Hazell Bros Wins Minister's Award For Excellence
19/8/2009
Tasmanian Construction Company Hazell Bros won the 2009 Minister's Awards for Excellence for Employers of Australian Apprentices (Tasmania Region) at a ceremony held in Canberra last night.
Managing Director Geoffrey Hazell, who last night accepted the award from Julia Gillard, said the Company identifies gaps in its skills base and has a dedicated Training team responsible for developing all the employees, including the 57 Australian Apprentices.
"Hazell Bros has been training Australian Apprentices for more than 21 years," he said.
"It's an important part of the company's succession planning.
"Apprenticeships are a core part of this business - so we can build for the future."
Almost half of Hazell Bros' Australian Apprentices are working in areas where there's a skill shortage.
"I think employers have a responsibility to maintain their training and keep their apprentices on through downturns in order to identify and fill potential skills gaps in the industry."
"We have focused on apprenticeship and traineeship programs through good economic times, and continued to build on these because we know that the apprentices and trainees of today will be our workforce, and the industry's workforce, as we progress into increasing workloads in the future."
