Printing industry presses to understand skill shortages
26 February 2007
Australia's printing industry, a significant employer in the manufacturing sector, invests heavily in new technology but does not complement this with matching investment in workforce training.
This, according to new research, is one of the reasons the industry faces labour hire problems.
The research by Professor Victor Callan, and released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), examines the printing industry with the aim of gaining a greater understanding of how to respond and find solutions to skills shortage.
'This work examines the complex issues at the heart of the skills shortage problem in Australia's printing industry and offers a number of ways forward. The key is the relative attractiveness of the industry to prospective employees,' say Dr Tom Karmel, Managing Director, NCVER.
Based upon interviews with a range of people from the industry, Professor Callan's work highlights a number of strategic responses to the skills shortage. These include:
continuing investment in technology, but tempering this by renewed investment in staff training, waste reduction and improved processes for customer management
improving the image and profile of the industry to attract a pool of more motivated and qualified students into traineeship and apprenticeship programs
improving and developing more personal relationships with schools, school counsellors, teachers and parents
promoting and rewarding collaboration efforts between printing companies in the training of employees, sharing high-technology equipment to train apprentices and marketing efforts to reposition the image of the industry.
At the employer level, the research recognises the current strategies of using overtime, accessing staff from labour hire firms and adjusting shifts is helping to ease skills shortage. However, it recommends the industry look into supporting and encouraging existing employees' capabilities, and developing and implementing initiatives to attract employees from other industries.
ENDS
Copies of Understanding and resolving the skills shortage in the Australian printing industry by Professor Victor Callan, can be accessed from 9.30am AEDT, today http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1733.html.
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