Supporting Skill Hire during COVID-19

Current events regarding COVID-19 are unprecedented for our community, for the WAFL and the greater football community.

This is a very difficult time for everyone and it’s safe to say that this is one of the biggest challenge’s the football industry has faced in the modern era.

In this new segment, we talk with Subiaco Football Club sponsors and discuss how each business has been affected by Coronavirus, and how Subi fans and members can support them during these times.

We caught up with the Group Manager – Business Development WA/SA of Skill Hire, Chloe Woodgate.

How long have you been a sponsor of Subiaco Football Club?

We are into our second year of sponsorship of the Subiaco Football Club.

How is your company coping with the COVID-19 Crisis?

We as well as many of our clients are facing some tough times, but with being a locally owned business and with a strategic management team, we are finding ourselves being incredibly reactive and evolving in the climate. We are transferring our training deliveries onto online platforms in a matter of days, we have  implemented almost a whole remote office and working from home policy, we have strict safety measures in place for the training that cannot be converted to online and are continuing to support our staff, clients and candidate base as we navigate these times. We are making accommodations to those that do not have internet access, personal circumstances do not permit online training, transport and logistical issues we are overcoming where we can and diversifying our processes to react to this.

The complexity of our business allows us to support areas in more ways than one, however our main priority is ensuring our students are kept safe, our clients are supported by our divisions and our candidates are equally supported with training and employment opportunities.

Effectively we are still operating, whist remotely and more digitally, and will continue to do so until we are advised otherwise however we are subject to reduced hours and reduction of staff with the nature of the circumstances out there the same as everyone else.

We are trying our best to remain positive and keep our clients, candidates and apprentices up to date with any initiates and policies and will continue to support our markets wherever we can.

Are you still working and open for business?

We certainly are:
Our High Risk Training facility is still providing high risk tickets and licenses, we have a remote sign in station, classrooms are arranged for social distancing compliance, rostered breaks to minimise multiple personnel in one place, desks and equipment are cleaned multiple times a day and hand sanitizer is available in every training room. We have reduced our numbers per course to ensure social distancing and are screening students prior to commencing a course following our COVID19 policy.

We are continuing to support the construction and fabrication industries with apprentices and will continue to do so as best as possible. We have apprentices on our books ready to get back into work if they are in the unfortunate instance of a downturn in work, anyone over the age of 18 we are offering positions with our labour hire clients to help support financial income.

We are also continuing to provide casual candidates to business where this is suitable to help ease the commitment of work factor in the current climate. Where this may not be possible, we are also extended our recruitment capability from a candidate perspective to support individuals who have a reduction in hours or are stood down from their roles at our clients to be given an opportunity with a key accounts in the distribution sector which are in high demand currently.

Our training division for accredited and non-accredited training also continues with almost 100% of our courses converted to online platform. This ranges from short courses, right through to certificates and diplomas to help upskill during an out of work scenario.

Have you to make any tough calls during this crisis?

We continue to assess our business on a daily basis and monitor the impacts closures, shutdowns and restrictions that are playing on our ability to perform our services. Our biggest change so far has been for internal teams to operate remotely in a work from home capacity where we have never had this option before and ensure we still maintain key communication, motivation and focus.

How can the Subi members and fans support you during this time?

If you are a sponsor, member, player, support staff member – let us know how we can help, if you have an opportunity for an apprentice at this time, we would love to know. Equally if you can’t commit to taking anyone on at the moment, lets talk about our recruitment division.
If you are facing an uncertain job future, take a look and enquire about the training we have on offer. High Risk Training is only one part of our abilities as a Registered Training Organisation, we have the capacity to offer training within Business Leadership Management and accredited training in Logistics, Aged Care, Community Services and more.  If you are working from home, self-isolating it is important to keep the mind active as much as possible, developing your knowledge or gaining qualifications that can assist you on the flip side of Covid19 would be a benefit to you and your employer.

If you have workers that you need to let go, let’s talk to them and find out how we can help. Whilst we cannot guarantee we will be able to help everyone, we are more than sure we can at least try.

More information about Skill Hire can be found at https://www.skillhire.com.au/