Hallis.

For Australian recruitment services company Hallis, working across a range of industry sectors including banking, finance, engineering and government, the job of training its diverse pool of candidates in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) has traditionally presented various challenges.

Paris Fent, General Manager, Corporate Services at Hallis, said one of the company’s biggest challenges was to educate its significant number of white collar candidates about the importance of completing an OHS induction, and to make the training more relevant to its industry sectors.

“We needed to overcome the problem of candidates failing to complete their training prior to commencing a position, particularly those in remote areas, as well as our white collar workers who felt that OHS training was unnecessary. We also needed to find an easier way to be able to track and retrieve candidates’ records at a later date,” she said.

As a leading recruitment agency in Australia operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra with over 1,000 candidates registered, the team at Hallis felt more needed to be done to mitigate risk and fulfil its OHS responsibility.

“In the past we used a CD-ROM package with limited network and no remote capability to train our candidates and employees, which resulted in lengthy delays. There were also issues with the material meeting WorkSafe legislative requirements as updates were irregular,” Ms Fent said.

“To demonstrate innovative and progressive recruitment methodologies, and to meet the challenges of employing a diverse workforce, our systems for training also had to change to reflect this,” she said.

Through liaison with the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA), which recognised Hallis’ requirements and its need to adopt an innovative training approach to match its business goals, the RCSA highly recommended WorkPro, a centralised online induction program, which it endorses.

Ms Fent said after 12 months of using WorkPro the company is now reaping the benefits of the system and the change effectively supports the company’s growth in market share.

“We needed a system that was streamlined and flexible; one that could be customised for different sectors. WorkPro also has excellent administrative functions that support easy access to records,” Ms Fent said.

“We have the added benefit of knowing that once the assigned training modules are completed, the candidate’s assessment score is permanently stored on the database, providing the recruiter with easy access to results prior to them commencing work. Having access to the candidate’s ID/PIN code is another significant benefit as records can be made available from one agency to the next, eliminating the need for repetition across the industry,” she said.

Ms Fent is confident that Hallis’ candidates are now presented to employers with OHS training that meets industry standards and said employers and agencies are recognising that WorkPro is becoming synonymous with OHS training. The success of the WorkPro system at Hallis is also a result of the WorkPro team who were particularly helpful when suggestions for the system were put forward, Ms Fent added.



“WorkPro’s Business Manager is always willing to listen and take on board any comments we have. It’s particularly good having someone who also understands the technical side to the system. We believe with the addition of further modules to WorkPro in due course, it will be an even greater tool,” Ms Fent concluded.