Is your FLC properly supporting you in these 4 critical areas?
Image courtesy of AgSocio
In an environment where farm labor is often scarce, and labor needs vary from week to week, farm labor contractors (FLCs) can be critical partners and key problem-solvers for growers. But cases like this one—which has led to prison sentences for the FLC owner and several managers—show the dangers to workers and the risks to employers of cutting corners on compliance and due diligence.
We spoke with Matt Rogers, co-founder and general manager of FLC AgSocio, about how his company approaches its dual responsibility to workers and growers. Matt talks about how FLCs like AgSocio can deliver both legal compliance and improved productivity for the growers with whom they work - but only if the FLC has the suitable systems, processes, and mindset.
“... to be a fully compliant business in this industry is… unfortunately, the exception”
#1: Wage and hour compliance
Are workers being paid the correct wages? Are they paid on time? Do their pay stubs include all information required for compliance? Are they getting their legally required paid leave, including sick time and rest breaks?
This sounds like a “baseline expectation,” Rogers said, “yet to be a fully compliant business in this industry is…unfortunately, the exception… There are some very professional operations in this business, but there are also a lot of very informal players.” This inconsistent compliance puts workers at risk, whether by design or carelessness. And for growers and FLCs, “the penalties that will rack up… [can be] a game-ender for a lot of companies.”
Rogers says that the first step for an FLC is understanding federal and state regulations and investing in the personnel and tools to streamline compliance. “It’s essential for our survival that we know all the rules and regulations,” said Rogers. But “it's not just knowing the rules, it's putting in place processes to follow them and then documenting your own compliance.” As a grower, knowing how any FLC you work with is managing wage and hour compliance is essential.
“damages are large enough that it reaches through to the grower”
#2: Transportation
When thinking about job safety, conditions in the fields and packhouse usually come to mind first. However, Rogers pointed out that transportation is one of the most urgent human safety and compliance risks for FLCs to consider since they often transport workers to and from job sites.
When you’re “moving groups of people around in vehicles on…dirt roads and in rural areas and on highways, there are a lot of rules that you have to follow.” Rogers also warns that there are “many examples of an accident being bad enough… and damages are large enough that it reaches through to the grower,” even if the grower isn’t legally liable. Their reputation can be damaged by these occurrences as well.
Growers should ask their FLCs about transportation policies; these include licensing, carpool considerations, and extra considerations for drivers needing a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
“Workers who feel pressure from a grower to maximize productivity at all costs might be reluctant to halt work by flagging a risk they see to a supervisor.”
#3: Food safety
Farmworkers play a critical role in the heavily-regulated world of food safety: knowing how to spot potential risks, such as animal feces in the field, and following proper procedures, like equipment sanitization and personal hygiene, can prevent contamination.
According to Rogers, growers typically manage food safety compliance, including the required training, audits, and other processes, with FLCs working under growers’ food safety plans. While AgSocio can work this way, Rogers said, they recently developed their own food safety program, including training and the capability to manage food safety audits.
Rogers sees this as a valuable offering to their customers and a competitive advantage worth investing in. It’s also a critical area of compliance to get right, with detailed regulations to follow and consumers’ health and clients’ reputations on the line. “We can document our trainings; we have a clear schedule and understanding of the…requirements,” Rogers said. “We can…explain food safety issues in a way that other companies can’t.”
Rogers also pointed out that even the best food safety plan on paper can break down if employers don’t build trust with workers. Workers who feel pressure from a grower to maximize productivity at all costs might be reluctant to halt work by flagging a risk they see to a supervisor. “The fact that we have a deeper relationship with our team members, I think, means that they might be more likely to raise their hand if they see something that’s out of place.”
As a grower, consider whether your FLC will work under your food safety protocols or whether you want the FLC to also bring to the table a food safety program and training of their own.
“We’re never going to be the cheapest option by the hour, but we want to be the grower’s best option by the unit of production.”
#4: Productivity
It’s not enough for an FLC to fully comply with a wide range of regulations - they also need to meet the productivity that growers need. “We have to be able to deliver more bang for the buck than [a grower’s] alternatives,” Rogers said. “We’re never going to be the cheapest option by the hour, but we want to be the grower’s best option by the unit of production.”
AgSocio approaches productivity “holistically,” according to Rogers, starting with the recruiting process. “We interview every single applicant…to try to find the right people from the start,” looking for workers with relevant experience and good attitudes rather than simply trying to “just bring some people in” as some employers do. Then they ensure workers have “...training, the right equipment, the right leadership, [and] the right support up front.”
AgSocio also takes an intensive approach to analytics and data to measure and improve productivity. AgSocio’s use of digital timekeeping - a critical tool for wage and hour compliance - brings other business advantages: “We can track all of our data in extreme detail, and then we can run it all through our analytics program so that we can provide growers with near-real-time data about their own productivity or our productivity for them,” Rogers said, something he says is rare in the farm labor contracting business, and “enormously popular” with customers. “We can interact with [customers] about on-budget, off-budget, ahead…in real-time, instead of the long lag time that often occurs” in the industry.
“By automating pen-and-paper parts of your operation, Ganaz frees you up.”
How Ganaz can help
Growers choose FLCs both to help with compliance and to improve productivity. The Ganaz People Management Platform can also play a role here. By automating labor-intensive pen-and-paper parts of your operation, Ganaz frees you up to focus on productivity, organizational culture, and managing risks, as Matt Rogers explained in a previous article.
Our platform’s digital onboarding module saves time in the hiring process and makes it easy to complete and sign hiring documents, while payroll cards ensure employees are paid on time. Our Workforce Communications tool makes it easy for workers and your management team to stay connected with what is happening on the front lines of your organization.
ABOUT AGSOCIO
AgSocio is an agricultural labor and service provider operating in California and Arizona. They help their clients comply and compete in the highly regulated and rapidly evolving agricultural labor market.
They are building a more just, safe, professional, efficient and competitive agricultural employment system to benefit farmers, farmworkers, and the broader food industry.