Ā Mātau Mahi – Kua Arotahihia | Our Actions – Refocused
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The RSLG has refreshed its 2022 actions to support current and emerging labour market challenges and opportunities. These actions should be considered through the lens of our four foundational aspirations:
Aspiration 1: Murihiku has strong collaboration across its leadership and community ensuring all labour market planning and investment leads to high quality, equitable impacts for the region.
Aspiration 2: Murihiku has the skills, flexibility, and resilience to meet current and future labour market demands.
Aspiration 3: Te Ao Māori world view is embedded within everything we do, guiding our thinking to promote trust, understanding, empathy and compassion.
Aspiration 4: All employers in the region are considered great places to work. Murihiku is an employee’s region of choice.
Regional action and expected outcome
1. Promote and share models of good and exceptional practice by local businesses in governance, leadership, strategic planning, capital investment, and productivity gains (previously RWP 2022 actions 19 and 20).
Employers across the region can learn from the sharing of exceptional practice by other local businesses (through Local Insights Reports and other RSLG publications). This will foster learning and innovation in the business community, potentially leading to increased productivity, higher wages, and improved job satisfaction.
2. Investigate the potential of developing and validating a ‘Southland Seal/Badge’ to acknowledge and celebrate good practice for Murihiku employers (new action).
Exceptional employers will have the potential to be recognised and celebrated for their good practice. Other businesses may be challenged to improve their own practices, and employees will be able to identify employers of choice within the region. This may lead to higher quality employment opportunities, and positively affect attraction and retention, within the Murihiku labour market.
3. Promote the skills and training needs of emerging industries (e.g., aquaculture and renewable energy/hydrogen) as workforce requirements are identified and understood across the region (new action).
The skills and training needs of emerging industries will be accurately identified. This will support sustainable industry growth by enabling targeted initiatives to attract the required workforce to the region, and support and retain the existing skilled workforce that is already here.
4. Work with iwi and health providers to attract more Māori workers into the health sector, recognising the strengths of Te Ao Māori models of practice (previously RWP 2022 action 18).
Enhancing Māori representation in the health sector can improve health outcomes for Māori (by having better recognition and application of Te Ao Māori models of practice) and support the wider sector by increasing health worker numbers in a currently strained labour market. This aligns with Te Whatu Ora’s aspirations to increase Māori health care workforce numbers (currently only 3% of the workforce).
5. Promote measures to enhance community perceptions of RWP spotlight sectors, including development of career pathways, paying living wage as a minimum, and encouraging diversity across the workforce (neurodiversity, culture, ability, gender and age) (previously RWP 2022 action 10).
Examples of innovative employment models will be promoted through Local Insights Reports and other RSLG publications. Living wage as entry level wage will be encouraged as standard across all businesses across Murihiku. Potential employees will have the information they need to improve their perceptions around RWP spotlight sectors.
This will enhance the attractiveness of the sectors as places of work – improving workforce recruitment and retention, supporting wage growth, and promoting a healthier labour market structure – eventually leading to increased labour market participation and better working conditions for all.
6. Work with rakatahi and employers to understand employability/basic skills needs, identify gaps and develop recommendations to address those gaps (new action).
Rakatahi and employers will be supported to work together (through workshops, facilitated sessions, or through programmes such as Southland Youth Futures) to identify employability/basic skills needs, identify gaps and develop pathways for the future. This will lead to better targeted training programs (provider based and on-the-job), improving rakatahi employability, and supporting businesses with the core skills they need.
7. Influence greater use of procurement mechanisms to support positive and sustainable social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes across the region’s labour market (previously RWP 2022 action 9).
Employers and employees will understand the benefits of social procurement practices, and employers will be supported to implement social procurement mechanisms within their businesses or organisations. This leads to more sustainable investment and regeneration by increasing labour market equity, promoting quality employment, and strengthening community resilience.
8. Support the development of an in-school construction/engineering programme pilot to provide experiential learning opportunities in a community environment (new action).
Rakatahi will have greater access to education-to-employment pathways for construction/engineering roles, giving them first-hand experience to inform future career and occupation decisions.
9. Support whānau-centred practice models for rakatahi and whānau, including continued collaboration with Murihiku Regeneration during their development of Kia Tū – pathway planning programme, and Anamata Māia - skills hub (previously RWP 2022 actions 14 and 17).
Rakatahi and whānau have stronger connections with support services, employers and education providers to ensure they are supported in developing career pathways – enabling them to successfully transition from education to employment and better navigate career changes in the future.
10. Work with iwi, workers/unions and employers to improve outcomes for Māori in the workforce, particularly in relation to wellbeing, health and safety outcomes, and career progression (previously RWP 2022 action 15).
Wellbeing, health and safety, and career progression outcomes will be improved for Māori across all workplaces in Murihiku, to help support sustainable long term career pathways and aspirations for Māori, both now and in the future.
11. Engage and work with secondary school Principals and Leaders to improve student careers advice and support (new action).
Secondary school Principals and Leaders will have greater visibility and understanding of the opportunities available to rakatahi, to support them in their provision of careers advice.
12. Work with regional stakeholders to help equip businesses to manage work-based learning requirements (new action).
Workplaces will be supported to implement effective work-based learning. This allows employers to enhance support for employees in real life work and occupational challenges, and ensure they are skilled in sector-needed competencies.
13. Work with Māori business networks to better understand the shape and implications of Māori-led tourism and hospitality in Murihiku (previously RWP 2022 action 16).
The RSLG will understand the Māori-led tourism and hospitality sector in Murihiku, and be able to consider barriers and challenges from a labour market perspective. Potential action will be aligned with He Kai Kei Aku Ringa (Crown-Māori Economic Development Strategy).