Skills shortage likely pushing employers to poach
Industry leaders in the construction sector are rallying against the practice of poaching apprentices in New Zealand, according to reports.
BNN Breaking reported that the sector has been seeing an "uptick" in apprentice poaching incidents, prompting concerns from organisations there.
Among the groups lamenting the incidents is the Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers NZ.
Greg Wallace, its chief executive, told BNN Breaking that their organisation has been getting "numerous complaints" weekly about apprentice poaching.
Apprentices in New Zealand get to work for and learn from employers who support them through apprenticeship, according to Careers.govt.nz. Benefits include earning on the training minimum wage, gaining technical and practical skills, and obtaining a Level 4 New Zealand Certificate upon completion.
"So, you're then likely to be paid more and have better work opportunities," said careers.govt.nz on its website.
For employers, apprenticeship is beneficial because it allows companies to invest in a more targeted skills training programme for participants.
But this commitment from employers could be undermined once an employee is poached by another organisation, according to Malcolm Fleming, CEO of New Zealand Certified Builders, as per the BNN Breaking report.
An apprentice that's poached early in their tenure can leave employers unable to recoup this investment on that staff, the report said.
The rising incidents of poaching can be attributed to high demand for labour and natural movement of apprentices, according to the report, as acknowledged by Nick Beck from Classic Builders and David Kelly from Master Builders.
This echoes an earlier survey from the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) in 2022, which explained that skills shortage made some organisations resort to poaching.
"We are eventually finding people, but we are having to resort to head-hunters and poaching staff from other companies," said one employer from the survey. "Advertising for roles is just not getting the level of response required to find the right people."
But demand for labour in the construction sector appear to be easing, however, as it recorded a nine per cent quarterly decline in job ads in November 2023, according to SEEK NZ data.
By month, the number of job ad volume for the construction sector also went down by three per cent in November 2023.
