| 49 Staff retention important Karen Phelps OneStaff CEO Jon Ives says the right staff attraction and retention process is more important than ever. Let the right job find you www.trademe.co.nz/a/jobs/profile/start CONSTRUCTION OneStaff With skill shortages in almost every industry in New Zealand, coupled with the reported imminent ‘brain drain’, OneStaff CEO Jon Ives says the right staff attraction and retention process is more important than ever. The company’s annual What’s My Rate? New Zealand Industrial and Trades Wage Report 2022 released in February indicated a number of key areas that were important to employees with mental health coming to the forefront compared with previous years, he says. The report was the result of a survey completed by 6000 people. “Working in a great team was the most important factor to respondents when examining a potential new employer, above a higher pay rate, career progression and work/ life balance. So from a workplace perspective employers need to consider their company culture or how people feel connected when working in their business. “32% of respondents said that bad relationships at work were a critical factor in how they viewed the company culture compared with just 3% the previous survey and 19% felt they had experienced bullying in the workplace over the last year compared with 2% from the previous survey. This indicates mental health was at the forefront of respondents’ minds. For 33% of respondents work-life balance was important, particularly for Gen X and Baby Boomer cohorts.” Wages were of course important as well. The report indicated almost universal wage growth this year, with median hourly pay rising from $25 to $27 per hour. Engineering was the only sector to remain steady (the remainder grew $2-3 per hour). The highest-paying regions of NZ ($28 p/h) were Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and Wellington. Northland was the only region to have retraction in wage growth. “Importantly for employers, on average it takes a $5 p/h wage increase to attract an employee from another employer, however it only takes a $2-3 p/h increase to retain a staff member considering leaving. So staff retention is the most economical way for employers to manage this period of industry staff churn,” he says. Jon says the key takeaway is that employers need to take a holistic approach when recruiting and think outside the square. “So, for example, if your business requires two carpenters but you might only be able to find one in this tight labour market, what we have done in one case was to hire one carpenter and two labourers. “We then took the labour aspects away from the carpenter’s role so he could focus his higher skill set in his job and the labourers took over the other aspects, essentially meaning the client got the work capacity of two carpenters. Better still, where the labourer or hammer hands can learn from the carpenter then you get an increasing skill range and the staff gets the development they desire in their role. That’s where good recruitment companies can be advantageous as we take a holistic look at what our clients want to achieve and can then consider different methods to deliver that outcome within the market constraints, rather than fixating on certain roles when the market has minimal resource available. At OneStaff we are very good at re-engineering and accessing different sourcing channels when the most obvious solution is not available in a tight job market.” He stresses a good recruiter should address sourcing both hard and soft skills aligned to the role. Hard skills can be easier to train but soft skills often are not and can make a massive difference to how successful a recruit is, he says. “You can test for hard skills and it’s important people can deliver what’s required of a position. However personality, motivation, manner, and initiative are absolutely required for a good team fit and success on the job, and unfortunately difficult, if not impossible, to train a person for. Both hard and soft skills will be critical to assess when identifying the right person for the role for the long term.” OneStaff is a 100% New Zealand owned and operated group of companies with national reach. Jon says that OneStaff has access to a wide range of candidates that are not obviously available in the market. Not only those out of work, but also those looking to transition to other employment or other geographic regions, giving clients more options. “Ever wonder why two boats can go fishing on the same day, and one catches fish and the other doesn’t? Occasionally it’s luck, but mostly it’s down to knowing where to cast your line, what bait to use, and technique. OneStaff is great at catching fish.”
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