With the GFC seemingly behind us, and with the rail industry hardly feeling a bump, it continues to look for solutions to mitigate the effects of the skills shortages that are currently and increasingly upon us.
None of the old issues like infrastructure investment, technological change and competition from the resources sector have gone away, in fact with the government continuing to stimulate the economy and the resources boom bouncing back faster than it fell, the demand for skilled workers is under more pressure than before.
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) continues to press the point that individual organisations cannot solve the challenges by themselves or with individual responses such as recruitment or immigration.
A strong, strategic industry workforce development plan with collaborative buy in from all segments of the industry is what is required to help solve these challenges.
Rail Careers 2010, to be held in Brisbane on May 13th-14th, aims to collaboratively formulate a plan of attack to get major rail works underway and delivered on time and will focus on the key workforce priorities for rail, as set down by the Rail Skills & Careers Council (RSCC).
Areas of focus include:
.Workforce planning
.Attraction & industry image
.Culture, employee engagement & retention
.Career pathways
.Skills development
.Succession planning & knowledge management
.Innovation
.Immigration
.Communication & collaboration
Guest speakers will include researchers and experts from within and outside the industry including:
.Danny Broad, Executive General Manager – Freight Services, Downer EDI
.Brian Appleby, Executive Director People, Public Transport Authority WA
.Jenny McAuliffe, Human Resources Manager, ARTC
.Tony Higgins, HR Manager, WestNet
.Ron Devitt, General Manager, RailCorp Training
.Bryan Nye, CEO, Australasian Railway Association
.Peter Mitchem, Chairman, Capability Task Force, AustRoads
.Robin Shreeve, CEO, Skills Australia
.Dr Amanda Gudmundsson, Director of Graduate Studies, Queensland University of Technology
.Dr Ros Cameron, Lecturer, School of Commerce and Management, Southern Cross University
Places still available
Email: registration@informa.com.au
Or call: (+612) 02 9080 4307