YOUR INDUSTRY
Brix employees
Brix fill bins throughout the Bay of Plenty Brix was started in 2018 with a Subaru Legacy and a Bunnings chainsaw. By Claire Ashton Kieren Thomas and his business manager Luke Aldersley want the business to speak for itself and refer to whatever they do as what Brix does, rather than staking any personal claims, and their reputation seems to be growing as fast as the kiwifruit bins they fill. Brix saw an opportunity in the HR space to provide reliable quality pickers at harvest time throughout the Bay of Plenty. Kieran has been brought up in the kiwifruit industry, but Luke originally trained as an oceanographer. What makes Brix stand out is their door-to-door service – they run buses and vans to pick up the workers so they arrive on time, at the right time and at the right location. If pickers self-drive there is sometimes the chance that they may not show up, or get the time or location wrong. This historically cavalier attitude in the kiwifruit industry can cost growers precious picking time within their defined harvest window. Brix says that 20
The ORCHARDIST : MAY 2021
“orchardists expect you to turn up and don't want to hear any backstory or problems – they just want you to get on with the job at hand.” Having the workers delivered all together on-site at the same time has many advantages – one of which is that they can all be briefed at the beginning of the day on the Health and Safety protocols on each orchard. They hire a diverse range of workers, and some of their best workers are women. Brix refers to their team as 'the guys', which indicates they don't delineate gender roles as such, on the picking team everyone is just working together through the season for the best outcomes. “We have a mutual respect and value for what our staff does and they value what we do, so by valuing each other this enables us all to do the best job.” Brix also has a good social media presence and aims to understand their staff and more of what they value so that they can keep improving.
