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Water Matters, the newsletter of Water Industry Training, talks to Onno Mulder, CEO of City Care Ltd, about how industry training has helped his organisation to grown and thrive.

City Care provides construction, maintenance and management of water, wastewater and stormwater networks. Serving 10 councils throughout New Zealand, it handles a significant - and growing - proportion of the country's water and wastewater business.

A proactive approach to industry training lies at the heart of the organisation's values. One third of the company's 1,000 staff have industry qualifications; of the 180 currently in training, 70 are in water and wastewater. In 2007, a water and wastewater training facility was established at City Care's Pages Road depot in Christchurch - not only for staff but also for the benefit of others within the wider industry. In 2008/09, the company invested over $403,000 in training for staff. And since 2003, 150 young people have completed City Care's pre-apprentice programme and gone on to gain industry qualifications. Ninety remain with the company, either as apprentices or employees.

CEO Onno Mulder believes that his company's philosophy on training is the key ingredient to its growing success. "One of our objectives is to provide staff with educational opportunities so they can better their skills, and also their economic situations. If they improve their qualifications, they get rewarded in their contracts.

"This has a positive impact on business. Less supervision is required; people make fewer mistakes, there is less re-work and fewer quality failures."

Many City Care clients now demand that only qualified staff carry out contracts. "Having staff on contracts that are technically competent and who can carry out work in a tradesmanlike manner is a big part of providing quality assurance to our clients, "Onno says. "This is very important. All too often the work is backfilled before anyone can look at it, so it's about having a level of trust."

Providing service is no longer only about repairing a service failure, he says, it's also about asset condition management. "We have to be able to provide ‘added-value' skills. For example, we have to be able to collect additional data using our IT systems, then feed that back into client systems to enable those clients to make good, informed asset management decisions."

City Care believes that because industry training is flexible and adaptable, it meets changing skill requirements. "Water Industry Training listens, and courses and qualifications change over time in response to industry feedback." Onno says. "Water IT plays a big part in helping us to achieve the standards and success we have achieved."

While the development of these ‘added-value' skills is currently separate from industry training, Onno hopes that in time, the two will be integrated. "This is an area of change that is very important for both our company and our clients. There is a growing requirement that our operational staff can complete more than just the technical requirements of their jobs."

Engaging Youth

Attracting new blood to the industry is also a priority for City Care. Its pre-apprentice programme has evolved into a dynamic iniative that focuses on introducing young people to all aspects of the company, and opening up career opportunities that otherwise might never have existed.

"It's important that young people can see a career path through the water and wastewater industry," Onno says. "If they can see that they can do a level 3, level 4 qualification, and then a diploma, and then a degree, it show's them a way to move up through the organisation and the industry."

People in the programme work full time and are paid a standard wage. They rotate through 20 different operational areas within City Care, such as water, trees, roading and asphalting. At the end of the programme, they decide which area they like best and, if City Care has a suitable vacancy, they have the option to begin a four-year apprenticeship in that area. Many join the company, either as apprentices or standard employees.

"The good thing is that it gives young people a ‘taster' of everything that we do. In a way, they are at an advantage, having experience of every aspect of our business. They can see how all the parts fit together."

"It has been a very successful programme for us. We've brought through a lot of young people who might not have understood what this industry is all about. We have people who started in that pre-apprentice programme and are now doing diplomas in engineering!"

Onno was recently elected to the Board of Water New Zealand, and appointed to the Water Industry Committee, giving City Care a direct link into water industry and training matters.

The company continues to put training at the heart of its business, Onno says. "One of our objectives as an organisation is to get better and better. Training plays a big part in this. It's a good thing for staff and it's a good thing for the company."

For more information:

Sarah Bromley

Communications Manager

Ph: (03) 941 7200 or 027 292 6161

Email: sarah.bromley@citycare.co.nz