Tourism businesses must strive to be “employers of choice” to attract and retain quality staff in the current job market, says Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram.
“The industry needs great people – people passionate about New Zealand and providing amazing experiences,” says Rebecca.
“We know to attract the best in this tight market, we’ll need to offer compelling reasons for people to choose a career in tourism.”
To achieve this, Rebecca says being an inclusive employer that celebrates the diversity of its workforce, and having this reflected in policies, is essential.
She says having staff induction and training processes in place and maintaining open communication is also important. This includes having ways to capture feedback and satisfaction levels from staff and talking about company culture in internal and external communications.
“When I think about my own TIA team and how to care for and retain them, I’m thinking about paying a fair wage, the working environment and conditions on offer including training and flexible working,” says Rebecca.
“I look at how I can support growth by building skills and capability within the business.
“Many of our members are already offering things like flexible working arrangements, free meals and live-in accommodation. Some are also intending to become accredited under the new Accredited Employer Work Visa.”
TIA are currently working with Immigration NZ to support attracting overseas workers, including the development of a monthly industry dashboard to monitor the number of people applying to work in NZ.
