I wanted to share a brief but important update on how REAL Success will support our clients from 2026 onwards, alongside an early heads-up about our upcoming White Paper on staff retention in farming. 

For nearly 14 years, REAL Success has worked with farmers to develop leadership and management skills, while navigating the complex HR and employment issues that inevitably arise on our farms. Over the past three years, we have also provided a recruitment agency service to help farms find the staff they need – from General Farm Workers to Farm Managers.  However, while we have successfully recruited over 100 members of staff, we have also encountered the very real challenges that farmers face regarding the quality of candidates and the level of training and development required.  We have also experienced situations where farmers have struggled to retain staff that we have found for them, whilst also working with farms that have very little need for recruitment, have staff working less than 45 hours a week and are building a truly sustainable future for their families.  

This has revealed to us a hard truth that we believe the UK farming industry faces: The biggest people challenge is not recruitment. It's our ability to keep our best people, build strong teams, and create workplaces where staff want to join and stay. 

In response to this conclusion, we have launched a White Paper called "Facing the Future – Why UK Farming Must Put People First".  This White Paper, along with other reports, including the Farm Profitability Review by Baroness Minette Batters, has led to our decision to reshape our services, with a stronger focus on staff retention, effective leadership, and people development.  These are the areas where REAL Success consistently delivers the most significant and long-lasting impact.

As part of this shift, we will step back from providing a full recruitment agency service. However, if you have used us for recruitment in the past or need staff in the future, we are not stepping away from supporting you. Instead, we will help you recruit more effectively through practical guides, tools, and advice, ensuring that you can recruit effectively when needed. If you still require an agency recruitment service, we are actively building relationships with trusted recruitment partners whom we will recommend and introduce to you. 

In 2026, our approach will then be to focus on addressing the underlying issue of a lack of leadership and management skills – particularly among aspiring managers. We know that many staff members are keen to become managers and often possess the technical skills and knowledge, but lack the people management skills necessary to be effective leaders.  To address this, we intend to launch an innovative "Aspiring Manager" programme in 2026.   We will also continue to work closely with those clients who are committed to developing their teams and themselves through our Priority Support Service. This includes regular coaching, training, and consultancy.  We will also continue to provide our popular HR advice and employment compliance service, as well as our family liaison support and VITA Profiling, which is currently being developed into a new digital platform.

Finally, if you have worked with Steph Minton or James Harris in our recruitment team, you may be wondering how this change in approach will affect them. Steph has just had a baby and is on maternity leave until September, when she plans to return to the business.  James is taking on the role of Internal Projects Manager and will help us build the systems, processes, and structures needed as we grow our business over the next five years. He is likely to remain with the company until the Autumn, when he intends to return to education to pursue a new career in Sports Science and Nutrition.   

We believe the future for the farming sector is bright and full of opportunity, despite the political, social and climate challenges that we face.  Solutions exist for many of the people and labour supply issues we face, and there are more farmers every day who are working with us to create a sustainable and profitable future for their farms.  We are ready and willing to help you make the changes needed to create a secure future for your farm.

If you have any questions, concerns, or are simply curious about our plans, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

www.real-success.co.uk