Worker shortage forces Snowy 2.0 to get creative with recruitment
Tim Dean manages a precast factory in the Snowy Mountain town of Cooma, population 7514, and says it is “a great place to work and to live”.
But Dean, an electrician working on the federal government’s $12 billion Snowy Hydro expansion, does not live in Cooma. He grew up there, but now flies in to work a two-week rotation from his home in Port Stephens.
His story is featured in a full-page advertisement in the Qantas in-flight magazine, part of a recruitment drive from Future Generation – the venture owned by Italy’s Webuild that is constructing the Snowy 2.0 project – as it tries to fill 300 positions by the end of the year. It will happily fly workers in from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, the company says.
Construction at the Talbingo Reservoir. Work on the Snowy 2.0 project will accelerate over the next two years, creating an enormous demand for workers. Jamila Todera
The Australian Financial Review can reveal that the Snowy 2.0 project, which now employs about 2700 people, will need to fill another 1500 positions over its lifespan. With the venture, and other local businesses, already struggling to attract enough workers, Snowy Hydro and its construction partners are trying every approach to recruit staff as the project moves into peak construction in the next two years.
“As with most employers in the infrastructure construction sector we have had some challenges in attracting candidates to a regionally based project due to competition,” a spokeswoman said. “We are closely monitoring the situation and have strategies in place to support recruitment.”
Snowy Hydro is not the only big company finding it difficult to recruit workers. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, an industry body, estimates delivering some
Read more on afr.com
