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
The Taranaki, King Country and Wanganui Region is New Zealand's energy capital. It isn’t surprising that oil and gas production are two of our main economic drivers. Dairy and meat processing, agriculture, tourism, forestry and manufacturing are also key industries in our region. Some of our major industries have felt the effects of the current economic downturn. This makes our work with employer groups, local economic development agencies and labour market advisory groups critical to maintaining our local economy.

In a changing environment, it is essential that we continue to work smarter and better. We are working closely with employers to match people’s skills to what employers need, so we can help improve the results for jobseekers and for employers. In some instances, this means helping jobseekers get access to training to help bolster their skills.

Working with employers

Industry/employer partnerships
We work with industries at a national level to minimise skill and labour shortages, and to maximise job opportunities. We currently have 80 industry and major employer partnerships. These partnerships include those with large 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.

Industry partnerships are a good way for us to support local businesses with skilled staff where there is a potential to grow. The Taranaki, King Country and Wanganui Region currently has four Industry Partnerships, providing staff with the appropriate training for our local industries. These include the engineering, meat, hospitality and security industries.

We are working with CApENZ (Centre for Applied Engineering New Zealand) to recruit, upskill and retain workers within the industry. We are engaging with Wellcare Education Ltd to address the critical shortage of trained healthcare workers.

Straight 2 Work
We run Straight 2 Work programmes with some of our industry and employer partners. These programmes offer pre- and post-employment training and support. Developed by industry for industry, the training programmes are tailored to meet the needs of employers. We’ve recently helped establish two Straight 2 Work training programmes in the meat and hospitality industries.

In 2009/2010 we will provide healthcare, retail and hospitality, and meatworks training programmes with our industry partners, and an engineering programme option with CApeNZ. We are also making more places available for our young people in industry partnership programmes.

Help keep businesses going
Businesses with more than 50 employees experiencing a temporary downturn can turn to us for extra help through the Job Support Scheme. The scheme pays an extra allowance for workers who agree to work reduced hours. This allows businesses to keep as many jobs as possible while times are tough and earnings are down.

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 individuals in our region to get into work and to stay in work. In 2009/2010 we’ll:

• respond to redundancy events, supporting employers and workers so they can move quickly to alternative work
• 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.

We offer redundancy support team co-ordinators with Career Services, Inland Revenue and other agencies to support employers and employees affected by redundancy. For people who have been made redundant and can’t find other work, we deliver the ReStart package. ReStart provides financial assistance for up to 16 weeks for those people who have been made redundant and need extra help.