Wine Industry Workforce Planning

Across the backdrop of a global skills and labour shortage, and ongoing growth across the Marlborough wine industry, there is an urgent need to understand and plan for the sustainability of the wine industry workforce. Production capability is people capability; without understanding the industry’s workforce challenges and planning the right support for the workforce’s development, we put at risk the ongoing success of the industry and the Marlborough region.  

\Photo: Richard Briggs 

Evidence for our workforce: A national workforce data project

In 2023 Wine Marlborough partnered with New Zealand Winegrowers to commission a report from BERL to deliver insights into current and future workforce skills requirements.

With additional funding from MBIE’s Sector Workforce Engagement Programme, and the Marlborough Research Centre we were able to commission BERL to undertake a national survey for the wine industry was conducted to gather data to define the current and future roles and skills. BERL also analysed wine and viticulture job advertisements in New Zealand and Australia over the past 10 years. 

Together the survey and the job analysis deliver a national ‘snapshot’ of job clusters and job families, outlines demand for specific skills across the clusters and families and identifies potential future opportunities and risks facing the industry. 

This Report is a national snapshot but does not represent the national industry, due to data limitations.

  • The Report highlighted that wine industry roles have skills that are complementary and would support development in multiple career pathways, providing opportunities for people to remain in the wine industry.

    Survey responses highlighted areas for development including:

    • Clarifying job descriptions, such as through using common language to describe skills

    • Using skills to help businesses to understand how individuals could develop and move between roles, enabling businesses to better utilise their workforce

    • Linking technical skills to a specific job family, to assist with group training and recruitment.

  • The Report is being made publicly available for use by industry and key stakeholders in future decision making, including:

    • By NZW – refresh of the national Sustainable Workforce Action Plan

    • By Wine Marlborough to prioritise activity that identifies and meets regional needs

    • By businesses – inform recruitment and training approaches, such as the review of job descriptions to match skills to role requirements, and to map employee career plans against business skill requirements

    • By training providers – develop and review training qualifications to meet industry’s future needs

    • By local government – identify job clusters to match to regional attraction strategies and infrastructure planning

    • By central government - inform and support future decisions related to workforce planning in the wine industry.

  • The dashboard is an interactive tool to demonstrate the expected growth in skills and roles to 2030, based on analysis of wine and viticulture job advertisements in New Zealand and Australia over the past 10 years.

    Click here to see the dashboard.

Marlborough's Wine Production & Workforce

Marlborough accounts for approximately 80% of New Zealand’s grape growing and wine production; a significant proportion of New Zealand’s sixth largest export industry (exceeding $2.4 billion in 2023). There is a strong interdependence between the wine industry and the Marlborough region; wine’s contribution to the Marlborough economy has grown by 300% since 2000 and continues to grow.

Approximately 2,070 people were employed in permanent fulltime roles by Marlborough’s grape growers, wine companies, and contracting businesses alone in 2020. Across the sector, including supporting services, approximately 2,750 fulltime people were employed in 2020 and at least one fifth of Marlborough’s workforce is employed directly or indirectly by the wine sector (NZIER Report Contribution of Winegrowing to the Marlborough Economy).

Similar to other agricultural and horticultural industries, the wine industry is seasonal. The seasonal peaks and troughs of the industry are shown below. Seasonal demand for staff is beyond the supply of Marlborough’s small population, which accounts for less than 1% of New Zealand’s resident population.

Marlborough encompasses approx. 80% of New Zealand’s total wine production and represents a significant proportion of the national industry workforce. 

Why does the Marlborough Wine Industry need a Workforce Plan?

Sustainable Growth. Planning for the sustainability of the sector’s workforce will ensure that businesses not only have the staff needed with the right skills and experience at the right time, but they have the people to support business growth and development into the future.

Economic Development. The wine industry is a significant economic contributor to the Marlborough region accounting for 20% of Marlborough’s GDP. Businesses connected to the wine industry are often at the forefront of technology and innovation, seeding more growth and innovation in Marlborough.

Community. One in five people in Marlborough are employed either directly or indirectly by the wine sector. The wine industry and its people shape and influence the wider Marlborough region and community and a thriving wine sector workforce supports thriving communities.

A collaborative regional approach to workforce planning aims to take into consideration the interdependencies between the wine industry and the Marlborough region, maximising the needs of both and balancing respective challenges and opportunities.

  • The purpose of a workforce development plan for the Marlborough wine sector is two-fold:

    1. To offer a mechanism for people and businesses in the wine industry to address workforce challenges and maximise opportunities across the sector.

    2. To support stakeholder understanding of the sector’s workforce needs, challenges, and opportunities and guide the alignment of their activities.

    • Define the sector's current and future workforce position and needs

    • Offer industry-led guidance on workforce needs to sector stakeholders

    • Provide strategic oversight on long-term workforce development

  • At beginning of 2022 the Marlborough Winegrowers board directed Wine Marlborough to facilitate a workforce development plan for the Marlborough wine industry.

    Marlborough’s Wine Industry Strategic Workforce Steering Group

    The development of the plan is being led by the Wine Marlborough advocacy manager and supported by an industry steering group including:

    Working Groups

    As the plan evolves, industry working groups will form to drive specific industry-led initiatives. Two working groups have been established so far:

    • Wine Industry Resilience Committee (WIRC) - responsible for guiding and delivering wine industry wellness week and supporting resilience and wellbeing across the industry’s people. Contact Chair Stewart MacLennan if you would like to get involved

    • Leaderful Marlborough working group - the group’s goal is to elevate and support leadership across the Marlborough business community and wine industry. The group is developing a 9-12 month leadership program for a cohort of Marlborough changemakers, and is running a speaker series. Contact Lucy MacLean if you would like to get involved.

    Your participation and feedback is welcomed! If you would like to get involved or share you views, please contact Wine Marlborough’s Advocacy Manager, or one of the steering group members.

  • The Marlborough Regional Skills Leadership Group (RSLG) has identified wine as one of five focus sectors for the region. An immediate action for the RSLG in their first Regional Workforce Plan is to support Wine Marlborough to develop a workforce plan for the Marlborough wine industry in collaboration with Muka Tangata, the People, Food and Fibre Workforce Development Council.

    Marlborough District Council has long understood the importance of the wine industry to Marlborough. In the latest Marlborough Economic Wellbeing Strategy, wine and viticulture was identified as a key focus for the Economic Development Team. Actions include the development of a workforce plan and supporting a talent attraction campaign. This is vital work for Marlborough as we identify the future of work and provide opportunities for our community. 

Workforce Foundation Plan & Framework

The scope of the workforce development plan for the Marlborough wine industry was developed by the workforce steering group. During this research and exploration phase, a number of key insights stood out as fundamental aspects of developing a plan to support a sustainable workforce. These include:

  • A long-term view of the workforce and strategic approach to planning, balanced with action on immediate workforce needs

  • A consistent and enduring industry-led mechanism for workforce planning

  • Collaboration and alignment with key supporting organisations and stakeholders

  • Complementarity between business, regional, and national-level planning

The Foundation Plan: A pathway to developing a sustainable workforce provides more background on the scope and pathway being undertaken. This document also outlines the following immediate priorities:

  1. Gathering high resolution data on the sector’s current and future workforce roles and skills

  2. Supporting the wellbeing of the existing workforce

  3. Supporting leadership development

  4. Consolidating stakeholder collaboration

The Framework for the Marlborough Wine Industry Workforce Plan (below) was developed in the scoping phase and draws on the Food & Fibre Skills Action Plan 2019-2022. The framework outlines four focus areas, medium-term outcomes, and industry-led initiatives that cover: knowledge, attraction, learning, and people. The intent of the framework is to outline industry-led initiatives and guide collaboration between industry and stakeholders such as government agencies. The framework is a living document, which will evolve and be refined. Importantly, stakeholder support and stakeholder-led initiatives are yet to be identified and will be undertaken in collaboration with key stakeholders as we progress through the planning.

Framework for the Marlborough Wine Industry Workforce Development Plan

Timeline

As the workforce data is gathered and longer-term outcomes and initiatives for the plan are developed, specific projects and initiatives that offer immediate benefits to the industry will be piloted. One of example of this is Wellness Week, which was piloted in 2023. This will help us “learn by doing” and improve the planning processes and mechanisms, including how industry and wider stakeholders get involved and align with the plan.

How to get involved

As the plan evolves, industry working groups will form to drive specific industry-led initiatives—your participation and feedback is essential!

Two working groups have been established so far:

  • Wine Industry Resilience Committee (WIRC) - responsible for guiding and delivering wine industry wellness week and supporting resilience and wellbeing across the industry’s people. Contact Chair Stewart MacLennan if you would like to get involved

  • Leaderful Marlborough working group - the group’s goal is to elevate and support leadership across the Marlborough business community and wine industry. The group is developing a 9-12 month leadership program for a cohort of Marlborough changemakers, and is running a speaker series. Contact Lucy MacLean if you would like to get involved.

Your participation is welcomed! If you would like to get involved or share you views, please contact Wine Marlborough’s Advocacy Manager, or one of the steering group members.