Queensland firm Print Approach – part of the Eckeresley Group – was visited by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minster for Employment Senator Michaelia Cash, following the company’s success with the Youth Jobs PaTH programme that was introduced by the government last year. 

Following a tour around the factory and introductions to the apprentices and Print Approach staff, the Prime Minster and the Minster had a meeting with owner Tom Eckersley to discuss the print industry.

The PaTH initiative allocates unemployed young people within internships with businesses, as a trial for both employers and their new workers. Print Approach, had taken on two men in their twenties last year, who are now completing apprenticeships with the business as a result.

[Resulted: Print apprentices slump by two thirds]

Tom Eckersley, managing director of Eckersley Group says, “I met with a lady in our local networking group here in Narangba, she gave a talk about the programme. It seemed well structured and we could see the potential benefits, so we decided to take it on.

“You can nominate an area of need within your business to government and they will pick person with certain criteria who are looking to be employed. They might work 20 to 25 hours a week and instead of paying unemployment, the government is able to pay them for the time so the business is not paying them. They can then be exposed to different areas such as prepress for example, we can see if they can follow instructions and have a good attitude and if they do, we can decide to hire them. If they do not, there is no commitment to hire and we can try again with someone else.”

Internships in PaTh can run between 4 to 12 weeks. Businesses receive an upfront payment of $1000 to cover costs of the programme, while interns are paid a fortnightly incentive from the government.

 “Most people do not know what printing businesses do or what goes on inside a print shop. School leavers and young people do not know about our business and they also do not know what they want to do. One of our guys had gotten an IT qualification, the other had done a bunch of jobs such as gardening and working in bars and I suppose neither of them would have picked this industry for themselves. The beauty in that is that we are able to expose them to a new environment and they can try out different areas within the business. Some people might be creative so maybe you could try out prepress, others might be more analytically minded so they might like to work in warehousing. This way you are able to try it all out.

“The normal way of hiring someone new involves a job interview and you have to see if they are qualified enough and it is a whole process. This way you have a trial space and can see how it all goes.

[Results: PIAA calls for apprentice support]

“Our industry has suffered with apprentices. We have to be dynamic and always evolving. There is an old printer thought that someone in binary could never step into multipress and vice versa, but everyone needs to be multiskilled. The guys doing their apprenticeships will be learning about one area, but their training will also encompass everything in the business, so they will be able to adapt to our needs.

“Other businesses should also remember that trainees and apprentices are exempt from payroll tax. For business costs, you have to keep payroll in mind, the more people you put on, the more you will be taxed but you also have a real cost benefit with bringing in new people. Our industry is always changing and we need to provide new services and for that we should be bringing in new people.

“I think we would do it again, we can only have so many people on at one time, but we had a good experience with it. We are now more wiser and more prepared for it and the programme has a lot of merit to it.”

The PIAA is engaged in continual advocacy with the government on training, Andrew Macaulay, CEO of the PIAA says, "Our dialogue with the Government on this subject is ongoing." 

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter