More than 80 foremen, farm labor contractors, and other first-line supervisors from agricultural operations throughout California convened in Stockton for an intensive three-day personnel management seminar presented by APMP Farm Advisor Gregory Billikopf. This third annual seminar, conducted entirely in Spanish from December 7 through 9, gave supervisors a chance to develop their skills through active participation in exercises, role plays, and discussion of case and lecture material.
Subjects covered during the first day were employee selection processes, interpersonal relations, pay systems, corrective disciplinary action, and termination. Day two focused on supervisory use and abuse of power, employee counseling, and conflict management. On the final day, attendees earned certification (authorized by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation) to provide field worker training as newly mandated by the EPA Worker Protection Standard.
The seminar was designed to help supervisors both improve effectiveness in their current jobs and prepare for advancement to even more responsibility in the future. Most participants had been informed about the meeting by managers for whom they work. In the introductory session, their consensus was that they personally, as well as their employers, would benefit.
Attendance this year more than doubled last year's, which in turn was roughly twice as large as in 1992, when Billikopf first offered the seminar. Several participants were sponsored by employers who had appreciated results from previous years.
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