Approach
A Working Group will be established and tasked with developing a plan to attract and retain people to live and work in our region.
The approach may be split to focus on retention (welcoming/settlement) and attraction (defining and sharing our Southland Murihiku Story) separately. This will build on previous work associated with Welcoming Communities.
An initial step will be to undertake research to understand from businesses (via HR managers and recruiters) challenges to recruiting people; if they stay; why they leave.
Key Outcomes
Delivery of a strategic plan with key recommendations and actions which identifies future pathways and opportunities to attract and retain people to our region.
Validate the anecdotal challenges and opportunities that Southland employers face in attracting and retaining employees in order to fill workforce and skills gaps
Support is provided to businesses and employers to attract and retain workforce. This includes understanding how to build their capability through the trial of a pilot “Settlement Support Programme” which aims to help increase the engagement and retention of new employees who choose to relocate to Southland.
Use the ‘place’ of Southland as a key tool to attract and retain a skilled workforce. This includes developing the third stage of the “Southland Story” which will result in a toolkit suitable for use by businesses to support them to use the ‘region’ in their recruitment efforts.
Updated regional destination website www.southlandnz.com acknowledging its role as a key tool to attract people to live, invest, work, study and play.
Ensure our cultural heritage and narrative are at the heart of our Southland Murihiku Story.
Connection with other Workstreams:
The principles of this workstream will strongly underpin the overall Beyond 2025 Southland plan with close alignment to the following workstreams:
Skilled Workforce Development
To ensure a joined-up approach to labour market planning which will see our workforce, education and immigration systems working together to better meet the differing workforce and skills needs in Southland Murihiku.
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Photo by Pink Penguin Studio
Destination Development and Management
To review and confirm the sustainable pathway for the Southland Murihiku tourism sector to recover and achieve its potential as a key diversification opportunity.
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Photo by Air New Zealand
Business Enablement, Capacity and Competitiveness
To identify pathways and support networks for existing local businesses to be innovative, remain competitive and create capability - supporting the positioning of Southland Murihiku as a globally competitive marketplace
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