I was surprised to hear how much the cost of renting cars in Ireland has gone up over the last number of weeks. I was equally surprised to learn about how the cost of second hand cars has also increased. This is all down to the shortage of new vehicles. This rings familiar sounds to us as some of the tractor dealers around the country are experiencing supply shortages of new tractors. The dealers are filling the order books but converting these to sales is a bit trickier.
Another area that is in short supply is staff, particularly in the workshop department. It is hard to find a qualified mechanic these days. One major dealer has taken the initiative of offering a Tractor Mechanic Apprentice scheme in association with the Education and Training Board (ETB). This is a 4 year programme which leads to a QQI Level 6 certification. This is something other dealers could consider as it may be a way of encouraging promising up and coming mechanics in your place of work gain a formal qualification.
Having a perk like this to offer your employees might not be a bad thing. If your business can’t afford to pay for the full cost of the course over the four years, then maybe you could offer to pay for half of the course, should an employee be so interested in obtaining a qualification.
The real problem, however, is retaining good staff. It’s all very well offering expensive training to employees. What good is that if they leave to go work for another business soon after getting qualified, or worse, leave the industry altogether? All that investment will seem to have been wasted. Some terms and conditions would need to be put in place such as employees must work for a minimum period of time with your business.
Already some of the major tractor manufacturers are offering mechanical and workshop training throughout their dealer network. This training however is generally product specific, particularly in the area of electronic diagnostics.
Only last week the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) debuted their Certified Turf Equipment Manager (CTEM) programme The CTEM designation was developed by turf equipment managers and educators and is the highest recognition that turf equipment management professionals can achieve in the US. The CTEM programme is the first certification program in the world for turf equipment manager professionals.
Perhaps trade associations and organisations in Ireland would consider adopting a similar approach to encourage more people getting involved in professional certification.
As we are now in the summer season, this means that more machines are out and about. I would encourage you to make your customers aware of the dangers using farm and garden equipment. Also try and keep your own work environment as safe as possible. Let’s aim to keep accidents on the farm, garden and in the workplace down to a minimum. Farmers4Safety and AgriKids have joined forces to launch a farm safety sticker competition entitled ‘Stick 2 Safety’. You can visit www.farmers4safety.ie or www.agrikids.ie for more details.
