Recruiting and maintaining staff is never an easy exercise, but for Local Government it will become more and more important over the next ten years. The skills shortage is having a serious impact on Local Governments across Australia. Almost every Council is facing shortages in some areas. These shortages are obviously impacting on the delivery of the many services delivered by councils across the country.
The first step is to acknowledge that the problem is likely to get worse. We have an aging population with the first of the baby boomers having turned 65 in 2010. A huge raft of people will be retiring over the next 20 years and there simply isn’t enough people to cover their exits.
The recent move to recruit people from overseas to fill these positions is a logical move.
With a strong economy, Australia is one of best places in the world to work. The United Kingdom, South Africa, Ireland and even the United States are fertile grounds for recruitment.
It is time for Local Governments to lift their gaze and look overseas. The days of putting an ad in the local paper are long gone. However, overseas recruitment can only ever be only one part of the solution. Local Governments must position themselves better to attract and keep staff.
They need to think about flexible work practices, workplace planning, succession planning as well as meeting rising community expectations.
The ideal solution is to attract young people who can then spend the rest of their career in the sector, building up knowledge and experience. The reality is that many young people are not attracted to Local Government and are unlikely to spend their career in one area.
Local Government needs to open up to these challenges and create an environment where people can move in and out of their sector during their career.
To address this situation, Local Government needs to sell itself better. It needs to sell its advantages of recession proof employment; the ability to work anywhere across the country; the opportunies to create something of real and lasting value for the community and, most of all, the ability to make a difference.
None of these issues are going to be easy, but the important point is to start now to deal with the challenges of the future.
