Economic Development Update from The Business Hive
There’s a huge amount of thinking going on around how we create and maintain successful economies (district-wide, regionally, nationally and globally). As businesses, our access to people, skills and resources is challenging and it’s likely to be that way for a while. At The Business Hive, we try to support local and part of doing that is to help make sure you know the latest lay of the land. Read on for an update around the key local initiatives you’ll want to know about.
WDC Economic Development Strategy
The Waitaki District Council has launched its Draft Economic Development Strategy consultation and it’s an exciting opportunity to look up from our individual businesses and see how we can start to solve some of our issues in the Waitaki. We were pleased to host our CEO Alex Parmley and Mel Jones to speak to it at Business South’s BA5 this week. While there is some pushback from the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, feedback on the night and since has been overwhelmingly positive - seeing this as a potential step change for our district. We don’t have all the answers yet, but it’s a good start.
Otago Regional Workforce Plan
Alex and I went to Queenstown for the launch of the Otago Regional Workforce Plan a couple of weeks ago and had the opportunity to see and hear for ourselves how Central Otago is suffering from a major skills shortage - most obviously in hospitality (‘staff wanted’ signs on most hospo doors) - but less obviously, across sectors. We’re all struggling with the same issues - including the problem of satisfying the needs of partners and children when recruiting from other regions.
The Otago Regional Workforce Plan highlights four initial industries that need some new thinking;
Construction
Accommodation & Food Services
Healthcare & Social Assistance
Food & Fibre
The plan is well worth a read but in short, we need to be considering how we coordinate as a region, transform the way we educate. as well as train on the job to build local capability, and deliver a quality of life that people can aspire to. These mirror our mission at The Business Hive and we’re pleased to see region-wide recognition for these goals.
Hiring News
Speaking of recognition, last week, we caught up with Rebecca Finlay (Business South) and our recruitment partner - Dean Delaney from Platinum Recruitment to chew the fat (literally delicious bacon-y fat as we all had lunch at Badger & Mackerel).
The impact of the skills shortage in everyday recruitment is massive. Tough decisions are being forced - higher onboarding salaries for less capability have become a rude reality. At least one company has made the decision to pay all their existing staff at new market rates to protect the skills they need. Onboarding the new person at a higher rate than existing staff is problematic of course, and more so nowadays for sure.
Where once upon a time, staff didn’t discuss their salaries at work, now it’s commonplace especially amongst younger generations. Accompanying that is increasing scrutiny on gendered and ethnic pay gaps (last month on Women, last week on Pasifika, etc…) where pay transparency is actively being encouraged.
With this skills shortage, we have to be thinking about how we can keep our skilled people for longer. Stats NZ tells us that nationally we can expect to reach a population of one million people aged 65+ by 2028 - that is just six years away! And, we already know that we're ahead of the curve here in the Waitaki. Older workers also want flexibility so again, terms and conditions matter.
These are difficult waters to navigate for the small business owner, so what can you offer when you can’t compete on salary? This is exactly what we collectively need to figure out and why the Regional Workforce Plan is so important.
Immigration and Training Solutions
The word on the street is that we need to further widen our boarders and let immigrants in. The global situation makes that just (if not more) as competitive. We can’t import all the skills we need, we have to grow them and grow them quickly. On the job training is essential. Hiring for potential and growing our own people is vital. Talking with one local coffee shop owner, they reflected that they’d trained up the last key employees and make sure their pay and conditions are ahead of the pack. It’s not all about the money, it is all about the relationship.
Creating and maintaining that relationship takes leadership and a 21st century mindset around the way we communicate with our teams. Amanda Fleming’s Essence of Facilitation workshop is coming up in the middle of August - a transformative two-day programme that really heightened my skills (and I’m an experienced facilitator!). If you or your people are feeling a bit wobbly on how to facilitate the results you need and have those difficult conversations, this is a master class. Seriously, it’s life changing.
Working Together & Getting Involved
The Stronger Waitaki Economic Development Working Group, of which I am chair, meets next at 4pm on Wednesday 24th August at The Business Hive. This two-monthly meeting is open to all and a great opportunity to discuss local economic needs and initiatives. Let me know if you want to attend and we’ll get you on the meeting list.
Resources;
Essence of Facilitation Workshop