Aurora Hotels and Resorts - the owners of the Ozone Hotel on Kangaroo Island - were introduced to the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) by a fellow business owner as a means of recruiting trained international staff.
The scheme offered the potential for the Ozone Hotel to find appropriately trained employees who had the incentive to remain with the business for at least two years.
Kaye Duncan, Operations Manager at the Ozone, said recruiting staff up until then had been problematical.
"For a range of reasons, we would be turning over staff every few months and often every few weeks,” Ms Duncan said."
“Our first employee under the RSMS came from Sri Lanka as our Bistro Manager and now, four years later, he is our Assistant Manager."
“He and his wife, who is employed at our local chemist, have settled into island living and their seven year old daughter has become a favourite of the local school."
“We now employ nine people on the RSMS, all in key service areas such as chefs, restaurant and office management. Without these terrific employees, we would not have been able to achieve our stated goals of 4-star acknowledgement in both accommodation and dining”.