Head scratching in Marlborough as spare jobs spark survey

Tuesday, 17 July 2018

Cafe Home owner Geoff Pybus says unskilled travellers see hospitality as an 'easy industry'.

Viticulture, hospitality, forestry, farming, aquaculture … Want a job? Marlborough has spares.

Because with a housing crisis and the oldest population in New Zealand, the region isn't managing on its own.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake wants businesses across all industries to take their staff survey.

Wine Marlborough is calling on businesses across all industries to take part in a survey to better understand and address the challenges of recruitment.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake said there was a role for Central Government to help address these challenges.

Wine Marlborough would like to see the region gets its own skills shortage list that included viticulture.

Marlborough has the oldest population in New Zealand.

* Top of the south has lowest unemployment in more than a decade

* Vineyard worker accommodation critical to Marlborough's $1 billion grape industry

Forestry workers on the hills above Tuamarina in Marlborough.

* Situations vacant as skilled staff shun Marlborough**

'Marlborough's economy is really going off, so this is a challenge that has come from growth and a buoyant economy … but it is something we need to get on top of,' he said.

'I think that the main challenge for employers is actually how well Marlborough is doing, the wine industry is booming, tourism is booming, forestry is booming, aquaculture … all these industries are doing really well, but we have a small population and the oldest population in New Zealand so there's not that many people in the working age population.'

The five-minute survey would ask questions about staff turnover and how easy or difficult it was to recruit, Kerslake said.

'Anecdotally, many employers in Marlborough are struggling to recruit staff, we've got very low unemployment and also a shortage in housing which makes it difficult to attract people from outside the district,' he said.

'We really want to get some quality information so we can work with council, Government and other industries.'

Cafe Home owner Geoff Pybus said finding skilled hospitality staff was a challenge.

'There's always people but it's finding skilled staff that we have trouble with.

'We tend to try to keep our staff for as long as we can because finding someone to replace them is really difficult.

'There's only so many skilled hospitality workers in Marlborough and it's an ever-expanding industry.'

Pybus said it was a challenge when skilled staff left, because they would jump ship to competing businesses in the area.

Pybus said many unskilled travellers, who looked at hospitality as an 'easy industry', dropped in their CVs, but he mainly hired locals, so they were around for longer.

Robinson Construction Limited construction manager Nick Robinson said some workers had turned down job offers because they couldn't find accommodation in Marlborough.

'There is a shortage of qualified staff at the moment, I would of thought for the last 18 months.

'Christchurch has obviously been busy and that's where a lot of the workers have gone to, and now they're all heading north to Auckland,' Robinson said.

Following the survey, Wine Marlborough hoped to have discussions with Central Government about the possibility for 'regional immigration settings' and housing issues, Kerslake said.

'The South Island as a whole, Marlborough, Central Otago, Canterbury, have real shortages of workers, the immigration rules apply across the whole country and we understand why the Government doesn't want unrestricted immigration to places like Auckland, but here in the South Island, we're crying out for workers and there just aren't enough Kiwis.

'It would be something similar to the rules around the Canterbury Rebuild, where for certain workers to work in specific places there were different rules, so Marlborough could have its own skills shortage list that included viticulture or any other occupations where there was a shortage.'

The immigration policy he suggested would not be less stringent 'just geographically specific', he said.

'Places that have got low unemployment and successful economies should be able to have our own skills shortage lists.'

'It's not a difficult thing to do, it just requires a change in policy by the Government.

'On the housing side of things, the council zoned a whole lot of land for residential development, which is great and they deserve credit for that, but someone needs to build the affordable housing for workers.'

Kerslake saw potential for the Government's Kiwi Build scheme, or Housing New Zealand to fill the housing gap in Marlborough.

To take part in the survey, visit the Wine Marlborough website.