Christchurch's City Care is leading the way
Christchurch’s City Care is leading the way
One of New Zealand’s leading providers of infrastructure services is also proudly committed to industry training – and to ensuring that apprentices and other staff have the literacy and numeracy support they need to excel in the workplace.
City Care provides construction, maintenance and management of services such as parks, sports fields, cemeteries, road networks and waterways.
This work requires a huge range of vehicles and equipment – and they all need maintaining and servicing. The Christchurch workshop alone employs about 16 technicians to service almost 1,000 different types of machinery, from small mowers to large excavators.
City Care is always on the lookout for new talent to join its apprenticeship scheme.
“Every year we offer a nationwide ‘Pre-Apprentice Work Skills Programme’, through which we give young people an opportunity to work in the different divisions in our business,” says Mark Forde, City Care Christchurch’s Workshop Manager. “If they prove their willingness and ability to learn and work, we offer them apprenticeships. This enables us to boost our workforce and help young New Zealanders into both employment and our industry.”
The company is also committed to helping its staff overcome any difficulties with literacy and numeracy.
“We know that literacy and numeracy skills are vital to productivity in our business, so we enable apprentices and others in our business to access the help they need,” says Pat O’Brien, City Care’s Industrial Training Manager. “This approach is delivering excellent results, helping people to work more efficiently and effectively, increase their self-confidence and access career opportunities that might not otherwise be possible.”
Apprentice Paul Hunter is one of those benefiting from this approach. Having been with City Care for 24 years, he’s undertaking a MITO apprenticeship and getting some literacy and numeracy help along the way.
“I go to a tutor once a week to help work through any questions I have,” he says. “It’s been a big help; it’s sped up my work and I hope it will help me to progress in the business.”
The Christchurch branch is taking a leadership role in implementing training in the workplace. Pat says, “as a major player we accept we have a responsibility to encourage training for our industry. We’re pleased to provide our people with the support and training they need to succeed in our business, and the wider industry.”
