Assessment of labor resources and planning of labor balance in the agro-industrial complex

Labor resource assessment and labor balance planning

The availability and correct distribution of the workforce directly determine whether a farm will manage to perform sowing and harvesting within the technological timeframes. Agricultural labor resources include men aged 16 to 60 and women aged 16 to 55, as well as teenagers and pensioners living in rural areas. As of the beginning of 2009, the rural population of the Russian Federation was 38.2 million people, which is 26.9% of the country's total population (141.9 million people). In addition to permanent staff, agricultural enterprises actively attract temporary and seasonal workers.

Specialists for the industry are trained by higher and secondary vocational education institutions, while mass-profession personnel are prepared by primary vocational education institutions. Labor costs in production are traditionally recorded in man-days and man-hours. To analyze the efficiency of personnel utilization, the annual potential time fund is calculated, which averages 256 days.

• Working age of men — from 16 to 60 years
• Working age of women — from 16 to 55 years
• Rural population of the Russian Federation (2009) — 38.2 million people (26.9%)
• Annual potential time fund — about 256 days

The annual potential working time fund is calculated in hours and approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation. It directly depends on the established length of the work week (e.g., 8 hours a day for a 5-day, 40-hour work week) and the number of weekends and holidays, which are subtracted from the 365 calendar days of the year.

The efficiency of staff management is calculated through a system of coefficients and numerical indicators:

• Resource utilization coefficient for annual time ($K_t$): the ratio of the actual time worked ($V_f$) to the potential fund ($V_v$), i.e., $K_t = V_f / V_v$. For example, if 37,917 man-days were worked over the year out of a fund of 47,247 man-days, the coefficient shows the actual degree of the team's workload.
• Production participation coefficient ($K_u$): the ratio of the number of actually employed workers ($T_f$) to the available labor resources ($T_n$), i.e., $K_u = T_f / T_n$.
• Average annual number of workers: the quotient derived from dividing all hours worked by the team during the year by the annual working time fund of one employee.
• Average headcount: for a month, it is calculated by summing the roster for each day and dividing by the number of calendar days in the month; for a year, it is calculated by dividing the sum of the average monthly headcount for all 12 months by 12.

Seasonality of agricultural labor and its calculation

The main reason for incomplete labor utilization in crop production and related sectors is the seasonality of production. The working period in the field is always shorter than the total production period. The time of direct human impact on the soil and plants is interrupted by technological pauses when natural, climatic, and biological factors are at play.

To assess and smooth out seasonality on the farm, the following indicators are analyzed:

• Monthly number of workers: the actual number of those employed in a specific month and its ratio to average monthly employment.
• Seasonality coefficient ($K_s$): the ratio of the maximum ($Z_{max}$) or minimum ($Z_{min}$) monthly employment to the average monthly employment ($Z_{avg}$).
• Seasonality range: the ratio of the maximum employment month indicator ($Z_{max}$) to the minimum employment month indicator ($Z_{min}$).
• Daily working time utilization coefficient: the ratio of actual hours worked per day ($D_f$) to the established shift duration ($D_u$).

To smooth out seasonal drops in employment and reduce working time losses during the intensive periods field work, the farm management needs to precisely determine the levers for influencing labor resources. The efficiency of workforce utilization depends both on internal processes within the enterprise itself and on external economic and regional conditions.

Reserves for improving labor utilization efficiency

Internal factors directly under the control of the agricultural enterprise include technical equipment, efficient division and cooperation of labor, standardization, and payment systems. Equally important are the level of workstation maintenance, staff qualifications, labor discipline, and the creation of social conditions: housing provision, social infrastructure, and clear career growth prospects. The group of external factors includes regional production characteristics and the current state of the labor market in the region.

Having identified the key factors of influence, an enterprise can utilize the following main paths for improving the use of labor resources:

• intensification of production based on scientific and technical achievements and advanced practical experience;
• improvement of the production structure and consideration of the specifics of labor utilization in a particular industry and region;
• development of subsidiary industrial production and local crafts to ensure employment during the off-season;
• improvement of the material incentive system for employees;
• systematic organization of training and retraining of personnel;
• development of social infrastructure and improvement of living conditions in rural areas;
• improvement of property relations, development of entrepreneurship, and support for personal subsidiary plots and peasant farms.