People want more than just good pay

EEA board member Ali Dane looks at why Good Employment Week is necessary and what employees expect from their employer.

"Good Employment Week this year focuses on both employers and grooms ‘putting their hands up’ to admit to not having contracts.

A recent survey has revealed that 55% of grooms that responded have put their hands up to not having a written contract of employment. The lack of written contract is often a red flag for other employment issues within the workplace.

Why is Good Employment Week Necessary?

It is because of figures like this that Good Employment Week is so essential! The Equestrian Employers Association, together with the British Grooms Association aim to raise awareness of the importance of employing legally, fairly, and kindly, and to take steps toward making our industry a more attractive place to work.

It is so important to talk about employment matters to educate all on what is correct. Only last weekend I was approached by a concerned parent of one of my clients, who gave me a copy of the contract her daughter had been asked to sign by a prospective employer, for a weekend yard job.

It took me about 10 seconds to realise that this employer was breaking the law in a serious way. The contract that my client had been given was dictating that she should work as a freelancer, (responsible for paying her own tax, she must invoice her employer each month, no holiday or sick pay conditions and must have and pay for her own professional liability insurance). Yet the contract dictated terms that should only be suitable to an employee, (the employer had set the payment rate and days to be worked, specified a 30 day contract termination period). In fact the potential employer and told my client's daughter that she’d 'need to have a limb falling off before she was allowed to call in sick'.

Needless to say, I advised my client to steer well clear.

The above is just one example of why we NEED Good Employment Week.

There are still too many equestrian employers out there that through ignorance, (either genuine or wilful), are breaking the law. Good Employment Week is a means to get people talking about the shortcomings within our industry, of which there are far too many.

To me, the three pillars of running an equestrian business are;

Horse welfare

People management, (including legal employment)

Economic responsibility

The balancing act between these three things is tricky, but not impossible.

I’m a firm believer that if we can improve the people management and working conditions within the equestrian industry, we’ll attract a higher standard of employee. I often see social media posts by employers complaining that they are offering desirable wages, but they still can’t attract good, loyal workers. My answer is that people want more out of a job than just good pay. 

As employers, we need to spend time understanding what inspires our employees to get up and go to work every day in the wind and horizontal rain, and do our best to keep them motivated in the long term. Their values must align with ours. It’s worth spending time thinking about what your core business values are – what is most important to you? Are those things important to your employees too?

As far as the legalities of employment go, we employers have a duty to ensure we’re working within the law as a minimum. But in my opinion, good employment goes much deeper than that.

We need to up our game as a collective and Good Employment Week is an excellent place to start these conversations."