Attraction and Retention Framework for Skilled Migrants

New Zealand’s economic growth relies in part on the country’s ability to attract and retain skilled migrants.  Maven was engaged by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) to develop a coordinated and targeted ‘attraction and retention’ framework to ensure New Zealand maximised its effectiveness in attracting and retaining the right skills, talent and capital to grow the economy.  The Framework needed to provide the strategic context and necessary alignment for marketing, service delivery and migrant settlement, and was designed to:

  • Identify with employers, industry groups, and sectors the roles INZ could play to better support economic growth.
  • Consider previous research and information collated on New Zealand’s long-term skill needs, and international supply markets with the best potential to fulfil these long-term skill needs.  This would enable a focus for working with sectors, regions and employers in the areas of greatest need and benefit.
  • Improve the marketing, linking and support provided for entrepreneurs and investors.
  • Improve the alignment and match of international skills to employer needs.
  • Improve the support provided to migrants and employers through settlement policies.
  • Improve the coordination and alignment of marketing, employer relationships and visa processing services to ensure employers and sectors have their needs met in an efficient and timely manner.

Our approach needed to take into account a number of critical factors including:

  • A focus on a ‘Whole of Department’ approach which relied on every immigration function – marketing, employer relationship, policy, border control, visa processing and settlement – playing an important role in effectively attracting and retaining new skills and talent.
  • Utilising internal experience and expertise within the Department regarding marketing, employer engagement, service delivery and settlement that needed to be captured.
  • Alignment with the Government’s Economic Growth Agenda by building on Immigration’s key role in providing New Zealand’s high-growth and export-focussed sectors with the skills to compete globally.
  • Gathering a clear understanding of employer/industry/sector needs to ensure that the Framework met their requirements.
  • Considering the place and role of strategic partners in working alongside the Department in the ‘attraction’ space in order to best leverage their resources and marketing channels.
  • Development of effective pathways, utilising the Department’s processing connection points, to ensure that those with skills and talent remain and contribute.
  • Mapping international sales channels and identifying the roles that other organisations could play in improving the alignment and match of international skills to employer need.
  • A coherent and integrated Channel Strategy was required to ensure the Framework’s outcomes could be delivered.

Key Learnings 

  • Environments experiencing significant change and budget pressure provide transformation and innovation opportunities for Public Sector organisations.
  • Significant consultation married with a rapid prototyping approach of key deliverables ensured the Framework’s development continued at an acceptable pace.
  • The relationship between a large government organisation and its customer base can be brought to life utilising personas that demonstrate how the organisation could (or should) should work with customers.
  • Technological changes in operational delivery must be integrated with an effective and all-of-organisation culture change programme.