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Ask not what you can do for your employer, but what your employer can do for you

Bosses may find themselves considering their own curriculum vitaes as employees are increasingly asking for more than just a desk in an office and compensation. Virginia Fallon and Kevin Norquay report.

As bosses compete for staff, they’re making jobs more attractive with perks including $10k towards a first home, flexible hours, wellness payments and free food. And companies are being warned it’s a workers’ ‘wake-up call’ they need to heed or risk being left behind.

Whether it’s a $10,000 contribution towards a worker’s first-home deposit, wellness payments or free lunches, New Zealand businesses are pulling out all the stops to lure staff, and to keep them.

The country’s skills and labour shortage has sparked fierce competition across almost all sectors, flipping the script on employers in the face of increasing expectations from potential employees.

Experts say the pandemic has left workers feeling more dissatisfied than ever and though money still matters, questions about working conditions and company principles are just as likely to be raised in interviews, as the size of the salary.

And, with unemployment figures at near record lows and two years of border closures taking their toll, employers are finding it is them, not job candidates, who are having to stand out during the recruitment process.

No longer is a fruit bowl or a wellness programme making waves – the Sunday Star-Times has identified bosses who are letting their employees work from overseas so they can travel, giving them tickets to comedy shows for mental health, arranging their transport to and from work, or trialling the four-day work week.

One innovation is a $10,000 bonus to bump up first-home deposits of employees who’ve been on the books for at least two years, a sweetener Rod Macfarlane’s company, which employs about 30 staff between Auckland, Hamilton and the US, offers.

While it doesn’t need to be paid back, employees commit to stick with the company for three years, says the MEA Mobile co-founder.

Although the scheme was in play well before the pandemic, Macfarlane says attracting and keeping staff is now a major issue for many companies, so perks like his home-buyer scheme add something special.

Emma Gibbins, human resources director for global legal practice Dentons Kensington Swan, says there’s been a huge change in the way would-be employees are vetting potential employers.

‘‘With the great resignation, then the great attrition, a lot of employers are really struggling to find talent in the market so recruitment and retention has been a big issue.’’

While the issue has been slowly building over years, the pandemic had shaken things up. Long days of working from home opened people’s eyes to the importance of a work/life balance that employers now have to ensure.

‘‘Coming out of Covid, what we are seeing is flexibility and remote working is a non-negotiable for people,’’ she says.

Added to that is a focus on an organisations’ values and culture from employees wanting to make sure it aligns with their own. Questions about wellness, diversity and inclusion are common during the recruitment process.

Dentons offers employees an annual

wellness payment to be spent at their discretion as well as a paid day volunteering for an organisation of their choosing.

It also has a team focused on cultural competency, gender and the rainbow community - factors that have become imperative for modern employees, who not only know their worth but have more options as to where they work.

‘‘It’s a wakeup call for some organisations ... it’s time to change otherwise you’re going to be left behind.’’

If finding skilled workers is tough going, the same applies around labour. NZIER’s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion shows firms are finding it the hardest on record.

Lack of labour is cited as the biggest constraint to growing their business. They can’t make, process or sell more products without more workers.

As inflation hits those in lower pay brackets in the shape of basics, such as food and petrol, some firms are using that as their point of difference.

One of those was DMS, a kiwifruit and avocado orchard management and postharvest operator in the Bay of Plenty, with pack houses in Te Puna and Te Puke.

With pack houses dotting the Bay of Plenty all competing for the same labour and paying the same, DMS realised it had a point of difference in the commercial quality kitchens in its facilities.

DMS switched from cafe food to restaurant-style, and gave both shifts free meals. The buzz swiftly went out on social media. Workers came, and stayed.

‘‘This shed offers free lunches in 2 options,’’ one Facebook user said. ‘‘Blessed is all I can say ... you can [keep] leftovers, and we all know the cost of kai takes most of your pay.’’

DMS served 56,000 meals in three months, and gave out 26,000 litres of soup. It cost growers a few cents per tray, but ensured their valuable fruit was packed.

‘‘We marketed it fairly heavily, and competing packhouses drawing on the same people in the local area couldn’t compete with that, you just can’t go and build a commercial kitchen, and start up a catering team,’’ DMS chief exec Derek Masters tells the Star-Times.

‘‘We took the jump on that and that was a winner for us in terms of securing more staff, consistent staff, because they knew that they didn’t have to bring their lunch, or their dinner, because DMS is going to serve it.’’

Macaroni cheese, and salad with a bread bun was a typical lunch. Shepherd’s pie featured, as did beef stroganoff, mashed potato and gravy. There were gluten-free options.

But the big day is Friday, Masters says. ‘‘Pie Day Friday was always a good thing. You get a pie with roast potatoes and gravy, and veges.’’.

In a recent report global consultant McKinsey & Company partners said competition for talent was apparent the world over and employers were continuing to rely on ‘‘traditional levers’’ to attract people which amounted to salary, job titles and career progression. But, the report said, this ignored that the pandemic had led to more people reevaluating what they wanted from life.

It identified five different types of workers that bosses may want to think creatively about inspiring. That included the do-it-yourselfers, who tended to be 25-45, and valued flexibility, meaningful work, and compensation; the caregivers, 18-44, working from home who needed support for health and wellbeing; the idealists – young people who valued community, flexibility, and career development; and the relaxers – mostly retirees who didn’t necessarily need money or career progression, but who would return to work under the right circumstances.

If DMS had potential staff come running with its pies, so did Auckland Airport last Saturday when it used a job fair to woo the masses, ahead of the recent border opening. .

Last year the airport had fewer passengers through its terminal than the year it first opened in 1966. It is bouncing back, with international passenger capacity at just over 50% of pre-Covid levels and expected to reach around 70% by year-end.

That brought on a need for speed, says Mary-Liz Tuck, the airport’s general manager of strategic infrastructure, planning and transformation.

‘‘It’s why the whole airport community has rallied together to run the Auckland Airport Job Fair.’’

Between the more than 30 organisations involved there were just under 3000 roles on offer. Some were immediate start, some were looking to start recruiting now for the 12 months ahead.

‘‘We were blown away by the response,’’ Tuck says. ‘‘We know of at least one organisation who interviewed on the day and were making offers on Monday.

‘‘What the Auckland Airport Job Fair allowed us to do was turbocharge the recruitment for some operational roles and highlight opportunities in the wider organisation. It also showcased that the aviation industry is back in growth mode and allowed us to talk to a wide range of people around the opportunities that creates.’’

BusinessNZ boss Kirk Hope says it’s not just businesses but the whole country that now needs to compete for workers. About 125,000 people are estimated to leave NZ during the next year, he says, and if they’re not replaced by new arrivals we’re in big trouble.

‘‘If we can’t attract people across the border we won’t be able to fill that demand which will be a great tragedy.’’

Until that happens companies will continue vying for staff; good news for employees but a tough ask for many businesses.

‘‘The workforce isn’t big enough for current demand so those who can afford to pay more will win.’’

It is evident the pandemic has changed where and when Kiwis work. Will the worker-employer relationship change as well? British entrepreneur Richard Branson thinks it should. ‘‘Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.’’

‘‘It’s a wakeup call for some organisations ... it’s time to change otherwise you’re going to be left behind.’’ Emma Gibbins Human resources director at Dentons Kensington Swan

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2022-08-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

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