2.Selecting the three enterprises

Enterprises were selected in key growing areas - Hawke's Bay for pipfruit, Marlborough for viticulture and Bay of Plenty for kiwifruit.

Analysis from Phase I of the research identified that large companies are more likely to have interest and capacity to engage in foundation skills training. They therefore became the focus of this research. The following characteristics were considered in selecting enterprises:

• employers in the wine (vineyard side), kiwifruit (orchard) or apple (orchard) industries
• with more than 20 permanent staff
• who employ more than 100 seasonal staff
• who are fully compliant with employment, health and safety and immigration law
• who have HR management capability
• who operate according to KPIs
• who are associated with industry bodies.

While enterprise size was a key factor in selection, so was finding enterprises that were willing and able to participate. Enterprises that agreed to be involved are all leading organisations in their industry sectors. While all the enterprises selected had HR management functions, the people who carried out these functions generally had other responsibilities as well.

In the kiwifruit sector, virtually all orchard work is done by contractors. The contractors tend to be smaller employers who do not meet the criteria specified in the brief for this project. After discussion with Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (KGI), Workbase selected a packhouse operation to visit.

Workbase developed interview guides for interviews with:

• workplaces that employed seasonal workers (including questions for managers, supervisors and employees)
• contractors
• training providers
• industry training organisation representatives
• industry association representatives.

Examples of the questions covered with each of these groups are attached in Appendix Discussions did move beyond the planned questions at times.