an interesting day...

I have had an interesting day thus far.

It started with presenting at the National Heads of Student Administration (HOSA) conference on 'Labour dynamics and trends in managing staff'. While the content of the presentation was at times quite complex and confrontational, it was an incredibly engaging experience. Essentially, I outlined why we are experiencing the skill and labour shortages we are and provided some guidelines and resources on how to develop strategies to effectively manage an organisations workforce into the future. While some of the delegates may have had difficulty accepting what I was saying, they certainly acknowledged the issue. We then proceeded to have very interesting discussions over morning tea. I left the conference on a high...

A copy of the presentation (slides only) is available at http://www.tasmanianjobs.com/about/newsletters/

I then attended a focus group luncheon based on the Demographic Change Advisory Council's Strategies Discussion Paper, Strategy 1 : Sustaining Tasmania's Workforce. The objective of the focus group was to discuss the initiatives presented in the paper and come up with alternative or additional initiatives. Representatives from Economic Development and Tourism and Skills Tasmania outlined their current initatives in addressing the issue of sustaining Tasmania's workforce. Much of the discussion around the table was focussed on what industry should be doing to engage our youth, the unemployed and all others not participating in the labour market that want to work. Of the 20 people around the table there was only one direct industry representative. All other representation was from government agencies, unions, educators, not for profit organisations and one representative from the TCCI (and me!). The discussions focussed on the supply of labour and how to get these people into the workforce rather than any discussion of demand for labour. In addition, there seemed to be very little understanding of what skill shortages are and what causes them. When demographic change was explained as how and why it contributes to the labour shortage and its implications for Tasmania, one participant stated that they didnt think industry understood demographic influences.

She made a very good point, and I started wondering why industry may not understand what is happening in the labour market today. I wondered whether government actually tries to engage with industry in forums and conferences such as the one I attended today, and then if they do, why doesn't industry get involved? Essentially government is trying to provide information and develop strategies and initiatives that will assist attract and retain a skilled workforce in Tasmania. Ultimately the majority of these skilled people will be employed by industry.

Why are industry not involved?

More information about the Demographic Change Advisory Council (and a copy of the Strategies Discussion Paper) is available at http://www.dcac.tas.gov.au/