Mike Smith, CEO of Yangwha, interviewed by Liz Hayes on 60 Minutes
Liz Hayes explains why so many Australian employers chose Filipino workers in this interview with Mike Smith, Director of Yangwha Australia
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About Us
Mike Smith, the Founder/Managing Director of Yangwha Global Pty Ltd, has been instrumental in facilitating the deployment of more than 700 Filipino meat workers to Australian companies over the last decade. Yangwha Global has over the last 5 years deployed in excess of 300 Filipino meat workers EXCLUSIVELY to one of the largest and most successful meat companies in Australia but is now looking to expand into the rest of the Australian meat industry. We have over the years evolved our processes to a point that we now have sufficient flexibility and scope of resource to be able to accommodate the varying requirements within the meat industry of Australia, whilst remaining within the framework dictated by the various governments involved with overseas employment, i. e., the host and donating nations. Whilst we are a company that is very much aware of the importance of marketing our services, we are also of the opinion that if we get the product right our company will prosper and this is why the Managing Director and the greater part of Yangwha Global is based close to our supply line, i.e., in the Philippines and not in Australia.
The following considerations are fundamental to our process
- Meeting the English requirement
- Meeting the skills requirement fundamentals
- Meeting the skills requirement for specific job classifications
- Meeting the visa requirement
- Meeting a stable and predictable supply requirement
- Meeting the expectation of Australian values
- Meeting the communication requirement with both the employer and the employee
As anyone will know, that has been involved with employing overseas workers into Australia, one of the significant challenges currently to a successful visa application is satisfying the English requirement stipulated by the Australian government for certain countries. The English test (IELTS) requirement of a 5 overall band score for a 457 visa can be an almost insurmountable challenge to certain nationalities.
Although Filipino’s are relatively well placed to overcome this challenge through their education system, which is based on an English language medium of instruction, it still requires a considerable effort on behalf of the recruiter to produce a candidate that has the acceptable skills, the mental toughness needed to cope with, what is a very demanding job and an education profile that is likely to foster the achievement of the appropriate IELTS pass. I am sure that most people would agree that these attributes do not always flow in the same direction.
Yangwha does though currently have a significant pool of meat worker candidates, that number in the hundreds, already with IELTS level 5 passes and as a footnote the Filipino education system does also satisfy the requirements of the 5 year accumulative full time study, IELTS exemption clause in the 457 legislation.
Although Filipino’s are relatively well placed to overcome this challenge through their education system, which is based on an English language medium of instruction, it still requires a considerable effort on behalf of the recruiter to produce a candidate that has the acceptable skills, the mental toughness needed to cope with, what is a very demanding job and an education profile that is likely to foster the achievement of the appropriate IELTS pass. I am sure that most people would agree that these attributes do not always flow in the same direction.
Yangwha does though currently have a significant pool of meat worker candidates, that number in the hundreds, already with IELTS level 5 passes and as a footnote the Filipino education system does also satisfy the requirements of the 5 year accumulative full time study, IELTS exemption clause in the 457 legislation.
Yangwha has gained considerable experience from working with our key meat industry client over the last 5 years with regards to evolving the best possible environments, methodologies and disciplines for producing a viable Filipino candidate for the Australian meat industry.
With regards to sourcing applicants we have a number of spawning grounds for the Yangwha process that have developed from our interactions with local governments, that have subsequently gone on to set up locally based skills training and English learning initiatives. The ultimate goal for these local governments is to generate income for their electorate when the overseas workers send money home from Australia.
With reference to the earlier mentioned prerequisite of an education profile that is likely to foster the achievement of the appropriate IELTS pass, the raw recruits at the start of the process have through necessity predominately come from a higher educational background, which brings with it a number of challenges and this has to be managed with a considerable degree of understanding i.e. aspirations need to sometimes be refocused.
We also have relationships with a number of the abattoirs based in the local government electorates and in particular we have a very special relationship with a Dr. Boy who manages the slaughter house in Tagum. The Tagum government is now building a totally new slaughter house at a considerable investment and which is due to be finished at the end of this year.
Although the Tagum abattoir is a public slaughter house, it is very much designed to operate as a training facility. Over the years we have worked very closely with Dr. Boy and enjoyed considerable interaction with him concerning the training methodology that takes place at his plant and with regards to identifying the best workers that are active there.
These local abattoirs facilitate the client skills assessment stage of the Yangwha process and at the invitation of the associated local governments our client employers are free to send their MINTRAC assessors to assess the lineups that we prepare for them at these locations. Yangwha staff will be present at all-times through this function and will handle all the logistics including arranging hotels and transport.
Due to our client’s specific requirement for physical toughness there is now an awareness among the local communities generating the candidates, that to make the grade, a good deal of time has to be spent in the gym prior to applying for the position and once passing the skills selection undertaken in the abattoirs, the guys know that to make the final cut they need to go flat out to keep their physical fitness up to scratch (referred to as conditioning) – this has resulted in the past, in a lot of candid shots of them at the gym in Facebook. Feedback from Dr. Boy also helps to contribute to the lineup prepared for the client employer by Yangwha.
At this stage in the process the selected candidates are familiarized with Australian meat plant methodology and Australian boning cuts and this is done at the facility of one of our Filipino partners.
Most recently this was done at our Partners facility MEPI – a triple AAA abattoir designed and managed by Yangwha’s Australian training consultant Glenn Storer.
Candidates selected by our key client undertook two months full time experience within this environment which was run on the basis of an Australian Abattoir and which included a boning room. This final stage in the process was actually quite a brutal experience in some ways for many of the candidates that were used to a slower work rate and definitely sorted out the men from the boys. With our new clients this final stage of the process can by designed and tailored to suit their specific requirements.
Candidates selected by our key client undertook two months full time experience within this environment which was run on the basis of an Australian Abattoir and which included a boning room. This final stage in the process was actually quite a brutal experience in some ways for many of the candidates that were used to a slower work rate and definitely sorted out the men from the boys. With our new clients this final stage of the process can by designed and tailored to suit their specific requirements.
Our sister company Yangwha-Visa also owned by Mike Smith offers a two option visa migration service.
Option 1 – is our value for money, low cost migration service option, which we have now been successfully providing to our clients for over 8 years – the applicants enjoy the feeling of comfort and reassurance that comes from dealing with our staff that speak Tagalog and English and understand both the Filipino and Australian culture – there are considerable cash savings that come from our Philippine based processing centre and our staff are always available and ready to discuss with the applicants any concerns that they might have at any time in the day – We have a near 100% success rate with our visa applications – and THERE ARE NO additional consultation charges or additional charges by the hour – We have low cost local Australian Yangwha phone numbers and we will always try to call clients straight back via our internet based VOIP phone lines to save them money.
Option 2 – includes all of the above benefits but in addition and for those people that also require a MARA backed service and for a small additional cost their application will be reviewed and overseen by our Australian based MARA accredited Yangwha migrant officer and then lodged against her MARA number.
Yangwha-Visa and Yangwha Global effectively operate through the same infrastructure and therefor can provide a single point of contact to the client employer. As we are based in the Philippines we are in close contact with the applicants and the sources that generate their documentation, which allows us to provide a seamless service to our client employer at very competitive rates.
Yangwha’s decision to position itself within the communities that are generating the meat worker candidates has allowed us take an active part in ensuring that the supply stream is maintained. We have built up a reputation of trust and a status of preferred partner at the ground level. It is important now that Yangwha, maintains sufficient uptake of the candidates that the scheme is producing to ensure that a healthy number of new applicants are motivated to enter the process.
Over the years Yangwha has proven that it can maintain the discipline that is required throughout its processes to limit the importation of unacceptable recruitment activities from other countries into Australian Employer Companies – some unsavory practices that flourish overseas will seem tempting to the Australian client employer at face value, e.g., the worker subsidizing the employer’s recruitment cost (illegal in Australia)
with cleverly structured off shore payments that are deducted from the worker’s salary once he starts work in Australia – but almost always this abuse of the worker comes back to bite the employer and eventually impacts the company’s bottom line through associated issues, such as the need to firefight negative publicity in the media.
At Yangwha we do not take a short term view and collect money from the worker so that we can appear the cheapest to the employer – our processes and pricing provides long term value for money within the context of accepted Australian practices and values.
As a footnote, the recently introduced slavery law in Australia has sharpened people’s minds on this subject and the possible 8 year jail sentence for a successful prosecution has made employers far less enthused about participating in recruitment schemes where the worker is paying for their job (usually offshore) and so subsidizing the employer’s recruitment cost.
with cleverly structured off shore payments that are deducted from the worker’s salary once he starts work in Australia – but almost always this abuse of the worker comes back to bite the employer and eventually impacts the company’s bottom line through associated issues, such as the need to firefight negative publicity in the media.
At Yangwha we do not take a short term view and collect money from the worker so that we can appear the cheapest to the employer – our processes and pricing provides long term value for money within the context of accepted Australian practices and values.
As a footnote, the recently introduced slavery law in Australia has sharpened people’s minds on this subject and the possible 8 year jail sentence for a successful prosecution has made employers far less enthused about participating in recruitment schemes where the worker is paying for their job (usually offshore) and so subsidizing the employer’s recruitment cost.
Our staff are in constant contact through social media with the workers right through the process from hopeful applicant to deployed worker – Again as we are located in the Philippines we can maintain a very close contact with all the stake holders in the supply side of the process. Mike smith particularly makes a point of being in close contact with the employer answering emails at all hours of the day to compensate for any time line differences.
In summation meeting all the requirements that come together to provide a viable service that adds value to our clients by helping to maximizing the productivity from each employment slot that is available within their investment model.
Mike Smith
Yangwha Global Pty Ltd Owner/CEO
Visit our website: http://www.yangwha.com.au
Contact Us
Yangwha Global Pty Ltd
808 Havelock St.,West Perth WA, 6005, AUSTRALIA Au: (08) 6331 3123 sales@yangwha.com.au http://www.yangwha.com.au
