More than 100 qualified staff have left WAF for overseas market – WAF CEO

More than 100 qualified staff have left WAF for overseas market – WAF CEO

Losing skilled professionals to overseas markets is a major problem that Fiji needs to look into and the Water Authority of Fiji is not spared from this as the CEO, Dr Amit Chanan, revealed that more than 100 technical qualified staff left the organisation since he got the CEO job.

While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, a worried Dr Chanan says this is a big issue for the organisation because they cannot chain people to their desks as it's a free market economy.

He says it is hard for them to compete with the salary levels of Australia and New Zealand, but they are investing in knowledge management and in-house training programs to deal with this issue.

He also highlighted that they need to create relationships with contractors or service providers who have the expertise they need, so if there is a need to find an expert, it's available.

WAF Chief Operating Officer Seru Soderberg says the biggest challenge for them is competing with Australian and New Zealand markets as they have a more lucrative deal than what WAF provides.

He says most of the people that have left the organisation are experienced people.

He also highlighted that one of the main impacts of people leaving the organisation is the lack of manpower.

He adds to cover for this, they are conducting a recruitment drive where all those that will join the organisation will undergo training.

Watch the full Straight Talk video here: