Building a sustainable mining workforce: 134 placements at $1,898 per hire
A Queensland mining maintenance and services business set an ambitious growth target and needed a sustainable workforce to reach it. Infrastructure People placed 134 people at a cost per hire of $1,898 and helped grow the business by 40 per cent over the engagement.
Overview
The client was a Queensland-based mining maintenance and services contractor working to achieve an ambitious company growth target by building a sustainable, well-planned workforce. The engagement ran from December 2022 to April 2024 and delivered 134 placements at a cost per hire of $1,898.
The approach
The starting point was an honest assessment of the current workforce, identifying the key areas for growth and the resourcing required to support them. That work extended beyond hiring to include the further development of the client’s apprentice program, a skill-gap analysis and the upskilling requirements of existing employees. Delivery moved through four stages: planning with hiring managers and a review of onboarding, resourcing of the priority roles, a review of the onboarding process itself, and a development and upskilling phase.
Roles and disciplines
The resourcing covered the trades that keep a mining operation running: auto electricians, heavy diesel fitters, heavy road transport fitters and boilermakers, alongside management and leadership roles. Given how competitive the market was, a streamlined onboarding process mattered to both the business and the people joining it, and we provided recommendations to improve it.
Development and upskilling
Rather than treat recruitment and workforce development as separate tasks, we reviewed the existing team and identified personnel who would benefit from a trade upgrade, then mapped opportunities within the workshops to offer apprenticeship programs. That combination, bringing in new people while developing the ones already there, is what made the growth sustainable.
The Infrastructure People view
A sustainable workforce is built, not just hired. Pairing volume recruitment with apprenticeship pathways and targeted upskilling gives a business room to grow without hollowing out its existing team, and it keeps cost per hire low because capability is developed as well as bought.
“Over the duration of our partnership with Infrastructure People we have seen sustained company growth of 40 per cent. I have no hesitation in recommending them.”
– General Manager, mining services business
