Waikato Business News | February 7, 2024

14 FEBRUARY 2024
Paving the way
Advertorial
FAMILY-BASED
RECRUITMENT AGENCY IS ONE OF A KIND
Work is underway on apartments at the Hamilton East site.
Photo: Catherine Gunn.
An apartment development in central Heritage site investigation and discovery
Hamilton will come with improved protocols are in place during works, mana
public footpaths.
whenua input during the design phase will
Waikato-based building company Engas be reflected in a design on a retaining wall,
Development is building 27 apartments and a plaque on the existing wall will be
on the corner of Anzac Parade, Memorial saved. The new, wider, footpath will open
Drive and Puutikitiki Street – formerly Von in May.
Tempsky St - in Hamilton East.
Last year Engas completed the threestorey
Lakewood Townhouses in Cambridge
Hamilton City Council is taking a one-off
opportunity to widen an existing footpath and townhouses in Hukanui Road, Hamilton
outside the site.
last year.
The current footpath is as little as 1.3m Chris Allen, Hamilton City Council’s
wide and close to a traffic lane. As a result of Executive Director Development, said one
a co-operative approach between Engas and of the biggest benefits of doing the footpath
the council, the footpath will be widened as work as part of the development will be the
part of the development.
reduction in disruption for traffic.
The corner site was sold for $2.4 million “This is one of our busiest central city
as a potential site for high density housing in intersections, beside one of our highesttraffic
bridges. By doing the footpaths before
December 2021. At the time it was the site of
a 100-year-old character home.
the apartments are built, construction
It is near the Te Tara-ahi pā site of Ngāti equipment can work from the development
Pakekirangi which was abandoned after site, rather than from the road. This was
Ngapuhi raids in the late 1700s and Moule’s a one-off opportunity as widening the
Redoubt, the first European settlement in footpaths once development is complete
the Waikato. It also overlooks the Union would have caused far more disruption and
Bridge built in 1878.
may have been economically unfeasible.”
Room to grow
Industrial businesses in Waipā have more
land to call home following a decision to
rezone additional land for development
earlier than expected.
The land was originally zoned rural but
some consents had been granted for industrial
activities. The rezoning to industrial became
operative last month.
The new industrial zone covers around
75ha and sits north and south of Hautapu
Road and was originally set to become
available after 2035. Strong growth over the
past 10 years has created a demand for
industrial land and driven the change.
Group manager district growth and
regulatory Wayne Allan said the council
was paving the way for industry growth by
opening the land up for businesses to operate
from.
“This is a positive outcome and better
reflects what the area is used for. Hautapu
will provide more options for businesses
to relocate from Carters Flat, as that area
changes from industrial to commercial.”
“We’ve heard the calls from businesses
and are making changes now. This is just
one way that we’re creating opportunities for
businesses to thrive in Waipā.”
The site has the potential to cater for
two of the district’s top industry sectors,
construction and manufacturing.
“We need to strike a balance between the
infrastructure required and the need to open
up more land for these types of activities, and
we think we’ve got the balance right with this
zone in Hautapu,” Allan said.
Cambridge family-owned business, BO &
CO Electrical have called Hautapu home for
Economic development advisor Joy Mickleson
with BO & CO Electrical owner Sam Bryant,
whose business is reaping the rewards of
Hautapu’s industrial zone. Photo: Supplied.
the past year.
Business owner Sam Bryant said Hautapu
is the ideal place to do business.
“The location, being just out of Cambridge
but close enough to rural areas and the
city, means business operations are easier to
achieve than we could have imagined. We’ve
saved on overhead costs like transportation,
as we’re now so close to the Waikato
Expressway.”
“The land size here and proximity to other
services and our clients is unmatched. We’ve
been able to grow without the pressures of
limited space and resources. There just isn’t a
lot of land that is this central to everything we
need, and that is so accessible for our clients
and staff as well,” Bryant said.
A blend of personal experience
and genuine concern for migrant
workers has steered Hamilton-based
Need4Skills to its current position as
one of the country’s most diversitysensitive
recruitment agencies.
Managing director Karen Tan’s story
gives a clear insight as to why.
Six years have passed since Karen started
her then home-based agency to provide
an integrated recruitment ‘bridge’ between
employers and internationally based
employees.
Her focus was predominantly on workers
coming in from the Philippines, not only
because she knew they were a proven asset
to any team, but also because Karen is
herself a migrant from that part of the world.
She and her mother arrived in New Zealand
from the Philippines in 1993.
In the years that followed, Karen worked
across various sales, account management
and business development sectors as well
as in the NGO environment. “At one stage
I was managing a staff of 50 for a software
company. It didn’t take long for me to
notice that a lot of New Zealand companies
experienced challenges around diversity in
the workplace. I wanted to find a way to
help.”
That rare mix of personal and professional
experience as well as hands-on exposure
to the Kiwi work environment provided her
with a unique insight on how to optimise
the experience for everyone involved in the
recruitment process, both employers and
migrant workers, and enhance retention
levels.
“It is important for us to make our employers
feel valued as well ... to make both parties
happy,” Karen says. “Our employers go way
beyond what is expected of them, and this
is vital for our workers. We are very grateful
for their patience and understanding.”
Today Need4Skills operates from the heart of
Hamilton. It now draws its quality candidates
from the Philippines and beyond, including
the Gulf countries, Japan, Saipan, Singapore
and Europe. Most have established skills
of five years or more, and by working in
alignment with New Zealand immigration
requirements, the agency has earned a
trusted reputation among local companies.
It is now the ‘go-to’ agency for many top
companies across the Waikato, in Auckland
and in the South Island, predominantly
across sectors that include fabrication and
welding, painting, construction, mechanical
engineering and early childhood teaching.
The fact that 80 percent of those recruited
through the agency have become residents is
powerful testimony to Karen and her team’s
efforts, but she is mindful that such success
comes only when workers feel secure in their
employment and settle with their families
into Kiwi life.
To that end, Karen and Rommel organises
English classes for the workers and together,
they established The Filipino Connection,
a not-for-profit outreach that is all about
INFORMATION-INTEGRATION-IMMERSION.
Aimed at smoothing to path for migrant
workers, that arm of the operation delivers
personalised ongoing care for incoming
workers. They are given an initial settlement
plan, pre-organised accommodation,
orientation sessions around banking,
Karen Tan, managing director at Need4Skills,
works out of a welcoming space in the heart of
Hamilton.
Karen Tan with her husband Rommel, left, and
son Elijah.
shopping, utilities, rules and regulations,
and mentoring around how the Kiwi culture
operates. They help bring workers’ families
in and keep the lines of communication open
as a conduit to avoiding potential pitfalls.
The family-owned character of Need4Skills
is other major advantage. Karen is
managing director; her husband Rommel,
is an operations director, left a corporate
role of 26 years to come on board to help
settle and mentor workers. Quite a bit of
heavy work happens behind the scenes and
Rommel pours relentless hours into this part.
Their son Elijah works for the business too
assisting his dad since he was 16, helping set
up workers’ homes, utilities and furniture
as well as airport pickups from any airport
point. He often works nights and weekends
and has become a permanent staff member.
Their daughter Alpha, as well as other family
members who works elsewhere, dips in and
out when it gets very busy and for short-term
projects needed. Karen’s Philippines-based
sister, Khristine Narciso, co-ordinates things
from that end.
A valued part of Khristine’s function is
running a comprehensive pre-departure
course for migrating workers aimed at
teaching them the basics of Kiwi life. It
covers things such as understanding
contracts and the New Zealand working
culture, what is and isn’t appropriate,
and coordinates applicant’s necessary
documents for a smoother process. She
coordinates with the visa team and local
agencies in the Philippines. During the predeparture
course, Rommel also shares his
working knowledge and provides essential
information around driving rules and other
regulations that will seem foreign to them.
“We understand the cultural differences and
the difficulties workers might find here,”
Karen says. “But I feel our responsibility goes
beyond just finding and providing workers for
New Zealand companies. By also ensuring
that those workers settle well, we are not
only helping them and their families, but we
are making sure those companies get the
very best from the workers they employ.”
For more information,
visit www.needforskills.co.nz