ABOUT OSTIX
Ostix is a specialist workforce strategy consultancy for arboriculture and vegetation-management employers.
The work combines labour-market research, organisational diagnosis and practical implementation to understand why capable people are difficult to attract, develop, deploy and retain; where the constraint is reducing productive capacity; and what the employer can realistically change.
The focus is not HR administration. It is the design and performance of the workforce itself: how scarce skill is used, how trainees become productive, how crews are organised and led, how physical careers are sustained, and whether employment remains a credible alternative to self-employment or exit.
PERSPECTIVE
I began in arboriculture in 2007 and later founded and grew an Auckland arboriculture business. Persistent difficulty finding enough skilled arborists restricted its growth and contributed to my decision to sell the company in 2016.
Several years later, I returned to the business as a climbing arborist while completing a Master of Business Studies on Skill mismatches and worker shortages in the New Zealand arboriculture industry. This gave me an unusual view of the same problem—as a former employer who had struggled to hire, a frontline worker experiencing the role directly, and a researcher examining evidence from across the industry.
The study found that persistent shortages could not be explained by worker supply alone. Pay mattered, but so did working conditions, physical sustainability, career prospects, training capacity, management, the deployment of scarce skills and the wider structure of the market.
After completing the research, I moved into project and business-improvement roles within the company. Working alongside the owner, management team and employees, I contributed to changes across recruitment, training, flexible work, crew structures, operational roles, communication and management systems as the business grew.
Not every intervention worked cleanly, and the company’s development was never the work of one person. That longitudinal experience—combined with the research and continued frontline involvement—now forms the foundation of Ostix.
WHAT OSTIX DOES
Every engagement begins by identifying where workforce constraints are limiting productive capacity, service quality, growth or resilience.
This may involve examining:
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Critical and bottleneck roles;
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Early productivity and training economics;
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Where scarce skilled time is being lost;
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Crew structure, leadership and accountability;
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Physical sustainability and flexible work;
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Progression, status and alternatives to employment;
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Management capacity and knowledge transfer;
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Retention patterns and regrettable exits;
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Whether the employer promise matches operational reality.
The initial output is a prioritised diagnosis of the primary constraint, its likely causes, approximate economic consequence and the evidence supporting the explanation.
Where change is justified, Ostix can help design and implement the response. This may include changes to trainee selection and deployment, crew systems, role design, progression, flexibility, management routines, internal communication or the employment offer.
Employer branding, careers content and recruitment communication can support implementation, but they are not treated as the answer before the work system itself has been examined.
Qualifications & Research
Master of Business Studies (Distinction in Management) [view document]
Bachelor of Management Studies (Enterprise Development Major) [view document]
Master’s thesis: Skills Mismatches and Worker Shortages in the New Zealand Arboriculture Industry
FAQ
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