Alexi Boyd: Jobs Summit must provide real action on skills and staff shortages for small business

Once-in-a-generation societal disruptions — disruptions like pandemics — can be the catalyst for significant policy reforms. The government’s upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit represents a genuine opportunity for us to capitalise on the current mood for change post COVID-19 and create historic reforms that benefit small businesses and the entire economy. It is a time for opportunity.

However, time is not on our side. We must use this summit to push through immediate reforms that help small businesses now, not after they have succumbed to the pressures of staff shortages, rising inflation and, put simply, exhaustion. The last thing small businesses need is for us to get stuck in the mud with a two-day debate on definitions or an “us versus them” approach which solves nothing.

What small businesses do need are solutions to worker shortages, and we need them now.

The government’s recently released issues paper identifies productivity growth as the key to supporting economic growth, resilience, and higher living standards, but as long as small businesses are struggling to find workers, they will struggle to increase productivity.

We all know of local businesses that are operating shorter hours, offering fewer goods, or restricting services due to the ubiquitous problem of staff shortages. Less obvious are the small business owners who are working tirelessly in their business instead of on their business. They (and their families) are working on the shop floor, serving customers, or stacking pallets instead of dedicating time to identifying business opportunities, managing staff, or strategising for innovation and growth.

This is why we need immediate action to increase migration caps and simplify visa processes bloated with unnecessary bureaucracy.

This is why we need to allow older Australians to work more hours without their pension reducing. Solutions that can release the pressure valve on the small business economy.

COSBOA agrees that migration should complement rather than substitute properly training Australians in the skills needed to grow our economy, one of the principles outlined in the government’s issues paper.

Industry associations representing small businesses know what the needs are and are willing and able to assist with the strategic planning of their future workforce.

We need a way to expedite and streamline the process of adding skills to the list of VET qualifications that are formally recognised and funded by governments.

We need better recognition of micro-credentials, and we need funding to upskill people who have existing qualifications so that they can respond to the rapid digitisation of the economy, harnessing the opportunities it brings while also having the skills and knowledge to mitigate the risk that comes with digital solutions — that of cyber threats.

It isn’t in our best interests to let productivity and growth be limited to certain industries or to large corporations. Empowering small businesses to participate in productivity growth is key to ensuring that the benefits of said growth — benefits like increased wealth and living standards — are distributed evenly across our workers, small business owners, and indeed communities, rather than resting in the pockets of a handful of CEOs.

COSBOA is looking forward to being part of next week’s historic conversation alongside other industry bodies and the unions.

COVID-19 proved to us that it is possible for reform to happen quickly — we had to think on our feet and think outside the box to respond to an unprecedented threat. Let’s channel that energy and zeal into the Jobs and Skills Summit.

Alexi Boyd is chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.