In June 2016, Dr Judy Lovell presented to the Developing Northern Australia Conference in Darwin on the topic: Key Factors in the Attraction and Retention of Local Remote Staff: Case studies from Northern Australia

1. Key Factors in the Attraction and
Retention of Local Remote Staff:
Case studies from Northern Australia
Developing Northern Australia Conference, Darwin 2016
Presented by Dr Judith Lovell,
Project Research Leader, Synthesis and Integration,
CRC for Remote Economic Participation and Northern Institute, CDU

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Ninti One is a not-for-profit company that builds
opportunities for people in remote Australia through
research, innovation and community development.
Ninti One also manages the CRC for
Remote Economic Participation and
external consultancy projects.
Introducing Ninti
One

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Prioritisation of local remote employment
• Indigenous Affairs Employment agenda
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social
Survey (2014-2015)
• Prime Ministers Closing the Gap Report (2015, 2016)
• Northern Australia development agenda
• National Indigenous procurement policy – increase
remote Indigenous employment through the livestock
industry and road works

4. 4
Perceptions about employment from
three research cases
CRC-REP Synthesis and Integration
1. Key Factors in the Attraction and Retention of local
remote staff: Preliminary situational analysis
CRC-REP Enterprise Program
2. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Economies:
Analysis of Arts workers’ perceptions
3. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism
Products: Analysis of Remote Tourism clusters

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Researching key factors: toward a
better understanding
Theme 1.
Attraction
Theme 2.
Retention
Theme 3.
Policy
Theme 4.
Outcome
Factors adapted from Becker, K., Hyland, P., & Soosay, C. (2013). Labour attraction and
retention in rural and remote Queensland communities. Themes arising from data.

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Staff churn and consistency
– Very limited hard data
– No clear patterns between sectors
– Positive and negative organisational impacts
– Strategies for churn vary between locations and
sectors
Local staff will tend to change employer or job sector rather
than location; not so for migratory staff.
Factors impacting at organisational
level

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Employer expectations varied more between
locations than between sectors
– Operational certainty and capacity is required
– Flexible employment models are preferred by staff in
public and art sectors
– Autonomous work conditions are preferred among
contractors and tourism providers
Organisational role to foster community level economic
activity through procurement, clustering, supportive
networks or flexible models of employment.
Factors impacting at an organisational
level continued…

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Policy and regulation
– With 85%+ Indigenous employment in some remote
communities, national targets of 10% to 30%
Indigenous employment is contentious
– Cross-cultural capability and local staff leadership are
essential to organisation and community health
Culturally aligned employment options attract and retain
local staff; to meet the challenge organisations need to
address the tension between national/regional policies and
local practices – they require local capability and vision.
Factors impacting at an organisational
level continued…

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Factors of community level impact
The interaction between communities, individuals
and organisations
– Local leadership fosters community resilience and
individual capability, which are assets
– Histories of settlement, changing generational and
gendered expectations are widely varied across
locations
Local employment policy level has great capacity to
respond, foster and promote local remote staff attraction
and retention, and even more so when community is
understood as ‘a living system’ (Wadsworth, 2011).

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Capability, cultural interface and resilience
– Motivators include pride, alignment to others in the
workplace and the work itself
– Mentoring, employment and training with
personalised outcomes and wrap around support
rates high among employers and employees; has
significant logistical and financial challenges
– Professional regard and community valorisation of
staff
There are different pressures on local staff than on
migratory ones; this needs to be better understood.
Factors impacting at personal level

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Conclusions
• There is far to go to better foster an understanding of the
key factors that impact on local staff attraction and
retention in remote areas
• This is vital work because there are a number of success
stories to learn from and issues to take heed of
• Many local organisations would like a better network for
support and knowledge regarding remote local staff
attraction and retention
In remote workplaces, people sometimes remain vulnerable
for unnecessary reasons – organisational lack of insight or
forethought, or personal capacity to aspire / have vision.

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Thank You
Dr Judith Lovell, Senior Research Fellow,
Northern Institute, CDU
E: judith.lovell@cdu.edu.au T: +61 8 8959 5316
Dr Judith Lovell is a Senior Research Fellow with the Northern Institute at
Charles Darwin University. Her expertise is in the multidisciplinary and
collaborative uses of research to enhance social, environmental, cultural
and economic capabilities in Australian and international societies, and she
leads the Synthesis and Integration of research for the Cooperative
Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation. Her practice meshes
sociological research and adult education principles.