Migration to Canterbury is at an all-time
high as the rebuild workforce continues to grow. The Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce (CECC) has, for several
years, been contracted by Immigration NZ (INZ) to deliver its Settlement Support
programme to help businesses who employ new migrant staff. Recently, the
national INZ model for this service has changed but CECC’s programme for
businesses still provides the resources and advice employers need to ensure new
migrants to Christchurch settle in quickly. This introduction to CECC’s Annual Report for its Skilled Migrant Business Services, formerly
Settlement Support, tells a timely story of our region’s growing migrant
population:
In many ways, SSNZ Christchurch (CHC) has
been a test case for seeing how the new national SSNZ model can and should
work. The one-to-many group approach is effective, which is important
given the sheer numbers of both new migrants to our region and the
organisations that employ them.
Thousands
of new migrants and their employers-- including managers, supervisors, HR
practitioners and that all-important role in the construction sector, foreman
-- have accessed the service through SSNZ Chch’s events and resources. Evaluations of the service’s events provide evidence of just how helpful and
relevant these are to both new migrants and employers, and informal feedback
has been collated to provide an indication of the breadth of the service to
businesses in Canterbury.
Nearly
1000 newcomers and over 300 employers have had direct contact with the service
over the past year, through attendance at our seminars and workshops, meetings,
and enquiries. These figures do not include those who were recipients of
direct emails, newsletters, mailouts or promotional material, or who read or
listen to our many promotional activities such as the Lane Neave newsletter and
Canterbury Cultures on Plains FM radio.
The
Monthly Newcomers’ Event – now in its third year – regularly attracts 40-80 new
migrants and their families, with a record 182 attending this year’s Kiwi
Christmas party. A seminar to inform new Filipino workers about their
employment rights and processes in NZ attracted over 100 new migrants, while
134 supervisors, foreman, managers, and HR practitioners benefitted from
in-depth INZ settlement information through our employer workshops.
A
new newsletter for employers of migrants was initiated during this period to
better utilise the business networks the service has established and to promote
the INZ resources, tools, events, and immigration and settlement news and tips.
The
employment of a second SSNZ Coordinator this year has extended both the depth
and breadth of the service for both newcomers and employers. While
events, enquiries, and information distribution are managed responsively and
with a high quality, more strategic and higher level work can also be addressed
through the service.
I
am confident that this report provides a solid basis of evidence and analysis
that INZ/MBIE can use to demonstrate that the new approaches we have set up in
Christchurch – some of which are now part of SSNZ’s new model – are effective
in achieving INZ’s settlement outcomes.
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