Staff shortage

Frank Cook (Letters, May 12) raises the question of an ageist attitude at Wellington Water because of the way material we provided on the increased number of service requests was edited for More leaks, more complaints (May 11). The full passage we supplied read: ‘‘One of our challenges at present is that there is a severe shortage of skilled and experienced staff in the marketplace to do this work.

‘‘That, combined with an ageing workforce and a very competitive infrastructure market, with lots of work on generally, means we are short of people to do the work. This has resulted in a work backlog, which means it’s taking longer to resolve jobs. The backlog is mainly with non-urgent work, as urgent jobs get the highest attention.’’

The point of noting an ageing workforce in the original material was that it is an indicator of the difficulty we are experiencing in attracting new people to the sector, which itself is part of the context of having sufficient people to meet the challenge of addressing the increasing number of leaks.

One initiative we are exploring to address this a dedicated training centre to fast-track new, and not necessarily young, people – such as those whose work may have been affected by Covid-19, for example – through apprenticeships and into roles in the sector.

Mr Cook is right to highlight the value of the experience of those who have worked in the sector for decades; it is not correct to infer they or their age are to blame for the increase in time taken to repair the growing number of leaks. The problem isn’t the age of the people; it’s the pipes.

Kevin Locke, GM customer operations, Wellington Water