Two, two hour Human Resource Information Workshops in September, 2016. Expert consultants were engaged to present. Event participants were asked to identify specific human resource topic areas, with the following issues addressed:

• Staff Motivation

• How to have happy and content employees

• Incentives to use to retain staff

• Learning how to be a good employer

• Attracting and retaining staff

• Managing internal staff discontent

• Employer obligations

• Structured feedback mechanisms to manage staff friction

• Communication

• Workplace agreements and getting staff sign off as well as feedback and review.

• What is a reasonable level of remuneration

• Hourly or Salary

• How do we handle shift work and the pay/work balance

• Individual Flexible Agreements

• Industry Awards

• Other workplace benefits like house, power, fuel and how to manage

• Online induction

• Fatigue Management

• Communication with staff

• Performance and KPI’s plus feedback (Formal and informal)

• Review of staff performance

• Management of busy and lax periods

• Employer arrangements

• Managing expectations

With a total of 20 participants from the cotton growing region, 10 at each venue, a robust discussion about the above areas resulted with information sharing creating networking between famers.

All participants were encouraged to register for myBMP and access the resources there. In all, five growers were not sure if they were registered of which three were (but had not used it) and two were new registration. All growers were shown the HR checklist items in myBMP and encouraged to operate at at least level 2.