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Conference abstract2010Peer reviewed

Key Factors for Attracting and Motivating Young People to Work as Employees in Swedish Livestock farming

Kolstrup, Christina

Abstract

Key Factors for Attracting and Motivating Young People to Work as Employees in Swedish Livestock Farming Christina Kolstrup Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 88, S-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden. christina.kolstrup@ltj.slu.se Introduction Swedish livestock farming has undergone considerable structural changes and this has lead to fewer but larger farms with employed workers - and in Sweden it is difficult to recruit qualified workers. If agriculture should be an attractive occupation for young people in the future, it is important to know what attracts and motivates them to work and stay in the profession. Objectives The aim of the study is to identify key factors which are important when young people choose to work with livestock. Methods The study was based on a questionnaire to elucidate young people’s attitudes towards working in agriculture e.g. What will attract you to choose livestock farming as a profession? What will motivate you to stay as employee in livestock farming? Furthermore, in order to elucidate the farm employer’s view, they were asked what they believed were important as key factors to attract and motivate young people to choose livestock farming as a profession´? The study was conducted 2008 and comprised 183 agricultural students 197 employed livestock workers and 146 farm employers. Results The preliminary results showed that the five most important key factors for agricultural students to be attracted and motivated to work with livestock farming were: Having fun at work, good leadership, feeling proud of their work, living in the country and safe employment. The least important factors were: Regular working hours and working overtime. Having a high wage was low prioritised. Among employed livestock workers the five most important key factors were: Good leadership, working with animals, having fun at work, living in the country and feeling proud of their work. The employers believed that safe employment, having fun at work, good team work, good leadership and feeling proud of the work were the most important factors for employed workers. The least important factors among employees and employers were the same as for the agricultural students. Implications The preliminary results of this study have enlarged the knowledge about how farmers can increase the interest to the occupation by identifying the most important key factors that workers appreciate when they are choosing to work with livestock farming. Conclusions In general, the results indicated that the most important key factors that attract and motivate presumptive and existing employees to a large degree corresponded with the employer’s perception. The results will be further analysed to study the effect of gender, age, geographical location or level of education

Keywords

Motivation; Attraction; Workers; Agriculture; Questionnaire

Published in

Title: Book of proceedings : 9th conference of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology
Publisher: Nottingham University Press

Conference

The 9th Conference of the European Academy of Occupational Health (EAOHP)