KEY POINTS:
New Zealand companies need to realise they are dealing with an international skills shortage and that they need to be attracting the best in the world to truly compete at an international scale, says Matt Ensor, manager of transportation at Beca.
Beca is an international employee-owned engineering and related consultancy services group. Its roots are in New Zealand, but it runs projects in more than 70 countries.
Ensor is passionate about encouraging diversity in the workplace and feels that easing the way for skilled migrants to come to live and work in New Zealand is vital. And, he adds, where they come from and whether they are proficient in English is immaterial.
The Beca Transportation Group won the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunities) Trust private sector diversity award for 2007. On the EEO Trust website, chief executive Philippa Reed says that a range of diversity initiatives introduced by Beca Transportation has proven that cultural diversity is both a competitive advantage in professional consulting services and a sustainable way to grow and develop a company.
"If we're not attracting people from overseas, we're missing access to the international labour pool," Ensor says.
"At Beca we need engineers who understand the countries we're working in to grow our services. We need people who understand our markets."
He says he has found that the more diversity in a company, the more creative and innovative the working environment is. "For engineers, this is vital.
"For us, it's about finding the best people in the world. We don't target particular nationalities. We advertise around the world."
Ensor says Beca has a competitive advantage as it can recruit cultures that reflect Auckland as it is now. "We have approximately 50 different nationalities working for us. In my section of 40 people, we have about 11 different nationalities."
But how does Beca make such diversity work? "When we recruit we are clear about what people can expect when living in New Zealand. In the past, we had the experience of people expecting quite a different lifestyle here and many returned to their countries. But as we've learnt, our success rate has gotten better.
"We have improved the way we recruit. For example, we are honest about the affordability of homes in Auckland. We tell them what to realistically expect so they can make proper decisions before they arrive. Giving a realistic picture is vital."
Ensor says his company has found that the people it employs tend to integrate easily when they know what to expect.
"It is a big part of our business to put resources into recruitment."
A lot of his recruitment is done over the phone, which he says works well.
To help new employees adjust, Beca has weekly mentoring sessions to talk about New Zealand and things that happened during the week, and to develop English skills.
"English skills are not important, particularly because we employ so many nationalities. There's always someone around who can talk a particular person's language and help them. We are interested in a person's technical skills and knowledge, and we can and do help them build communication skills."
According to the EEO Trust website, in one initiative Beca employed an English tutor to help new employees, especially those from Asian countries.
But the learning is not one-way. Ensor wants the organisation to learn from people new to New Zealand.
"While a friendly team is important, we discovered this alone may not be enough," he told the Trust.
"We noticed that some new staff were not taking part in the team's social activities, even though they were invited personally and everything was paid for by the company."
A study found that some of the New Zealand ways of doing things did not always appeal to immigrants - for example, drinking alcohol or indulging in kiwi banter, which they were unfamiliar with. Some team celebrations moved from local pubs to yum cha restaurants.
"About a quarter of a million engineers are trained in places like India and China - these skills are valuable."
Beca employs on the basis of technical excellence. Capability is tested before employment is given.
Ensor says the New Zealand Government immigration policy is friendly to the attracting of talented migrants, but the rest of the world is catching up. "We need to keep going and make sure we don't put up barriers.
"For us, if you're an accredited company, which we are, there is very little red tape as far as recruiting overseas is concerned."
However, Ensor said he would like to see the Government help smaller companies who have bigger financial restraints to recruit overseas and take advantage of government initiatives.
He says he was thrilled that Beca won the EEO Trust Diversity award. "Our great success has been to learn from our mistakes."
