Federated Farmers: Hiring local

Ski Wisnesky of the Ministry of Social Development addresses the Federated Farmers Dairy and Sharemilkers' Council.

How was it that an intimidating-looking ex-gang member disqualified from driving ended up being a Bay of Plenty dairy farmer's best worker?

Ski Wisnesky launched into his presentation to the Federated Farmers Dairy and Sharemilkers' Council meeting in February with the story of one farmer willing to give a guy from the dole queue a try.

With a full-faced tattoo, a pile of fines to pay off but some farming experience, the man put only one stipulation to Work and Income about a work placement: "I'll take any job so long as I can have my two dogs with me."

Ski said the farmer saw potential. "He said 'my cows don't worry about tattoos, and he doesn't need a licence to drive my tractor'."

A year later, he's still on the farm as a highly valued staff member.

"In a lot of cases, it's about the right attitude. He just wanted to find work, and there are a lot of people around like that."

Ski is general manager employer services with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). An ex-Navy electrical engineer who also breeds Herefords on his 300-acre lifestyle block, Ski oversees a nationwide team that looks to match out-of-work Kiwis with employers who need to plug a workforce gap.

Their strike rate in the dairy sector isn't flash. Last year Work and Income listed 1502 dairy positions available and referred to those employers 922 clients - admittedly by no means all of them with farm experience. Just 75 got a job.

I'd love your industry to tell me, 'Ski, this is the kind of training we need' ...maybe it's more technical stuff, maybe it's on animal husbandry.

Ski Wisnesky

Nearly 500 of the dairy roles listed were employers who were really only fulfilling Immigration NZ requirements to first show they had tried to fill the vacancy with a New Zealander.

Ski's message to dairy farmers was to try to be more open to taking on someone from Work and Income.

"It can cost $8000 to bring someone from overseas, but a lot less to bring someone from as far as Kaitaia or Bluff."

MSD work brokers can help smooth the path to get a hired client on-farm. That includes the cost of the client hiring a furniture trailer or removal van, a ferry crossing ticket, "even petrol for a car if it assists them to get that job", Ski says.

Yes, there can be problems. As provincial representatives from Southland and the West Coast told Ski at the council meeting in Wellington, they'd taken on Work and Income clients who turned out to have problems with drinking and violence, or just didn't show up.

"But don't tar all the thousands of clients we try to help find work with the same brush," was Ski's plea.

MSD has around $12 million a year to invest in programmes to upskill Work and Income clients for industries with vacancies, from construction through to hospitality. At this moment the ministry has clients on farming training programmes run by Ngai Tahu and in Opotiki and the Waikato.

"I'm happy to commit and spend money but the ideal is if agriculture walks alongside us on this," Ski told National Farming Review after the council meeting. "I'd love your industry to tell me, 'Ski, this is the kind of training we need' ... maybe it's more technical stuff, maybe it's on animal husbandry."

It works best if there is a group of eight or more employers in a district who have a defined need - say for assistant herd managers. The farmers or MSD could come up with someone to do the training, the farmers might provide the curriculum, "and I'd come up with some dollars as well".

A pastoral care package can be put in place, to the extent there is someone to liaise with the new workers to help deal with any problems that crop up that might threaten their continued employment, even ringing each morning for the first week or two to ensure they're up and ready to work.

"We need to work on it. Even if we just doubled the number of client placements in dairy this year to 150 - that would be great," Ski said.