Profile Stories

By Véronique Loewen

For many businesses, the past 19 months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a true roller coaster ride. Being closed, being opened, rethinking processes, managing uncertain staff complements and adapting to new safety rules, it has all been in a day’s work for so many business owners. Recently their focus and worry about how to keep the doors open and bills paid has shifted to getting employees back to work and new ones hired. As the four businesses featured here demonstrate, although workforce management can be quite different depending on the industry, the pandemic impact and the stage of the business, the common thread is that relationships and company culture go a long way to retaining and hiring dedicated employees.

PickNic's Catering The food industry and recreation and entertainment facilities were immediately impacted by the pandemic related public health orders in March 2020. For PickNic’s Catering it meant that every event in their calendar was cancelled. “It was a bloodshed. We had to lay off the majority of our team and only kept a few of the management team to handle every aspect of the business that was left,” says Nicola Lawson, PickNic’s Catering and Fine Foods owner and catering manager. Lawson had spent 18 years continuously growing the business and developing her team, so when public health orders restrictions were relaxed, she was able to bring the majority of her staff back and start ramping up event bookings once again. She attributes her ability to re-hire her staff in large part to her offering of industry-leading wages and benefits. “We often see commentary in the media related to impending staffing shortages in the hospitality industry; while it is concerning, we are staying the course in offering liveable wages and a flexible and respectful work environment,” states Lawson. With many of her experienced employees back in place, Lawson is relying on social media and job posting platforms to continue to rebuild here team. “These platforms are very streamlined and have been effective to find people, particularly when it comes to recruiting casual serving staff,” she says. “We built this business on providing great catering services for events, and now more than ever we know that success also means catering to our employees by providing flexibility and understanding for their unique situations. As the stress and anxiety levels have increased in all areas of people’s lives, beyond the focus on our catering services, our management style also has to demonstrate respect for each individual’s mental health. That’s crucial to hiring and retaining great people.” www.saskatooncatering.ca LMNO With the majority of their team working remotely is not exactly how the owners and leadership team of LMNO had envisioned celebrating their 45 years in business offering strategic advertising and branding services. Prior to the pandemic LMNO was in the midst of reorganizing and growing its team to meet the evolving needs of their clients. Thanks to their ability to work remotely that focus on recruitment did not stop. “Remote work has allowed us to expand our search outside of our local market and really focus on skillsets to bring the right talents to the team and also focus on great referrals from our existing team members,” explains Corey Michel, LMNO’s President and CEO. With the cancellation of in-person interviews due to pandemic related restrictions, LMNO embraced the use of digital and virtual interviews as part of their recruitment strategy. LinkedIn, digital job boards, and professional association platforms became their go to. They also had to rethink their interview process to be more effective in a virtual environment. “We had to approach interview questions in different ways to get at some of the non-verbal cues we would have normally picked up in person and that do not translate as well on screen,” says Michel. “One of the most challenging aspects has been post-recruitment, the onboarding process,” adds Michel. “In a business highly reliant on creative teamwork and collaboration, being able to share and absorb the agency culture remotely has been a challenge.” LMNO addressed this challenge by allowing more time for new recruits’ orientation and developing a “meet and greet system” with key people in the organization tasked to provide them with opportunities to have conversations early on to build relationships, and to shadow them in meetings internally and with clients. “The future of work is here, and we have realized the importance of building a flexible environment that works for individuals, teams and the organization. This starts with a positive experience for our existing team members because they are the ones recommending people that they know to grow our team. It’s allowing us to be nimbler and more attractive with our recruitment process and workforce management.” www.meetlmno.com

WD Plastics The sudden high demand for acrylic guards brought on by the pandemic turned out to be a positive opportunity for WD Plastics. The company’s well-established supply chain ensured it had the acrylic stocks necessary to deliver the much-needed guards swiftly. “We quickly came up with standard styles of guards and improved them as time went on, which made the production process easier and quicker,” explains Todd Hudson, owner of WD Plastics. As WD Plastics ramped up production the importance of having a strong established team was immediately apparent. “I was fortunate to have the team I did. When the orders started coming in there was no time to hire and thanks to my team I didn’t need to. They all dug in and did what they had to do, including working long days and weekends,” says Hudson. “I have such an amazing staff. They even brought a few extra family members to chip in when needed. I’m very lucky.” For Hudson, beyond being able to meet the need, the other reward of their hard work has been the spread of his company’s logo everywhere. “I feel very proud when I’m out and about and see the work my team did in so many locations. It’s also amazing when people come up to me and say: ‘I see WD everywhere’. It means mission accomplished,” says Hudson. Now that the acrylic guards demand has leveled off Hudson is once again focusing on staying ahead of the curve in the plastics industry and particularly in terms of technology. He recognizes that this is where his need for employees will likely come from. For now, he is thankful that he did not have to recruit during a pandemic. “WD will always have a need for valued employees and when you treat them like family, you get it back tenfold in crunch times.” www.wdplastics.com Breck Construction In the early days of the pandemic many industrial and commercial projects were put on hold. For the multi-trade company Breck Construction that resulted in having to furlough many employees and using creative schedules so as many employees as possible could keep their job even if it meant getting fewer hours. “We decided early on to try to hold on to the people we have. Through open communication with our employees, they agreed to work differently than in the past and shift duties, sites and schedules,” says Bobbylynn Stewart, majority owner and vice-president operations of Breck Construction. The bulk of the company’s workforce is part of a closed shop union. It means that as Brecks takes on projects, they can rely on the trades unions to secure the specific workforce they need. Historically, this system has allowed them to quickly ramp-up job sites with 150 trades people in as little as two weeks. Today, as projects are starting again, that’s a bit harder to do. “With the pandemic, many of the pre-employment programs, apprenticeship opportunities and high-school career fairs have been cancelled. It means that it’s hard to recruit first years; there aren’t many new trades people coming down the pipeline. The unions are having difficulty recruiting at a time when self-isolation requirements create added scheduling difficulties and a need for more people on the roster,” explains Stewart. “Thankfully, our clients have been understanding of the situation because many of them have similar issues.” With a strong relationship with the unions and a dedicated complement of long-standing employees, Breck is increasingly relying on word of mouth and referrals from their employees’ network to recruit for the positions that the unions are having difficulty filling. “Ultimately these new hires have to join the appropriate trade union before they can start working for us. The unions help us as much as they can, and we help them -and ourselves - by filling the gap. It works for all of us. We are fortunate to have good employees who want their friends and family members to join us too,” says Stewart. www.breckconstruction.ca

by Mouneeb Shahid, CEO of 2Web.ca

Have you considered using Google to tap into new markets? The past 18 months have been very challenging for most businesses. For some, the COVID crisis has catalyzed digital transformation and has been a blessing in disguise; others haven't been as fortunate. Thriving businesses chose to pivot during the pandemic by adopting digital solutions such as e-commerce, e-learning and remote work, and many found success by proactively leveraging the power of Google to gain market share. Google even released a set of apps that brings together data from different parts of the world, allowing access to localized market research insights.

One such app is Google's Market Finder, designed to help businesses find resources to grow and target new audiences. You can start by creating a business expansion plan using market insights that shed light on your target audience in a specific region. Market Finder then proceeds to recommend a combination of tools and resources related to localization, logistics, payments and promotional strategies to aid the expansion plan.

A key area of focus during the analysis is how the corporate website meets Google standards. After all, it is in Google's best interest to serve its audience with highquality and relevant websites that deliver a great user experience.

To match the required criteria, the presentation of the website content must be creative and accessible across multiple platforms. The loading speed of content plays a paramount role in Google rankings, especially since the recent Google Web Vitals update prioritizes webpage speed and user experience.

However, nothing beats communicating in the language of your audience. Keeping up with content translation can be a challenge in itself. Still, the returns can be significant if done well. The Google ranking algorithm prioritizes content in a regional language and makes it more likely to be found locally. A scalable solution could be to use a multilingual machine learning translation app such as WEGLOT, which can effectively translate massive amounts of content in real-time.

It is critical to have a digital marketing strategy so that your target market can effectively find your website. People may have varying search behaviours and use different words to describe your product or service depending on the area you target. A proper keyword research analysis is necessary for search engine optimization so that people can find you on Google.

Although Google is much more innovative, and some would argue that you don't need to pay as much attention to keywords, the right approach to content strategy should consider the key phrases your target audience is searching for. Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that can get you started with keyword research. With the right type and amount of content placed and a plan for consistently updating it, you should see improved website rankings over time.

If you are looking for immediate results, utilizing the Google Ad Platform to pay for positioning in search results can be effective. However, it is essential to note that bidding a higher amount for a keyphrase does not guarantee top results even when using paid ads. Your Google Ad campaign is independently ranked using a Quality Scoring system that relies on the following factors:

• Ad relevance: Think of the "intent" your target audience has when searching. The relevance of each keyword that you are bidding for to the ad copy matters. • Expected Click-Through-Rate (CTR):

How likely is it that someone will click on your Ad? • Webpage experience: How sticky is the destination you are driving the visitors to?

We keep coming back to the experience you are giving to your visitors with the design and content. Google factors this highly when it comes to scoring your campaigns, so much so that if the visitor destination is not up to par, you can end up paying significantly more for ads or not show up at all.

In conclusion, start with building a solid foundation that delivers the best digital experience for your online visitors. Track the behaviour of how your visitors navigate through the content and understand what makes them convert to qualified leads. These metrics will map out a user journey that will provide insights into what is working, allowing you to make better strategic decisions for expanding your business.

To get started by identifying the gaps, you can use a free website analysis tool at Optimize.net

The Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce is providing complimentary video promo exposure to local Saskatoon businesses to be posted on our new online business site, The Totally Locally Market Hub. This site is so small businesses can get the reach and attention they need to bring traffic to their doors or online stores.

The Totally Locally campaign encourages community members to buy local via an online Market Hub ready to provide products and services to the community.

Whether you’re running a small business that’s been around for a while or you’re new to Saskatoon, the Chamber takes great pride in helping bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the community to ensure the products and services they offer are promoted across the city.

If you are interested in participating, we have limited spots available for our upcoming recording dates so contact Pam Kenny, Member Relations Manager at memberrelations@saskatoonchamber.com

The website will launch November 15th so keep your eyes open for information on how to access The Market Hub.