The Covid Visa is Over… Now What? - Dizon & Associates | Migration & International Recruitment Agent

The Pandemic (Covid) visa arrived at a time when Australia was already entering the skills shortage era for employers. Designed originally to protect people who were left stranded in Australia when the borders closed, this visa quickly evolved into a hero of the skills shortage crisis allowing businesses to retain existing migrant workers who were already in their businesses.

Effective midnight on 2 September, it was quarantined for existing applicants to obtain a short-term extension only, so the big question is where to from here? As it currently stands, the only option left for employers is sponsorship which can be viewed as high risk and costly when you’ve only had someone working for you for 3-6 months.

It’s not so much that businesses don’t want to sponsor, but they’re still recovering from the economic crisis as a result of Covid, as such they may not necessarily be in the position to fork out up to $15,000 per worker. The Covid visa allowed these workers to stay in the country for twelve months which gave employers the opportunity to spend time with the migrant worker to see if their skills complemented their business needs and it also brought much needed productivity into their workplaces allowing them to produce more goods and in turn, more profit. Without this option, it is highly likely we would have seen more businesses close as a result of poor productivity and lack of necessary skills.

Need for International Recruitment

There’s no doubting that the Pandemic visa had proven that there is a need for international recruitment to be easier for businesses. It is perplexing that at a time of severe worker shortages, which is assisting in the inflationary pressures everyday Australians are feeling due to a slowdown in productivity (aka: less goods in the marketplace), that the government pulls the only tool that can get people to stay in the country and contribute to the national bottom line at a reasonable cost for employers who cannot find suitable workers.

The government has quoted approximately 60,000 workers are on the Pandemic visa right now. At best, these people will be able to apply for a further six month extension after which the only option for employers to keep their staff is a costly sponsorship as the in-between option has been taken away. The government needs to consider a more effective international recruitment solution.

Let’s look at the facts facing employers right now:

500,000+ boomers in the workforce now will be retiring in the next 5 years unless, all of a sudden, they all decide they’d like to keep working
Technology has not hit a point where it can mass replace a workforce i.e. factory production lines
Those entering the workforce in the next 5 years will not be enough to cover those leaving the workforce¹.

So where does this leave employers over the next five years? Some have already come to realisation that their workforce is either retiring or moving to higher paying jobs due to a savage job market which is in the employee’s favour. Whilst incentives to retain can help, it isn’t the only solution they have. Others include:

Taking advantage of the massive skillset available from workers with disabilities. With only one in 5 people with a disability in Australia actively employed, while 88% of all people with a disability are able to work unsupervised², this demonstrates a gap in our national workforce that needs to be addressed
Upskilling of young people including free TAFE in some states. This, however, will take a number of years before these people become fully component.
Technology upgrades to plant and equipment, however this can be costly as businesses may not have the cash on hand post pandemic.

Aside from the massive opportunities the diverse work segment of workers with disabilities brings, international recruitment is the only other sustainable option to help keep business on their feet right now.

I am concerned about businesses over the five years. Skilled workers particularly in the hospitality, trades and care industries are at an all-time low. The review of the migration system was handed over to the government in March and to date all we’ve seen is a tightening of options for employers to obtain the workers they need via international channels. I acknowledge that the government has been doing some work towards closing the loopholes in the other visa programs to protect the most vulnerable in our migration system, but I am hoping we will see some more business friendly options in the coming months as they work through the recommendations.

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Author: Paul Dizon