James Isaacs - Workforce Strategist
Arboriculture experience since 2007
Business ownership, contracting, climbing, crew leadership and organisational improvement across almost two decades in the industry.
Original workforce research
Master’s research examining the causes of recruitment and retention difficulties among skilled arborists in New Zealand.
National and international industry speaker
Presented arboricultural workforce research and practical workforce strategy to industry audiences in New Zealand and internationally.
Strategy grounded in operations
Years spent implementing and observing workforce changes inside a growing arboriculture company—not applying generic HR templates from outside the industry.
SERVICES
What Ostix does
PROCESS
How it all works
01
Define the constraint
We identify the roles, skills or workforce gaps limiting delivery, growth or service quality, and clarify where the business is losing productive capacity.
02
Measure the impact
We examine the value of delayed, declined or under-delivered work alongside recruitment costs, overtime, subcontracting, turnover and management disruption.
03
Diagnose the causes
We determine whether the problem involves genuine labour scarcity, an uncompetitive employment offer, role design, working conditions, career prospects, training capacity, management, retention or weak recruitment communication.
04
Build the response
The solution is shaped around the diagnosis. This may involve changes to the employment offer, role structure, career pathways, recruitment messaging, careers content, candidate experience or workforce systems.
05
Implement and refine
Ostix helps put the changes into practice, monitors what improves and refines the system as the workforce, labour market and business requirements develop.
ABOUT
Who I am
Hi, I’m James Isaacs.
I came into this work from years spent at the coalface in operational roles where weak messaging and poor market signals have real commercial consequences. This experience left me sceptical of the standard web design process which tends to prioritise surface polish over the actual message that needs to be communicated.
To me, the job is not just to make a business look better. It is to decide how it should be understood, what it needs to prove, and how the site can help it compete more effectively.
Hi, I’m James Isaacs.
I have worked in arboriculture since 2007—as a climbing arborist, business owner, contractor, crew leader and business-improvement manager.
My interest in workforce strategy began when skilled-worker shortages constrained the growth of an arboriculture company I founded. I later returned to the business as a climbing arborist while completing a Master of Business Studies on skill mismatches and worker shortages in New Zealand arboriculture.
After the research, I moved into project and business-improvement roles, working with the owner, management team and employees on recruitment, training, role design, flexibility, crew systems and operational improvement as the company grew.
Ostix is the continuation of that work. I now help arboriculture and vegetation-management employers understand why capable people are difficult to attract, develop, deploy and retain—and what must change inside the workforce system for better outcomes to become possible.
FAQ
Your questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Get in Touch
Tell me a little about your business and what you are looking to improve. I’ll get back to you promptly with a few initial thoughts and the best next step.