Employment
Having a job is key to being able to provide for yourself and your family.
In these tough economic times we’re working hard to help people stay in work, or get a job if they are not already in work. For those who can’t find work, we will be here to help, but our first priority will always be to get people back into the workplace as soon as possible.
Our local labour market
Agriculture, tourism, forestry and wood processing, horticulture, construction and marine engineering drive our local labour market. The arts, mining and aquaculture sectors are our emerging industries. We know the changing economy has had an impact on all of our major industries and we have already seen a reduction in tourism numbers, and in construction.
In this environment we need to think smarter about how we do things. Changing how we work with employers is one way we are doing this. Knowing what our employers need and matching people’s skills to that need, will see us get results for employers and for people looking for work. Training people so they have the skills needed by Northland’s employers is an important step.
Working with employers
We hosted a regional economic summit – Keep Northland Working – to maintain the momentum of the Job Summit. [1] At the summit, we identified there will be a future demand from forestry owners and the forestry industry. We will be talking to the owners of Northland’s forests to help identify and meet their workforce needs. We will work with the industry to identify training gaps. We will help jobseekers get the right training.
Industry/employer partnerships
We work with industries at a national level to minimise skill and labour shortages, and to maximise job opportunities. These partnerships are designed to address the needs of industries by delivering targeted industry-specific skills training and, at the same time, jobs for programme participants.
We currently have 80 industry and major employer partnerships nationwide. These partnerships include those with major industries like agriculture, construction and hospitality. We also have partnerships with regional Chambers of Commerce and large employers like Telecom, Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Westpac and McDonald’s.
In our region we are working with local businesses to support them with skilled staff where there is a potential to grow. The Northland region is currently providing staff with the appropriate training for six of our local industries, including healthcare and engineering.
Our industry partners include HarvestPro, Hancock Forest Management, Ngati Hine Forestry Trust, Selwyn Park, Ryman Healthcare, Idea, Access Homehealth, Tai Tokerau Primary Health Organisation, Northland District Health Board and Multiskill.
Straight 2 Work
We run Straight 2 Work programmes with most of our industry and employer partners. These programmes offer pre- and post-employment training and support. They are developed by industry for industry, making the training relevant to the needs of employers.
In 2009/2010 we already have plans to run training programmes with our forestry, hospitality and meatworks partners. More programmes will be developed as we identify other industry partnerships.
Help keep businesses going
Businesses with more than 50 staff that are experiencing a temporary downturn can get extra help from us through the Job Support Scheme. The scheme pays an allowance for those workers who agree to work reduced hours. This means employers can keep as many jobs as possible while firms’ earnings are down. Right now we are helping businesses through this scheme in the Northland Region.
Getting people into work
Our ‘Work First’ focus
We are finding that the type of person coming to us for job search help has changed – they have more skills and a different expectation of our services. This has meant that we have had to respond to better meet their needs.
We have changed our service delivery model to assess how quickly we can get people back into work. We have improved the ease of finding work for self driven jobseekers, improved our services to employers, and ensured that appropriate job vacancies are made more readily available. If a person loses their job, it’s important they find another one quickly. They are more likely to be attractive to employers while their skills are current and they still have confidence.
We want Northlanders to get into work and to stay in work. In 2009/2010 we’ll:
- form partnerships with local industries and employers to help them get the right people with the right skills
- make sure jobseekers have the right information about our local labour market, and have the tools to access it.
Help for people affected by redundancy
Despite a business’s best efforts to stay afloat, there will be times when it’s not enough. When this happens, we will work hard to help those people worst affected by redundancy to find other job opportunities.
Our redundancy support team co-ordinates with Career Services and Inland Revenue. Together they have made sure that businesses have been able to put staff facing redundancy in touch with the most relevant services to find other job opportunities and to get financial support.
For people who have been made redundant and can’t find other work, we deliver the ReStart package. ReStart offers financial help for up to 16 weeks for those people who have been made redundant and need extra help. So far, we have been able to help 183 people in our region. [2]
