Login or become a Shortlist subscriber

Industrial perm business soaring for Programmed Skilled Workforce

Programmed Skilled Workforce has tripled the size of its direct placement team in line with demand from industrial clients to "lock in" talent, says executive general manager David Hele. Meanwhile, a trainee program is helping deliver fresh talent to key sectors.

"Companies are clearly looking to lock in labour quicker," Hele tells Shortlist, noting that there has always been strong demand from clients to eventually convert on-hire casual workers to permanent direct employees, but "now [these clients] are going, 'we want people permanently from the get-go'".

As a result, direct placement revenue is up by 150% (though Hele notes this has always been a very small proportion of the total).

"That's a reaction to how tight it is for labour; people really are wanting to lock people in sooner and so that's a real definitive shift, which has been really positive in the industrial business," he says...