At SMW Group we’ve always maintained an unswerving policy to invest locally in people. One policy that has stood the test of time is employing staff on a permanent basis only.

The benefits of investing in people

Whilst using labour hire and casual staff has many proponents, we believe that to thrive in a region means supporting the people who live there. As leaders in the heavy industrial sector through several economic upturns and downswings, our business has realised the longer-term benefits that accrue from investing in people:

• Loyalty – staff who are committed and invested in the mission and vision, as opposed to having split loyalties to several jobs.
• Productivity – when people know that they’re valued, they give their best efforts. This particularly rings true for Millennial and Gen Z employees who are looking to match their interests and upskill to broaden their knowledge and employability.
• Stability – people have the confidence to invest in putting down roots locally, with beneficial flow-on effects to the economy of the whole region. The assurance that comes from knowing that sick leave and paid leave is available goes a long way, in SMW’s experience, to retaining quality personnel.
• Growth – invest in training and development for staff retention and company growth, and to cultivate a workforce that is multi-skilled and experienced in delivering outstanding customer service in different fields.
• Reputation – become known as an employer of choice.

The results – a loyal, diversified workforce

In our first decade, the mining industry worked through labour and skill shortages that seemed to encourage the use of casual contracts and labour hire. Since very few employers would invest in upskilling casual labour to any great extent, a general consequence was limited company loyalty and dissatisfaction in the workforce. Conversely, companies like SMW Group that continued, through difficult economic times, to invest in developing permanent staff into different roles for specific projects reaped the benefits of a flexible workforce diversified in skills and knowledge, and able to take on new challenges in a growing business.

The future – meeting challenges head-on

In today’s uncertain times, SMW Group are well placed to support their staff and the region through to the nation’s full recovery, and they’re looking forward to coming out the other side strongly while continuing to provide professional, innovative industrial solutions.