SA Major Projects & Workforce Impacts - FTH Skills Council

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• Are the pay rates and working conditions competitive with other industries? How does my business and industry compare to my competitors and other industries for pay and conditions? Will major projects in my region have an impact? Will this impact be positive or negative? • How many of my employees are likely to retire in the next five years? What can I do to prevent potential retirees from leaving? • Have I considered what to do if key staff leave? Do I have a succession plan? Do I have the training in place in case I lose a key staff member? Am I willing to look at wider pool of labour such as mature aged, the underemployed (job sharing etc), indigenous and migrant groups? • Do I and the other managers have the skills and knowledge to be able to get the best of my staff? Do I provide enough leadership? Are the roles of my workers clear? Have we undertaken a skills and training audit of the current business requirements? Can we extrapolate this to the next five years and recruit and train for the likely gaps? • Do we understand the cultural and lifestyle expectations of our workers? Can we offer better work/life balance, flexibility, recognition, security, promotion opportunities and personal challenges within the constraints of the business? The Need for Workforce Impact Assessments The graph below clearly indicates that South Australia faces the biggest workforce challenge in Australia. The “Forecast Reduction in Average Annual Employment Growth (% of baseline employment growth rate) due to population ageing, by State and Territory, 2004-05 to 2009-10” predicts that employment growth in SA will be restricted by 40% due to aging-related labour shortages and pressure. Forecast reduction in average annual employment growth (% of baseline employment growth rate) due to population ageing, by State and Territory, 2004-05 to 2009-10 SA ACT TAS VIC NSW AUS QLD WA NT 17.4 17.1 20.3 0 10 20 30 40 50 This is why careful consideration of the workforce needs and impacts of a major project are more critical now than they have ever been before. Most major projects are required to carry out Environmental Impact Assessments, but only a small portion of major of projects are carrying out a detailed public or private workforce impact assessment. During the Workforce Impact SA project, when major project proponents were contacted, most of them did not know the likely direct employment outcomes of the project and had little understanding of the indirect impacts. 24.7 26.5 27.4 34.7 36.1 Percent of baseline employment growth rate Source: Centre of Policy Studies, MONASH model forecasts 42.9 A workforce impact assessment for each major project should be based on a consistent template that is demanddriven. This information will help build up a knowledge base to make indirect impact modeling more accurate in the future A suggested template would include: Major Project Workforce Impact Assessment Template Information provided by the project proponent Company Details – key company contacts Project Details Location, industry, $m value, planning, construction& operational timelines Workforce Requirements Direct company employment during each project phase Breakdown of qualification levels of employment Breakdown of employment duration Indirect Project Impacts Project requirements for transport, accommodation, power, infrastructure, training, key resources & suppliers etc Competitive Impacts Known positive or negative impacts on competitor or industry employment Government input & assistance that may apply Government contact officer(s) Project is added to the Major Projects Directory database Industry sector skills replacement analysis is undertaken Define what government assistance may be provided Provide links to relevant ISB, ESF network(s) Assess the need for/arrange impact modelling Link to relevant departments to clarify requirements and impact Provide general economic growth analysis SA Major Projects & Workforce Impacts
The workforce impact assessment will act as an early warning for the business and for government regarding the project. It should allow the application of known workforce solutions to problems generated by the project. The level of government input would depend on the nature and scale of the project and its region. Recommendations The Workforce Impact SA Report has made a number of important recommendations suggesting options for the future to allow the proper assessment of the impact of major projects on employment, skills, infrastructure, housing etc. These are that: 1. The major projects matrix is widely distributed each year and updated on a website every three months. This could be in the form of an online tool associated with the current Major Projects Database. 2. A workforce impact assessment template is agreed by this project’s stakeholders. This will create a consistent base for analysis of projects and provide an aid to businesses undertaking major projects. 3. All significant major projects go through a workforce impact assessment process with the assistance of the appropriate SA government or Industry Skills Board representatives. 4. The South Australian Government adopt a consistent model (Such as the RISE model) to analyse the indirect employment impacts of major projects. 5. The South Australian Government commission a comprehensive industry workforce consultation every two years to identify and plan for critical employment and skills needs. 6. Other indirect impacts of major projects (in addition to workforce impacts) are also accurately assessed by government and this information is made public. This information could also form part of the online tool in Recommendation 1. Issues and Comments A number of issues arose from discussions during the Workforce Impact SA project that can form the basis of further thinking and planning. These include: 1. Information gathered from major project employment and skills demand, via the major projects database and the analysis of the projects, must be linked to labour supply information regionally, with the assessment of available labour by skills and qualifications. This should drive resource and funding allocation to resolve regional skills shortages in a more analytical manner. 2. Local councils should be involved in the workforce planning process and be aware of the major projects database and its implications. They have a significant input in early warning for major projects. 3. TAFESA, schools, universities, business associations and training organisations are provided with access to the major projects matrix to aid their workforce planning and to help with educational and career activities. 4. To help businesses understand and engage in more effective workforce planning a simple resource explaining how to do a workforce impact analysis should be created, marketed and provided to businesses and other stakeholders. 5. Further work is undertaken to gather data from Western Australia where the impact of skills and labour shortages is several years in advance of South Australia. This will provide valuable information on the likely impacts and methodologies for dealing with them. 6. A list on non-project related impacts is kept as part of an adjunct to the matrix. This would include major changes to laws, regulations etc that will have workforce impacts similar to major projects. Note: These recommendations do not imply agreement by the South Australian Government, or any stakeholder, to proceed with work. SA Major Projects & Workforce Impacts
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SA Major Projects & Workforce Impacts - FTH Skills Council

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