Skills for Good - July 2023: Employer survey results, Winter Booster, Graduate success and more

Tēnā koutou

In this issue, we’re pleased to share the results of our most recent annual employer survey, and I would like to personally thank those of you who took the time to provide feedback. We’re not perfect, and while overall results were pleasing, your feedback certainly supports our endeavours to be better. Across the six years that this survey has now been running, we have implemented a significant number of improvement initiatives off the back of your feedback.

Also in this issue, we share details around our Winter Booster promotion. We know that while you may be committed to the continual development of your workforce, we also know and appreciate that financial constraints can sometimes present a barrier. As the only provider that is funded by the TEC to offer work-place based learning for the health and wellbeing sector, we do feel a sense of obligation to remove as many barriers to training as possible, as our contribution towards helping address the significant and ongoing workforce challenges.

Ngā mihi nui

Rod Bentham
Executive Director
Te Pūkenga, trading as Careerforce

Our sixth annual employer survey was conducted back in Nov/Dec, and while our response rate was lower than previous years, it was pleasing to see overall satisfaction remaining relatively stable with previous years.

As we have done for each of the last 5 years, we have spent significant time analysing the results, and all your verbatim feedback to identify any themes emerging. We have distilled all this down into the report that we are now pleased to share with you – this details the topline results, key findings, and also shares the actions that we have committed to address areas of concern.

We hope you can take the time to review the report, and welcome the opportunity to discuss any aspects further. As always however, we do welcome your feedback at any time.

To help address workforce development challenges and financial pressures that many in our health and wellbeing sectors continue to face, we are offering a Winter Booster promotion.

Free enrolment on all New Zealand Certificate in Health & Wellbeing Level 2 & 3 programmes – Employer-Led Enrolments
Half-price enrolment on all New Zealand Certificate in Health & Wellbeing Level 2 & 3 programmes – Full-Service Enrolments

This is for domestic enrolments only. For employer-led enrolments, the employer assigns one of their own workplace-based staff members (registered assessor) to provide assessment support to the learner. For full-service enrolments, learners are assigned an assessor by Careerforce.

Hamilton Youth Worker, Rāniera Takarangi helps to support young people live their best life possible.

Rāniera, who struggled at school and was unclear what career path to follow, has discovered a thirst for study and a rewarding role he was born to play.

With the support of his employer, Pathways, and Careerforce | Te Pūkenga, Rāniera has now successfully completed an apprenticeship in Whānau, Community and Social Services (Youth Work).

“It’s extremely gratifying,” says Rāniera. “It’s priceless when I see the huge changes in people. I have seen people go from not being able to leave the house, to getting into jobs, and into society. It’s awesome.”

Rāniera says he wasn’t too good at school, and didn’t put enough emphasis on his career. He later realised that to be better in his job, he would need to study.
“Studying without being paid put me off, but the apprenticeship was ideal,” says Rāniera. “It was very cool to be able to learn while in paid employment."

As part of both the 2017 aged care and support pay equity settlement, and the 2018 mental health and addiction support worker settlement, you may be aware that workers can qualify for pay equity via either job tenure, or level of qualification.

For qualification-based pay equity, support workers either need to have an actual New Zealand Certificate in Health & Wellbeing (Level 2–4), or a qualification which has been assessed as equivalent to it.

Between June 2017 and December 2019, Careerforce was tasked with the responsibility of assessing qualifications for equivalence to the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (levels 2, 3 and 4) for the purpose of pay equity. Information about Pay Equity was later transferred to Te Whatu Ora.

As we still receive many enquiries about Pay Equity, we should advise that Te Whatu Ora has moved the location of Pay Equity information on their website. Pay Equity information can be found here: Pay Equity and Qualification Equivalencies – Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand.

For those of you with learners completing the Leadership and Management Level 5 Diploma, we remind you that all unit standards from the current version 1 programme are expiring at the end of the year. A new version of the programme is under development providing your employee with a pathway to continue and complete their Diploma.

However, to make the transition as smooth as possible between programme versions, whatever modules learners are working on currently, need to be completed and submitted on Aka Toi by 31 October 2023. This will allow for the assessment of submissions, resubmissions (if needed), and the reporting of results (to NZQA) before the expiry deadline. This will also prevent your employee from having to re-do their submission. This is due to differences in assessment criteria between the current and the new programme version.

We have emailed learners who are currently enrolled in the programme. See email.

Careerforce assessors have begun contacting your learners about these changes and will continue to guide, support and mentor them on their journey.