Charmagne and Colin have run their pool and spa business, Country Rubber and Foam, out of Tamworth, NSW, for over 20 years. As their business has expanded across North-West NSW, they’ve had to increase their team to 14 employees to meet the growing demand.
However, maintaining their workforce has become challenging, particularly due to the need for qualified pool technicians, who require a significant amount of training and financial investment.
“You can’t just send someone out; they need both theoretical and practical skills,” Colin said.
“It takes 18 months to recoup training costs, but we often lose staff to competitors before then.”
Over the years, Colin and Charmagne have also noticed a decline in the number of people applying for jobs, making it even more difficult to staff their expanding operations.
In recent years, they’ve lost valuable staff not just to other pool companies, but to entirely different industries such as law firms and mining companies.
“Competing for talent has only gotten harder.
“Post-COVID, there’s just so much work available in our area. If someone is reliable and has good organisational skills, they get snapped up quickly. We’ve been looking for a store manager for more than two years and still haven’t found one.”
This workforce shortage has had a direct impact on their business growth. Two years ago, they expanded their shop from 350 to 1,000 square meters, making it one of the largest pool shops in Australia.
The expansion required doubling their staff, but they were only able to hire two new employees. As a result, Charmagne and Colin have had to dedicate nearly all of their time to running day-to-day operations, leaving little room for further scaling or growth.
Despite strong demand, they are unable to meet the full potential of their business due to staffing shortages.
NAB Region Manager for North West New South Wales, Laura Salkeld, said that a large component of what her team do in Small Business at NAB revolves around being a part of their communities to better understand local challenges.
“Each of us individually is entrenched in the community in some way or another- be it through sporting, musical or cultural pursuits, through our families and children or just through volunteering efforts. This ensures we have an understanding of the local economy, the market and seasonal conditions and the impacts it has on our labour markets,” said Laura.
“We attend and host networking events to provide opportunities for our customers to mix, swap details and uncover any potential talent in the region which can bolster their branding in the local markets as well and attract good talent.”
To address these workforce challenges, Charmagne and Colin advocate for more targeted government assistance.
“Instead of just providing funding, policies should focus on skilling people and directing the unemployed to industries that need them most,” Charmagne suggested.
They also call for better protections for businesses that invest in training.
“Losing trained staff to competitors is a serious financial hit. Compensation or support programs for small businesses would be invaluable.”
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