KEY POINTS:
Managers facing the difficulties of recruiting talented people could do a lot more to help themselves, says researcher Jude Hooson.
She says opportunities abroad are drawing people away from New Zealand and encouraging those on their OEs to stay longer than the traditional two years.
"New Zealand business are finding it increasingly difficult to lure our young boys back to this country, which is why we have got more women than men in that critical age group and a real shortage of trained workers," says Hooson, a director of employment market research firm Providence Report.
"There is a real concern that some companies will not be able to continue doing what they are doing, unless they change their structure."
And it's that changing of company structure that Hooson says could provide a gateway to the talented people they need. She points to people who have returned to New Zealand to bring up their children. But instead of rejoining the "corporate world" and facing the office politics that go with it, they are leaving city life behind.
Hooson says her research shows that expats are returning and heading for places such as Wanaka and Queenstown. "They want the great outdoors. But many are still operating at an international level, working remotely for companies based in other parts of the world - earning serious pounds and US dollars."
So if these people can help companies abroad by working remotely, why don't Kiwi firms tap into this and secure the talent they need?
"Companies globally are having to be a lot more flexible and I think there is a whole bunch of things happening with technology in respect of creativity and the knowledge worker. But I don't know that all corporates are ready for it," says Hooson. "Remote working hasn't really been embraced here."
And she says organisations are paying the price for their cut-and-thrust strategies of the 80s and 90s when the parents of today's young workers were made redundant and cast off despite being loyal to their firms. "Today's youngsters don't aspire to a corporate life," she says.
In addition, women are increasingly putting their families first and trying to fit in work around home life rather than fitting the family in around work.
"From the work we have done with women, the word 'career' is seen as an old-fashioned term. They are not looking at the top positions. They are thinking 'do I enjoy what I am doing now, am I feeling stimulated and challenged and is this really what I want to be doing'," says Hooson.
"You are now seeing a lot more women who would prefer to be at home with their children, and then model their working life around the family. And many feel that if they have to work too hard for an employer, then they'd rather work for themselves."
Hooson says when everything is added up it compounds an almost impossible situation for employers.
"When you add up that younger generation sentiment, what is happening with women, a younger male workforce who are getting snapped up overseas, and overlay that with a global talent shortage, then it is easy to see why attracting and retaining great talent is a really big issue for companies."
But surely, immigrant workers keen to make a new life in New Zealand can fill any gaps left by Kiwis? Apparently not. Hooson says race discrimination is alive and well in many companies up and down the country.
"A lot of the people we have spoken with talk openly about racism when applying for work. And it is absolutely ludicrous - companies are just going to have to change their attitudes or they are going to continue to struggle to find people."
It's a view shared by Barry Dreyer, a partner in recruitment firm Fleet & Partners. He says well-educated and qualified immigrants are frequently overlooked by companies that need staff.
"The country's graduate population for the last five or six years has included a lot of non-New Zealand born [people]. Those people are finding it difficult to get jobs when they line themselves up against a New Zealand-born candidate.
"Companies are not really as open-minded as they should be in these sorts of processes."
So perhaps there isn't a skills shortage here at all. Maybe companies just have to open their eyes to new technology, get comfortable with employing workers remotely and open their arms to immigrants that have the skills they say they so desperately need.
* Contact Steve Hart via his website at www.stevehart.co.nz
