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
In our region we have a significant number of people employed in the public service. The changing economy has had an impact on this sector as well as on our other large employers: the healthcare, social assistance and retail sectors.

Working with employers

In April 2009, we co-hosted a local economic and employment summit with Grow Wellington (our local Economic Development Agency), the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) – Central, Hui Taumata Trust, the Department of Labour and the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce. Speakers included representatives from the tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, information technology and education sectors.

To help our staff understand the increasingly challenging labour market conditions we hosted our first regional labour market forum. Staff gained insights about the region's labour force trends and opportunities by speakers from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Labour and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. This will better equip our staff to help jobseekers.

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 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.

Locally, the Porirua Employment Hub provides a free, one-stop shop for advice, resources and referrals for Porirua City jobseekers and employers. We will be formalising the relationships we have with industry training organisations to develop training programmes relevant to local industry needs. We will also work closely with regional businesses and industries to make opportunities available for jobseekers. In these challenging economic conditions, knowing what employers need is vital to making sure our jobseekers can get work.

In 2009/2010 we have plans to run business administration, retail and hospitality, security, and bus and coach driver training programmes with our industry partners. We will develop more programmes as we identify other industry partnerships. We are also making more places available for our young people in our industry partnership programmes.

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.

Over the last year, over 290 Wellington jobseekers have participated in Straight 2 Work programmes.

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.

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 Wellingtonians 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
• have our contracted service providers support our seminars, providing intensive mentoring, coaching, placement and in-work support
• design specific programmes through our contracted providers that address the needs of a changing client market.

Help for people affected by redundancy

Despite a business’s best efforts to stay afloat, there will be times when it’s not enough.

We will continue to help employers through their challenges in managing business change and to help affected employers and employees to better understand what support and financial assistance is available to them.

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 292 people in our region^[1].

^[1] As at 14 August 2009.