Some organisations need staff to cope with the Covid-19 situation. The demand is in food production, deep-cleaning services, healthcare and warehousing, storage and distribution. Photo / 123rf
Some organisations need staff to cope with the Covid-19 situation. The demand is in food production, deep-cleaning services, healthcare and warehousing, storage and distribution. Photo / 123rf
Opinion
Your income is essential. It's needed for food, housing, other living expenses and more. Sadly many Kiwis have already lost their income thanks to Covid-19 and many more will lose their jobs or be put on long term unpaid leave.
If you need to replace that income and Jobseeker Allowanceisn't enough or you don't qualify, it's time to put your thinking cap on. Keep a cool head and look for ways to make ends meet in these unprecedented times. If that means swallowing your pride and doing a role that's beneath you in normal times, it's worth considering.
There is work out there and someone has to get it in areas such as healthcare, cleaning, and food production/distribution.
Many organisations are simply redeploying staff from one area to another. But others need more people to cope with very unexpected situations.
Seek saw drops in February in overall job advertising, but March will be the real test. The online recruitment site has seen pockets of increase in demand in warehousing, storage and distribution, supermarkets, healthcare and medical and call centre/customer services.
Janet Faulding, Seek NZ general manager, says: "By no means have we seen activity grind to a halt. There are still hundreds of job ads being posted to Seek every day, however, we are mindful that a number of different customers have different needs at the moment."
Accenture's Prudence Thomson says she's seeing demand for staff rise in her specialist area including aged care, radiology, intensive care and emergency. What's more, health facilities are going to need many more cleaners and security guards over the next six to 18 months.
OCS, New Zealand's biggest employer of professional cleaners, is on the hunt for a lot of additional staff members, thanks to Covid-19.
If you've lost your income it's time to put your thinking cap on. Photo / 123rf
The demand is for more teams to do extra cleans, special sanitising for high-touch areas and provide deep-cleaning services.
"We need good workers and we need them now," says OCS New Zealand operations manager Gavin Upston. "So to people in retail, hospitality or other jobs where they've lost shifts, we have work for you," he says.
Salt Recruitment's clients are looking for many more than the usual number of recruits for supermarkets and food manufacturers. In addition to stockpiling, those working from home and in self-isolation are buying online, which is creating opportunities in customer service, distribution and general packing staff, says Jude Manuel at Salt.
Kinetic Recruitment has seen big upswings in demand for temps from large organisations seeking bulk warehouse, shelving and picker roles.
Sprout NZ has seen demand rise for people to manage communication around Covid-19, both internally and externally. Managing director Brien Keegan is also expecting increased demand for staff from primary and food sectors, both of which held up well during the GFC. People still need to eat.
This is probably just the beginning, says Manuel. "We are a couple of weeks into this situation and fully expect new types of roles to emerge."
If large numbers of people in essential jobs fall ill they may need replacing.
Cutting back spending even more drastically is another way to "make money" in the short term. An acquaintance on unpaid leave this week moved his entire family out of a rental property and into his mum's home. That will save lots on living costs. He also identified that the family had spent $8000 on morning coffees and related treats over the past year.
Don't forget government initiatives, which can help people. Employers can get the Covid-19 wage subsidy, to keep you on the payroll. Self-employed and business owners can get payments if they can demonstrate at least a 30 per cent reduction in actual or predicted revenue directly related to Covid-19.
The Covid-19 leave payment can be made for eight weeks, which began on March 17. The leave payment is aimed at providing financial support to people who are unable to work due to self-isolation or are sick with Covid-19. All regular Work and Income benefits are also available.
Finally, when this is all over and before you return to spending money in restaurants, enjoying holidays, buying nice things, and enjoying entertainment, put three months living expenses away first, so you can survive the worst of what life throws at you in the post-Covid world.
