As you drive into TRJ Engineering Group in Hallam, there’s an eye-catching sign out the front saying, ‘we’re hiring’. It’s simple. To the point. And effective – apparently it’s already reeling in candidates off the street.
Finding tradespeople to work on the factory floor has proved challenging in recent years, exacerbated by an industry-wide lack of skilled workers, particularly welders.
According to Weld Australia, the nation is facing a shortage of 70,000 welders by 2030 unless radical action is taken. As a result, management have decided to get back to basics in some ways. Hence the sign.
In other ways, they have implemented innovative recruitment practices, like offering current employees generous bonuses if they recruit a tradie mate ($3000 to be precise).
“It’s starting to work,” says TRJ Engineering managing director David Murphy.
“The whole idea of making it lucrative is to get them to bring someone in who will fit.
“You’re going to pay that in recruiting fees anyhow if you go to a recruiter.”
TRJ Engineering Group works with clients across Australia in the areas of earth-moving, transport chassis, street furniture, retail and general engineering. The family-owned business has grown from three employees working out of a small factory in Dandenong in 1974, to almost 40 staff members operating out of a modern factory in Hallam. The team includes boilermakers, fitters, turners, fabrication experts and managers.
By changing the way they recruit, TRJ Engineering Group has opened itself up to a whole new pool of prospective candidates. They also welcome workers of all different ages and cultural backgrounds and provide flexible working arrangements once new staff are in the door.
The factory is open from 6am to 6pm. As long as employees do their eight-hour shift between those hours, there’s flexibility as to when they start and finish.
They can also duck out to appointments or other commitments and make up the time later.
“Fifteen years ago, you wouldn’t have got any flexibility out of me, but you have to have that now. It’s non-negotiable,” says David.
“We just don’t have the pool of people or the pool of talent that we could pull from before.
“If we can tick the boxes with the culture and the aptitude and the punctuality and wanting to be part of the team, the training side of things is difficult, but it can be done.”
Contact the GameChange team for more information on flexible workplace models, gamechange@cgd.vic.gov.au