Diversity can help solve skill shortages

26 August 2004

With skill shortages getting worse, unemployment at record lows, slow population growth and major changes to the workforce meaning that good people are getting ever harder to attract and keep, New Zealand businesses need to think about employing people they may have overlooked in the past, including migrants, people with disabilities, older people and those who are 'different'. And when they do, most will find their profits go up as well as their workforce being more stable, loyal and outward-looking.

That's the message behind the launch today of PeoplePower - Successful diversity at work - a booklet featuring case studies from 12 successful New Zealand businesses that have found that employing a varied workforce is good for their business. The booklet and accompanying web resources are the result of a partnership between the Department of Labour and the EEO Trust. Their research has found that increasing diversity in the workplace is one good way to beat the skill shortages, as well as bringing fresh ideas that can lead to competitive advantages.

To get across the message to employers that the workforce is changing, a group of small children (aged 6 -9) of many different shapes, sizes, and ethnic backgrounds will be dressed as the future workforce, such as a miniature lab technician, manager, truck driver and construction worker.

"The workforce of the future will be both older and browner than it is today, and good people will become harder to find", says Secretary of Labour James Buwalda. "Most New Zealand businesses will have no choice. Unless they take on a more varied range of workers, they are likely to find their business suffers."
On the other hand, widening the workforce pool to include people often excluded from it tends to make businesses more successful, he says. That came through clearly in the interviews carried out for the PeoplePower - Successful diversity at work project.

What: Launch of PeoplePower - Successful Diversity at Work Booklet and Website.
Photo opportunity: 12 children aged 6-9 will be dressed as the future workforce.
When and where: 11.30am, West Lounge, Westpac Stadium, Wellington.
Who: speakers will be

• Hon Paul Swain, Minister of Labour;
• Michael Barnett, Chair of the EEO Trust, and
• Rod Giles, CE of Contract Warehousing, Auckland.