Recruiting and Retaining – Qualifications and/or Experience Current/2009WSAA SACES CEET• <strong>Water</strong> utilities have a relativelyold workforce and thereforea relatively large number ofimpending retirements, andissues around knowledgetransfer and successionmanagement strategies.• <strong>Water</strong>-specific qualifications are most required for newprofessional employees, and with 56 per cent of respondentsthis was a requirement for always or sometimes. Thisrequirement drops with new paraprofessional employees to42 per cent, and falls further for new tradespersons to 35 percent. Those saying that they never require their new employeesto have water-specific qualifications increases from newprofessionals (13 per cent) to new paraprofessionals (29 percent) and is highest with the new tradespeople (35 per cent).• With regard to water-specific experience, this is most stronglyrequired for new professional employees, with 92 per centof respondents answering that water-specific experience isrequired always or sometimes. This requirement drops awayto similar levels for the paraprofessional and tradespersonpositions, at 64 and 59 per cent, respectively. Those that alwaysrequire this experience does not vary greatly between thetypes of employees. However, those who answered that waterspecificexperience is never required rises from zero for newprofessional employees, to four for paraprofessionals and tonine for tradespeople.• It may be concluded from the respondents that water-specificqualifications and experience are required mostly for newprofessional employees, less so for new paraprofessionals andless again for new tradespeople. However, it is important tonote that in every employee grouping, there is a requirement bymore than 66 per cent of respondents that the new employeeshave water-specific qualifications and/or experience.• Qualifications arehigher for employeesin <strong>Water</strong> Supply incomparison to theother sectors.Summary comments• Expected responses to the SACES survey would be more revealing. Interesting that sector experience is valued more highly byemployers than qualifications, even for professional categories.ICE WaRM • <strong>National</strong> <strong>Skills</strong> <strong>Audit</strong> (Phase One) Report 55
4.3 DiscussionA survey response was received from the <strong>Australian</strong>Hydrographers <strong>Association</strong> (AHA), which is an industryrepresentative organisation. While it is not an employer,it is still a useful source of information about the peopleemployed in hydrography. The AHA provided all ofthe information requested in the survey, based on thenumber of hydrographers who are registered with them.The occupation classifications for the 350 full-timeemployees are all given as ‘environmental professional’within the broader science/technical professionalgroup. There are 20 vacant positions. There are 100employees in the 45 to 55 age bracket, and 80 in the55-and-over bracket, which amounts to 51 per cent ofthe 350 employees. Given the estimated increase inrequirements out to 2018 of 150, taking the desired totalto 500 employees, this response highlights gaps in therequirements for hydrographers.The AHA representative reported that hydrography is aparaprofessional discipline with qualifications rangingfrom a specific Hydrography Certificate IV to degrees insimilar fields such as Environmental Science. There wassaid to be “a definite skill shortage in the industry dueto the increasing demands as a result of the <strong>National</strong><strong>Water</strong> Initiative. This, along with an ageing workforceand a previous and current lack of recruitment and formaltraining programmes has compounded this problem.”Currently only one TAFE institute in NSW and theDepartment of <strong>Water</strong> in WA deliver any training inhydrography. There may well be other functional rolechanges, such as those arising from the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Water</strong>Initiative, which might impact directly or indirectly onwater management skills requirements over the nextdecade.This issue was confirmed in the initial feedback fromthe reviewing groups with membership drawn fromCommonwealth and State governments. SeveralDepartments and agencies are suffering acute shortagesof hydrographers and related professionals suchas hydrologists, hydro-geologists and groundwaterhydrologists. The Bureau of Meteorology has recentlycommenced a major programme for the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Water</strong>Initiative (referred to by AHA) on measurement of waterresources, requiring recruitment of several hundrednew staff across these skills areas, which has seriouslyexposed these current gaps.It should also be noted in this context that theseparticular gaps were not well captured in the survey data,due to the low response rates from Commonwealth andState Government Departments, agencies and relatedorganisations. This can be attributed to the very shorttime allowed for compilation and submission of surveyresponses which, given the size and complexity of theseorganisations, would have made it extremely difficult forthem to respond. Others commented that current staffshortages compounded this difficulty.An initial draft version of this report was circulated toboth the Advisory and Reference Groups for feedbackwithin a short timeframe. Some of their comments willfeed directly into the strategy report where the roles forboth groups will be more significant, and have not beenreported at this stage. The following includes commentsnot raised elsewhere in the report.Points raised in relation to the sample composition andthe limitations imposed were similar to those discussedwithin the project implementation team and reportedin summary earlier in the report. There were specificquestions on the spatial distribution of the surveyresponses, and the ability of the data to support anyanalysis of the spatial distribution of demand. Becauseof the relatively low numbers of survey respondents,they do not provide representation of all regions inall categories, and some segments of the sectorwere under-represented in the sample. There areconsequently relatively wide confidence limits even inthe overall projections that have been included and, ascommented on earlier in the report; the data really doesnot allow more detailed interrogation such as spatialdistributions.This is also reflected in questions relating to the levelsof qualifications presented as projected gaps. In allsuch tables, the data presented are the minimumqualifications normally associated with the employmentcategories identified in the gap analysis. It is possiblethat in many cases higher qualifications are considereddesirable, and in some special cases may be mandatory.For example, no qualifications above bachelor degreeappear in the tables; however, it is well known thatemployment positions in higher education and researchorganisations will require doctorates. Similarly, theentry VET qualifications are not uniform for similar jobtitles in different organisations. The data in the tables istherefore a useful guide for the sector as a whole, butmay not be strictly applicable across all segments and allorganisations.A related comment concerned the differentiationbetween competencies that are particular to the watersector and those that may be more common to arange of industries. Because the survey and analysiswere based on surrogate measures for skills andcompetencies, and that all categories were not wellrepresented in the limited sample, it is not possible forthe data to provide this level of differentiation. It willbe useful to gain a better appreciation of this point inthe consultation phase of the assignment, as it may beimportant to the development of relevant strategies.The report addresses the requirements for qualificationsand training at different qualification levels, but there isno requirement in contracting services, in registering56 ICE WaRM • <strong>National</strong> <strong>Skills</strong> <strong>Audit</strong> (Phase One) Report
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