More and more countries across the globe are adopting digital solutions to manage labour mobility. As recruitment and worker welfare needs become more complex, technology has a crucial – and transformative - role to play.

In the Asia Pacific, Australia’s high-profile Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme allows eligible Australian businesses to hire workers from nine Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste when there are not enough local workers available. Once approved under the PALM scheme, employers can recruit workers for short-term jobs for up to nine months or long-term roles for between one and 4 years.

With more than 31,950 workers now in Australia, the PALM scheme is a significant logistical operation. Naturally, the technology needs are complex.

New In-Country Recruitment Databases Delivering Benefits

For the past 6 years, the Palladium-managed Pacific Labour Facility (PLF) has provided several tiers of support to the PALM scheme – including when it comes to worker recruitment. Drawing on lessons learned over several years, the team has recently worked closely with partner countries to develop a fit-for-purpose recruitment technology platform.

“When the PLF first commenced, we discovered how difficult it was for partner countries to create and manage a registry of their citizens who were interested in jobs in Australia,” explains PLF’s Chief Information Officer Jordan Duffy.

“It was hard to keep track of worker documentation and eligibility status, liaise with employers, monitor welfare concerns, and handle travel logistics. It was all done on Excel, and impossible to scale.”

As the PLF explored more sophisticated ways to support and empower PALM scheme partner countries, it wasn’t long before the In-Country Recruitment Database (IRD) initiative was born. Funded by the Australian Government, the IRD saw the custom build of a software platform for labour mobility management, deployed across 10 countries.

“The IRD is an ambitious program that has delivered benefits for our partner countries,” says Sascha Piggott, PLF’s Pacific and Timor-Leste Engagement Lead.

“Not only has the platform improved the worker recruitment process, but it’s given partner countries greater ownership and control over their workers’ data, increased real-time data and reports, and improved communication. The IRD infrastructure is owned and operated by each partner country and supported by our IRD team.”

Evolving Technology Through Consultation and Deep Listening

At all stages of the IRD development, consultation and partnership has been key.

“We know that the success of the IRD depended wholly on our consultations and listening deeply to partner countries,” explains Duffy. “Our partners told us what they needed for their cultural contexts, and it has continued to evolve and take shape through genuine stakeholder engagement. We invest in the right areas with every new feature, workshop, training activity, and delivery.”

Across the Pacific and Timor-Leste, a team of around 20 IRD coordinators collaborates with the PLF through an IRD community of practice. Appointed by each partner government, these coordinators advocate locally for the IRD and receive ongoing training from the PLF.

Roselyn Tupuola first joined as an IRD coordinator in Samoa, and since 2022 has been delivering the roll-out of the database across the country. She has since moved into a regional training role.

“Roselyn’s ICT knowledge has grown since she came on board in 2022, and it’s been great to see her participate in our PLF-run leadership training workshops,” says Duffy. “She has since trained other staff, onboarded a new IRD coordinator in Samoa, and facilitated the Nauru IRD go-live in person. She is a valued member of the IRD team.”

As the PALM scheme continues to expand and evolve, so too will the IRD technology.

“By streamlining the recruitment and mobilisation of workers, technology platforms like the IRD help countries maximise the economic benefits of their labour mobility programs,” says Christina H. Maoma, Director of the Solomon Islands Labour Sending Unit. “With improved access to work-ready pools, businesses can recruit faster, while governments can support their citizens more effectively. This is a very important platform for us.”

By using the IRD technology, partner countries can better measure who is participating in the PALM scheme. This will help shape and evaluate the success of labour mobility policies, leading to a bigger positive impact.

The PALM scheme is jointly managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). DFAT is responsible for strategic policy development and relationship management with partner countries (with support from their managing contractor the PLF) and DEWR leads on domestic onshore operations. For more information, please contact info@thepalladiumgroup.com.