RESEARCHFEATURE IN BRIEF
HR strategies for Rosebank businesses Recruiting new staff can be expensive and time-consuming. To support the Rosebank business precinct in attracting appropriately skilled employees, Unitec’s Department of Management added an extra dimension of human resource strategies to last year’s skills and education survey.
Boosting carbon levels in soil While forests accumulate carbon, soil is our major terrestrial carbon reservoir. Every one percent increase in organic matter in soil sequesters 20 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Effecting this small increase in all arable land across the globe would solve the carbon crisis says Unitec’s Horticulture Lecturer Reg Lewthwaite.
From face-to-face interviews with about one fifth of all Rosebank companies, the survey found that two thirds of businesses had job vacancies for up to three months, with a further one third experiencing vacancies for up to six months. 25 percent needed more qualified tradesmen, 21.8 percent sales and service staff, 12.5 percent technicians, and 9.9 percent unskilled workers. The easiest category to recruit for was sales and service, followed by clerical, then unskilled workers. The most difficult category was professionals, followed by tradesmen. Professionals were best recruited online and by recruitment agencies while media channels such as newspapers worked best for tradesmen, but not at all for unskilled workers who were better recruited through WINZ or machine operators who came through recruitment agencies. The most frequently used recruitment method was word of mouth but it was successful only for the lower-skilled job categories. The most neglected method was through trade fairs and conferences, primarily because companies have little time and money to pursue these channels. CONTACT Dr Howard Frederick Professor Dept of Management Faculty of Creative Industries & Business Email: hfrederick@unitec.ac.nz
Yet, many farming practices, including land cultivation, are causing soil carbon to decline. A shift from cultivation to mulching could substantially increase our soil carbon stocks but few studies exist to verify that claim. Lewthwaite is conducting a pilot trial at Unitec’s Pacific Centre for Sustainable Communities to quantify the role of mulch in generating soil carbon. Seven patches of soil are being tested under different conditions, ranging from no intervention at all to bare soil hand weeded or sprayed with herbicide, to paper, black plastic, weed mat and woody mulch. It will take at least a year, he says, before tests show any significant changes and he hopes this pilot will develop into a larger study. CONTACT Reg Lewthwaite Lecturer Dept of Natural Sciences Faculty of Social & Health Sciences Email: rlewthwaite@unitec.ac.nz
New racing boat hits the water A super lightweight racing boat has been designed and constructed by Rob Shaw, Head of Marine Technology at Unitec, and a team of his students.
Shaw is a master boatbuilder and this design, over which he holds copyright, defines a new market. Easy and fast to sail, it is also economical to build.
The 9m open skiff, pictured while being turned over and laminated, sports sophisticated carbon fibre material, imported then embedded with resin and cured using Unitec facilities. Its canting keel is designed for improved performance. A boat, when it keels, is normally in a perpendicular line with the mast but this one, says Shaw, can be canted down so it stays vertical rather than having to release more wind off the sails to return to an upright position.
Capable of offshore as well as coastal races, the boat’s design was sold to a New Zealand-based syndicate before even being tested and Shaw is now getting international enquiries from other prospective buyers. CONTACT Rob Shaw Head of Marine Technology Faculty of Technology & Built Environment Email: rshaw@unitec.ac.nz
Advance Winter 09 3