Masterclass examines workforce decisions

Making strategic decisions about how to manage and plan your workforce is an important factor in running a profitable business, even more so in many of the seasonally driven operations that make up the food and fibre sector in Gippsland.

Whilst “doing the roster” is a necessary operational activity, strategic workforce planning is much more, and includes looking ahead at a three to five-year horizon and understanding what your business needs to be doing to cope with changes in economic circumstances, market conditions, labour accessibility, technology and a data driven world.

In collaboration with some leading industry experts, and support through the state government, Food & Fibre Gippsland is delivering a twoday hands-on strategic workforce planning masterclass to Gippsland.

Strategic workforce planning for food and fibre businesses will be held over two days starting tomorrow and then following up two weeks later on August 28.

Food & Fibre Gippsland has teamed up with the Workforce Planning Institute to create a customised program with content and insights that are specific to and align with the needs of food and fibre businesses of all types, sizes and staffing capacities.

With a very “hands on” approach, the facilitator will walk through a process with every course participant that looks at what their business is trying to achieve, and the goals and objectives associated with that.

Facilitator Nick Kennedy has helped hundreds of businesses understand their organisation’s workforce needs, see where their challenges are, and says that one of key things is prioritising workforce spend.

“With 40 to 70 per cent of operating costs usually spent on salaries and contractors, one of the important things we work through in this masterclass is how to prioritise your workforce spend, optimise that investment and how to manage where the “best bang for buck” is when it comes to people based initiatives,” he said.

Through the knowledge and process learned in this masterclass, attendees will gain a clear understanding what their most urgent and important people initiatives are, based on their business strategy, and be then armed with the tools and processes to implement those initiatives.

To register go to www.foodandfibregippsland.c om.au or email info@foodandfibregippsland.com.au