Day Two – Thursday 15 September

1.45pm-2.15pm - Keynote Address

How New Zealand's Human Resources can Contribute More to Economic and Business Success James Buwalda, Department of Labour

How New Zealand's human resources can contribute more to economic and business success.

The past year has highlighted the dynamic nature of New Zealand's labour market, as unemployment has dropped and skills shortages have deepened. More than ever in this environment, good human resources management contributes to economic and business success. James Buwalda, Secretary of Labour, discusses how integrating social and corporate values with an organisation's strategic goals, creating an attractive workplace culture and involving staff can increase productivity gains and give organisations the edge in a tight labour market. As New Zealand moves towards a high skill, highly-productive, high wage economy, with high-quality, balanced working lives, strategic human resources management takes centre stage.

James Buwalda was appointed Secretary of Labour in July 2003. He had previously been Chief Executive at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology since 1996.

James is the son of Dutch immigrants and grew up on the West Coast of the South Island. He has an Agricultural Science degree from Lincoln University and a PhD from the University of London. He was a research scientist with MAF and HortResearch between 1979 and 1995.

James has worked throughout his career to find and apply new ways of delivering improvements to lives and enterprises of New Zealanders. He puts a lot of emphasis on connecting government to community interests, so that people in the wider community can benefit from public services and other government–funded activities.

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