N O R T H S Y D N E Y C O U N C I L R E P O R T S

 

Community Services Reference Group Report CS03 - 22 September 2014

Attachments: 1. Workible’s North Sydney proposal

SUBJECT: Improving recruitment for the North Sydney community AUTHOR: Martin Ellis, Director, Community and Library Services ENDORSED BY: Warwick Winn, General Manager EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Council has been approached by a recruitment company, Workible, to fund a North Sydney portal of an internet based platform (and app) connecting employers to job seekers. Sydney City and Wollongong Councils have established the service in their LGAs. Examples of business that would benefit from the service would be SMEs: small and medium businesses (e.g. cafes and bars). It is not a service designed to assist recruitment of experienced professionals. It is not a service that Council is considering for itself at the moment but is seen to have significant benefits for local business. Regardless of the unemployment rate in North Sydney (3.7%) Workible’s product is seen to offer efficiencies to local business. Should Council consider the proposal attractive Workible advise that a meeting (Council and Workible) with local job agencies is the first step. Lack of interest in that quarter would mean the project would not proceed. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Council’s one-off fee for sponsoring the service is $12,000. Council’s only ongoing costs would be $99 a month if it decided it wanted to have this option for its own recruitment processes. Employers signing up would pay a fee of $99 a month. For job seekers the service is free. RECOMMENDATION: 1. THAT Council affirms its interest in the project as potentially benefiting local business and agrees to participate in an exploratory meeting with Workible and job agencies.

Report of Martin Ellis, Director, Community and Library Services Re: Improving recruitment for the North Sydney community

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LINK TO DELIVERY PROGRAM The relationship with the Delivery Program is as follows: Direction: 3. Our Economic Vitality 4. Our Social Vitality

Outcome: 3.1 Diverse, strong, sustainable and vibrant local economy 4.1 Community is connected BACKGROUND Council has been approached by a recruitment company, Workible, to fund a North Sydney portal of an internet based platform (and app) connecting employers to job seekers. Sydney City and Wollongong Councils have established the service in their LGAs. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS Community engagement will be undertaken in accordance with Council’s Community Engagement Protocol. SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT The sustainability implications are of a minor nature and did not warrant a detailed assessment. DETAIL The product was developed in response to its founders’ experience of unemployment; and employers’ experience of receiving hundreds of applications for simple jobs that need filling straight away, but having to manage the lengthy recruitment process that ensues. Examples of business that would benefit from the service would be SMEs (small and medium businesses (e.g. cafes and bars). It is not a service designed to assist recruitment of experienced professionals. Council’s Human Resources Manager and Director Community and Library Services met with Workible in August 2014 for an online demonstration. It was not a service that Council is considering for itself at the moment but is seen to have significant benefits. North Sydney’s current unemployment rate is 3.7 compared to NSROC’s 4.6. It has however increased by 390 persons since 2006. Regardless of the unemployment rate Workible’s product is seen to offer efficiencies to local business. Should Council consider the proposal Workible advise that a meeting (Council and Workible) with local employment agencies is the first step. Lack of interest in that quarter would mean the project would not proceed.

North Sydney Council and Workible - !changing the game for employment in the area!!A community partnership for job creation and !employment in the North Sydney LGA.

Get on the North Sydney Shortlist

Project Aim:!!To create a Council sponsored, community-based network in which the North Sydney Council-located businesses can easily connect with job-seeking residents and visitors and others wish-ing to work in the city hub and North Sydney Council business precincts.!!The network, or “North Sydney Council Job Program” (name to be decided) will be a community initiative to allow business owners to easily, quickly and cost-effectively tap into local talent for the purposes of finding staff - both permanent and short term. !!The platform that enables a “Hub” for The North Sydney Council Job program will be powered by Workible. Workible’s mobile and web-based platform and community “Shortlist” facility will allow those seeking work in the North Sydney Council and environs to register their availability and will allow employers seeking staff to quickly, easily and inexpensively find skill appropriate, experienced and available people to fill positions within their businesses.!!Working with the Council, local job access networks, large community employers and shopping and community centre managers, secondary and tertiary education institutions, training colleges and skills improvement providers and community support groups, the partnership between North Sydney Council and Workible will see the development of a work-related community net-work that is accessible to all community members - both employers and job seekers - including residents, long-term unemployed, disadvantaged people, students and visitors.!!!Mechanism:!!The North Sydney Council Community Shortlist will be:!

• A single place where both employers and job seekers can connect instantly. !• A single place where engagement between job seekers and employers can be activated.!• A single place where employers can tap into skill specific,

industry-relevant and available people and share people re-sources in a cost effective and community engaged way right across the North Sydney Council local area.!!

Outcome:!!Create a community supported and supportive network that achieves the highest level of employer and job seeker awareness, at the lowest cost, in the shortest timeframe to ensure maximum usage and engages all relevant sectors of the community.!!

!How we make a difference together:!!A recent study by the University of Newcastle’s Centre of Full Employment and Equity reported that “when there are not enough jobs, firms ration them according to personal characteristics. Those with perceived disadvantages are at the end of the queue and in a hopeless situation”. !!Their recommendation is that there is a “need for public sector intervention” and stress that “we cannot claim to be advancing sustainability unless we have inclusive employment structures”.!!The North Sydney Council Shortlist and Workible is one such solution.!!Workible is all about helping communities connect around jobs. By offering Councils such as yours a connection portal around employment needs, together we can enhance job opportuni-ties for all members of the community.!!The foundation of this platform is your community “Shortlist” - a connection portal built around employment needs. Jobseekers join it - employers tap into it - and a community connects around what’s important to them.!!The North Sydney Council Shortlist is a hub all around job creation and employment for your area. And everyone’s involved. And, it’s powered by Workible’s mobile technology so partici-pants are able to broadcast jobs and search for work on mobile 24/7 - so they’re reaching peo-ple where they are today - on their phones. *Workible is also available on laptops and desktop for those who don’t have smartphones with communication is done through email. !!Together with you, we work with everyone in the community - especially those candidates who

find it a bit more difficult to find work. With a focus on the supply and service sectors (although not exclusively), Workible works especially well for school leavers and uni students and for those starting or re-starting in the workforce, like working parents. !!Workible’s retail, hospitality, and business employers, and others like them, can tap into people pools of active job seeking candidates and match skills and availability requirements - and involving training providers, as we do, allows us to help new skilled or short-skilled job seekers skill-up with personal recommendations that allow them to im-prove their job chances. This also brings benefits to the area-based training providers who work with us on getting jobseekers “match fit” to find work.!!

Our availability matching also has a big plus for another sector of the community - working par-ents, and those needing to find work around caring or other obligations. Workible’s days, times and hours matching allows them to find jobs that will let them fit those all-important duties into their lives.!!Our engagement with the third sector of the community - local job agencies, IES, DES, JSA providers as well as RTOs for apprentices and other subsidized workers - gives everyone in the community the opportunity to put their best foot forward and gives SMEs in the community both access to and awareness of the benefits of subsidized and/or supported employees including reduced employment costs.!!Workible’s access to our already extensive and growing network of Australian and International brands and small and large businesses already using the platform is immediately plugged into your community platform, giving jobseekers in the area access to jobs from day one. As we grow the community with your support and awareness campaigns and ours, we envisage our collaborative one-stop-shop will not only be the place for your community to connect around jobs but will also give businesses in the community a more effective, cheaper and better way to find staff.!!Benefits of the Programme!!• Uses unique, world-leading technology that is changing the way people connect around work

opportunities.!• “Mobile first” allows people to find jobs and staff on their smart devices

and by location* also desktop enabled using email.!• Advanced technology dramatically changes existing paradigms, shat-

tering the existing costs to businesses and the time-to-acquire models, especially for service and supply businesses such as retail and hospi-tality that are highly transient and high turnover industries.!

• Provides economic benefit to the businesses in the community through substantially reduced time and cost in recruitment in terms of reduced actual cost and reduced time to hire.!

• Allows Council to take a more active role in achieving a prosperous lo-cal economy.!

• Promotes Council as taking an active role in civic leadership, communi-ty and business support around jobs. !

• Promotes Council’s support of new innovation and technology for community gain.!• Free for all jobseekers, single low-cost usage fee for employers (at substantially less than cur-

rent job advertising rates with substantially better service delivery).!• Candidate matching means less time spent on wading through irrelevant resumes.!!

Council Benefits!!• Civic Leadership - case studies show substantial community gains available through innova-

tion.!• Community Job creation - giving businesses access to more subsidized employees.!• Assisting local businesses to lower costs - and therefore have higher profitability.!• Business support for the community of approximately 10,300 busi-

nesses in the North Sydney Council.!• Connection for the whole community - all age groups and demograph-

ics including the more disadvantaged members of the community.!• Levels the playing field for all jobseekers.!• Increases levels of skills in the working community.!• Promotes the North Sydney Council as an early adopter of new and

emerging technologies!!How we help!!In 1966, the average unemployment period was 3 weeks. Across Aus-tralia now, the average unemployment period is now 48 weeks - and for long term unemployed it’s an unacceptable 176 weeks.!!In the last 40 years, the growth in part time work has been exponential. 60% of all jobs created in that time have been for part time work. This means that there is both an underemployment issue for those trying to find full time work but also that many people hold down multiple jobs - which requires a level of flexibility in the jobs they have. !!Workible’s unique job-matching and availability matching integration is aimed at this very prob-lem. !!And then there’s unemployment. Unemployment is a huge issue for Australia - and one, at Workible, we want to tackle head on. At the crux of the problem of unemployment is the lack of appropriate skills, qualifications and/or experience of the candidate.!!Workible’s data-matching algorithms have been built to not only save time for both employers and job seekers by matching needs but also to help jobseekers get the jobs they want. By ana-lyzing candidates that are shortlisted for jobs by our employers and comparing that to the candi-dates who weren’t, we can provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates about the skills, qualifi-cations or support they need to be better placed for their jobs of choice as well as refer them back to community service providers such as training organisations, job service agencies, edu-cation providers and/or apprenticeships and upskilling providers!

What our clients say:!!“Workible has made the recruiting process a whole lot easier as it brings the right candidates to you rather than you going searching for them. With all the applicant's details and job history broken down into simple sections which are easily expandable navigation for the applicant's is very simple. It is also a great way to organise and communicate with the candidates in one area rather than going through multiple emails and websites. I would encourage anyone

who is looking to employ staff for the new central centre to utilise Workible and for anyone looking for work, especially in the hospitality industry, to sign up as we are looking for you.” — James Keighley, Coco Cubano Wollongong and MacArthur Square General Manager !“Hiring through Workible couldn’t be simpler. When we have a vacancy we can look at the

pool of immediately available candidates who have already ex-pressed their interest in working with us. The significant advantage if you have a strong employer brand is that you can create a commu-nity of interested employees and communicate regularly with them, even when you don’t have a position.” — Paul Swain, HR manager at Dymocks !

“Workible has been a great help with recruiting casual staff for our new pop up store in Eastgardens. The app allowed me to search for available candidates quickly whilst waiting for a bus. I was then able to post the job vacancy and receive applications from interested candidates before I had reached the office. Workible allowed me quick access to available candidates who had already expressed interest in working for Dymocks. I now have 3 can-didates working in store within a week of finding them on Workible.” — Roopi Purba, HR Assistant at Dymocks !

“Within 24 hours Workible had found the staff we needed to fulfil these orders including a specialist chocolate bouquet maker”.

— Elizabeth Scheurer, Lollypotz franchise manager !What job seekers say about Workible:!!“Also, I'd just like to say, I love the app you have created! I feel it's a brilliant tool, and it makes it so much easier to apply for positions and to connect to recruiters as it all pretty much does it for you (which is quite convenient). Hopefully I'll find a suitable position soon!” — Marta Musial, Job Seeker !"Such an innovative idea, it really is a lot easier to apply for jobs through Workible than the conventional way, and I hope more hiring companies get on board with it, good job with the app!" — Lyn Sew, Job Seeker

"Amazing app! As a designer, it can be difficult getting noticed in such a competitive indus-try, especially with such high profile companies, so I'm forever thankful to Workible for matching me with my dream job!" — Zoe Tubbenhauer, Job Seeker !!Partnership Champions:!Suggested Partnership Champions may include:!• North Sydney Council!• North Sydney Council based Job Services Agencies!• TAFE!• Local Business Forums!• Business Chambers of Commerce!• Local Business Precinct Committees !• University on-campus Careers offices!• Major Retail groups!• Local community centres!• Centrelink!• Disability services providers!• Indigenous Employers Service Agencies!• Charities!• Workible ! - !

• Fiona Anson - Council/Partner Liaison!• Allison Baker - Project Director!• Chris Martin - Technical Lead!• Geoff Anson - Business Liaison!!

Cost:!!Twelve month cost of “sponsorship” of the creation of the North Sydney Council Short-list is $1,000.00 per month ($12,000 per annum) plus GST.!!The once off charge covers establishment of the Shortlist and allows us to spend the time co-ordinating all community partners, in conjunction with the Council, if required, and to ensure that the outcomes are delivered to both community members and jobseekers.!!Once the North Sydney Council Employment Shortlist exists in perpetuity. There are no ongo-ing charges to Council. Council is able to update site information, promote community events, add video and promotional pieces, including links to social media, on an ad hoc and ongoing basis. Our Project Director, Alli Baker will co-ordinate the uploading of Council materials.!