Workforce Capability Uplift:

Kia ora koutou katoa,

As you are all aware, the global labour shortage crisis has impacted every sector and finding skilled workers has become increasingly challenging. This issue is particularly evident in the health and safety profession, with a shortage of skilled workforce identified long before the pandemic (Building the Professions H&S Workforce Pipeline Report).

In this changing landscape, the demand for competent and capable health and safety professionals has never been higher. But can we uplift workforce capability? The answer is yes, and a number of initiatives are already making a difference.

Within the public sector, the Government Health and Safety Lead (GHSL) has focused on building capability across the public sector through targeted programs, such as the Officer Development, Early in Careers, and the Summer Internship Programmes. The impact of these workforce development programmes has been significant, with:

• Over 250 chief executives, deputy chief executives and senior leaders having uplifted their capability in the health and safety governance space across our member agencies, and wider sector, through the Officers Development Programme.
• The Early in Careers Programme, designed to help new health and safety practitioners build core capability, has had 44 attendees ranging from coordinators and entry-level advisors, H&S representatives, and HR advisors.
• After six years, the Summer Internship Program continues to be successful, with 83 interns to date, 51% of whom have gone on to obtain part-time or full-time employment within H&S teams across the public sector.

The most recent initiative is the Mentally Healthy Work Development Programme. This programme aims to improve psychological health and safety at work in the public sector through a capability-building programme. The programme consists of three streams: Officers, human resource and health and safety Leads, and Practitioners. The Officers and Leads cohorts are designed as peer-to-peer discussions with support from organisational psychologists, while the Practitioners cohort is conducted as interactive lectures. The programme is designed to create a shared understanding and consistency in thinking to enable a sector capability uplift.

Supporting these initiatives is crucial, particularly in a tight employment market with a significant skill shortage. For example, interns are an untapped candidate pool that can provide valuable support to teams under pressure. They can take on tasks and projects with modest levels of responsibility to be completed over a three-month period.

The best of the interns often stay on in the public sector and by supporting the intern programme, we can provide additional workers to the government H&S pool, encourage diversity and provide a fresh perspective to review, challenge, ask, and learn from.

These initiatives may not seem much but added together they are growing our capability and capacity in wellbeing health and safety resulting in positive long-term impacts on our workers. Your support is required for these workforce development programmes to continue providing a pipeline of future passionate health, safety, and wellbeing professionals for the government sector. As the GHSL looks to send out information regarding our 2023/24 programmes of work, I ask that you keep in mind that it is your participation and support that makes these initiatives effective.

On a related note, I encourage you to read the findings and recommendations of the Better Governance project, which explores issues around health and safety governance and seeks to support improvement across Aotearoa, New Zealand. Effective health and safety governance is a critical enabler of good work design and positive health and safety outcomes, and this project is an industry-led initiative to enable change in how work is done across the country.

In my opinion, the only way we can improve the safety of our people is to uplift our own and our workforces H&S capability by supporting and investing in the development of our staff, so we can continue to adapt to the future of work.

Ngā mihi

Ray

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