Client:

  • Department of Education,  Employment and Workplace Relations,

  • Australian Hotels Association

Timeframe:

July 2009 through to June 2012

Project Overview:

Commencing in July 2009, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) entered into a partnership with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), to deliver the Employment Broker Project. The purpose of the project was to engage with employers in a skill or labour shortage industry to broker solutions that met employers’ needs and coordinated and targeted the efforts of employment services providers to matching the needs of job seekers with the labour requirements of employers.

This project was managed by BGA on behalf of the AHA and AHA Victoria. The aim of the project was to examine how the network and infrastructure of the AHA could be used to establish brokerage services, tailored to the unique needs of hotel and accommodation enterprises.  This included stronger connections between employers with:

  • Employment Service Providers as a contact point for selecting job seekers and enhancing their ability to appropriately prepare candidates to a level that satisfies business and industry needs
  • Training providers through arrangements that connect job seekers to appropriate skills development opportunities appropriate to the enterprise and industry sector.

Project Outcomes:

In collaboration with AHA Victoria, BGA assisted participating hotel and accommodation enterprises to identify workplace skill and labour needs for new workers with enterprises who nominated to participate in the project. BGA provided advice on available and willing employment, training and support services, negotiating with relevant services to develop a package that addressed enterprise requirements. BGA also canvased existing providers to ensure they were able to meet agree industry service standards. The package included:

  • Pre-employment programs utilising the enterprise for work experience
  • In-house training plans sensitive to the needs of the job seeker
  • Mentoring and support to jobseekers
  • Commitment to traineeship and apprenticeship packages

In Collaboration with AHA Victoria, BGA established trouble-shooter support arrangements, designed to provide ongoing support for participating employers. This ensured early intervention if any problems occurred in the workplace and assisted in raising retention levels.

In addition, BGA worked with providers to assist them in improving the selection process for available jobseekers; the use of training to improve the employability of jobseekers; and employment retention and advancement.

Contact:

For further information about this project, contact Steve Balzary on 0418 215 732