Sustaining Regional Businesses' Innovative Approaches to Employee Attraction and Retention

Abstract

In a time of low unemployment, high workforce participation and an aging population, the ability to attract competent employees and retain them in organisations has become a major imperative to ensure that the organisation has the capacity for innovation. Although it is argued that for firms to survive, they need to innovate; many employers, particularly those in rural and regional communities are grappling to recruit sufficient employees to simply function let alone to develop their innovation capacity. This paper reports on research undertaken in regional Australia investigating innovative approaches to employee attraction and retention. The findings emphasise that regions and the employers within them need to work together with their communities and all levels of government to improve the attraction and retention of employees. From this research, it is clear that any approach to addressing skills shortages must involve assessing and addressing the particular problems of each community.