise required. Labour management caused problems when busy farm and enterprise times clashed. Casual or seasonal labour sometimes contained an inherent problem - attitudes to work and punctuality. Cost of and the ‘hassle’ of managing labour were the reasons given by two entrepreneurs for not hiring workers. It would seem that for those enterprises requiring skilled or specialist labour the limited base of a rural labour market does create some problems. A quarter of the respondents indicated that the skills of the couple contributed to their enterprises, for 35% solely the male contributed skills and 41% the female. Joint skills generally, but not exclusively applied, to farm stays. Certainly farm stays demand excellence from each host in their specialist fields of hospitality related to home and farm.

Skills and training

Two thirds of the entrepreneurs had previous business experience other than farming. The types of business varied considerably with respondents advising how valuable their previous business experience was in the establishment of their new enterprises. A few reported previous experience in the same type of business as their current enterprise. Two thirds reported a history of entrepreneurship in their families.

Twenty-two respondents had completed specific formal training such as Polytech or Kiwi Host courses and enterprise specific seminars and ‘in house’ training provided by their industry sector. But 40 percent of the respondents reported that their training was informal, that they were self taught. Some had learnt their early skills from family members. They were all aware of the necessity of keeping their skills up-to-date. This is achieved in a number of ways from attending seminars to ‘lots of swot’. The value of information is appreciated and respondents noted their ability to be good listeners and to seek information. Deterrents to training were:

  • time;
  • being rural based, away from places where training is usually available;
  • childcare or family demands;
  • clashes between training programmes and peak farm or enterprise times;
  • the unique nature of some enterprises and their skill requirements.

A few sought suitable training outside New Zealand. Only two respondents reported that the costs of training were too high. For the majority the quality of training was good, although a number of comments suggested that training experiences are sometimes less than perfect.

Over half of the enterprises required technical support. This support fell into two categories - mechanical, technical engineering and electrical servicing support, or technical advisory support such as financial, accounting, computer skills, meteorological data, soil analysis, food and nutrition analysis. Technical support was generally obtained through sector authorities or institutions. Generally entrepreneurs were satisfied with the quality of their support. Unsatisfactory support included accountancy, ‘very expensive’ and advertising agencies ‘room for improvement’. Technical support was difficult to obtain for some and they had to research and develop their own.

Workshops identified a number of training needs. These included labour management training, business management skills and use of communications technology, especially the internet. There were also a number of suggestions regarding training to understand and deal with the "red tape" businesses face, including resource consents, copyright, the Privacy Act, liquor licencing and taxation.
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