When it comes to hiring new people Yarra Centre Manager Lesley Grimes, understands a workplace should reflect the people that use its services or facilities.
By listening, learning and experimenting, the Centre has become a diverse and inclusive workplace, where age, religion, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, class, disability, and nationality is not a barrier.
"We all know it's hard to get staff at the moment and It's so easy in employment to pigeonhole people, but it's not a one size fits all."
"For us as a leisure centre we've embraced having a range of people of all ages and abilities working here and it is fantastic because it's mirroring what our community looks like."
The current workforce at Yarra centre is a diverse mix of people from different backgrounds and includes a number of different generations, all with differing opinions, needs, and desires.
"When you pair older workers with younger, it equips them with leadership skills, and their experience means they can help guide younger employees, and by the same token the younger generation may not be as experienced as their older counterparts, but they are able to bring fresh new insight into technology and current media."
As employers we do also need to open ourselves up and challenge our assumptions, because you open yourself up to a broader spectrum of people and you're bringing people on board who otherwise you may not have had an opportunity to employ."
Council is committed to working with our business community to address the staff shortages across our industries.
One of the ways we're doing this is with our Region of Choice project. A part of this is celebrating our businesses, like the Yarra Centre, that have diverse hiring practises, and supporting our businesses to tap into these employment pools.
