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Correlation between Welfare Quality® protocol and workplace satisfaction in Portuguese dairy farms
Cerqueira, J., Stilwell, G., D'Orey...
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Objectives
The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of animal welfare of ten dairy farms in Portugal with workplace satisfaction. We hypothesized that there are positive correlations among the Welfare Quality® protocol (WQ) results, and workplace satisfaction.
Methods and materials
Ten farms were used in this study and were visited between January and September 2021. Farm size ranged from 35 to 789 milking cows at the time of the visit. All animals were kept on an intensive-based free-stall production system with several diverse bedding choices and were milked twice a day, with with the exception of one farm where cows were milked three times a day. All farms were assessed for animal welfare using the WQ® protocol. Workplace satisfaction was accessed using a questionnaire. For each farm, a questionnaire was delivered to the farm manager and to all of the working staff. The questionnaire is an adaptation of the one used by Phillip Durst et al. (2018) in “Evaluation by employees of employee management on large US dairy farms”. All data was organized in Microsoft® Excel for Mac version 16.56. The questionnaire was divided into 4 parts. Part 1 of the questionnaire consisted in a demographic and work conditions characterization with multiple selection, and short answer questions. Parts 2,3, and 4 were the parts considered in the Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI) calculation and referred to work environment, satisfaction, and relationship with manager. Part 2 consisted of a binary response (“Yes”- 5; “No”-1). Parts 3 and 4 answers were obtained using a 5-point Likert scale. In order to assess workplace satisfaction, ESI was calculated, using the guidelines proposed by Singh et al., (2014). All negative answers were aligned to provide a correct answer scale. Both managers and staff questionnaires were considered in the calculation of ESI. Afterwards, the applied formula was:
Employee Satisfaction Index (%) = (Total score received/ Maximum total score possible)×100
Results
From the farms considered in the study, 80% obtained the "Enhanced" level, while farms H and I were classified as "Acceptable" as the Final Score. No farms were classified as "Excellent" or "Not Classified". All ESI results are described in table 3, alongside the percentage of respondents for each farms. Among the correlations, the strong positive correlation with the “Comfort around resting” indicator (p= 0.069) and the “Good Housing” principle (p= 0.069), tended to be significant. Also, there was a strong negative significative correlation between ESI and the “Good human-animal relationship” criteria (p= 0.042). The remaining correlations between the WFQ and ESI showed no significance (p ≥0.150).
Conclusions
Our results reinforce the need to discuss further the impact of workplace satisfaction on animal welfare, specifically regarding the "Good human- animal relationship" criteria.
References
- Durst, P. T., Moore, S. J., Ritter, C., & Barkema, H. W. (2018). Evaluation by employees of employee management on large US dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science, 101(8), 7450–7462. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-14592
- Singh, A., Pathak, S., Choudhury, J., Kumar, R., Banerjee, S., & Nehar, Y. (2014). Review of HRM Volume 3 April 2014 Editorial Advisory Board. 3.
- Welfare Quality. (2009). Welfare Quality Assessment protocol for cattle. Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Cattle, 1–142. http://www.welfarequalitynetwork.net/network/45848/7/0/40.
Keywords: Animal welfare, Welfare Quality®, Dairy cow, Job satisfaction, Employee satisfaction index.
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