HR CORNER
HELP WANTED! WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE WORKFORCE? Chris Allinotte, WRLA
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his is one of the questions that drives the WRLA in their vision to act as an innovative leader and connecting force in the building industry of Western Canada. After spending years building up a business, growing relationships, and establishing a network of suppliers and customers, that question of “what comes next” can be a daunting one to be sure. WRLA is hoping to address this question head on with an in-depth workforce study in tandem with the government of Alberta. In taking a close look at the workforce in one province, we anticipate learning a great deal that will be both useful to, and practical for, the WRLA membership at large. This study is coming at a time when various external factors are converging to make labour shortage issues a much more pressing problem than could have been foreseen even five years ago. With an ongoing housing shortage, and the continuing supply chain issues brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to understand how the building supply industry can play a role in helping the economy recover. When the building supply chain is strong, new housing projects can proceed unhampered by delays, which benefits communities, the provinces, and Canada as a whole. 22
Despite the importance of our industry in providing goods and services to other critical industries, there is no current source of up-to-date information on human resource issues facing the sectors or the overall labour market. With the work done through this study process, we’ll be better equipped to answer these questions. Most importantly, we’ll have identified the skills/training gaps that will allow both our organization and our members to develop targeted training plans to attract and train new talent, especially from equity-seeking groups that are currently underrepresented in the Building Supply Sector (BSS), including newcomers (i.e. immigrants and refugees), youth, Indigenous peoples, women, mature workers, and people living with a disability. The study will also outline strategies to improve employee retention. A complex challenge requires a measured, in-depth solution, so this Labour Study is taking place over the course of just over seven months and consists of several phases that will allow the final result to be as meaningful and useful as possible. When completed, the reports generated by this study will become reference material available to all members to help formulate their own best practices for recruiting and retaining a robust and resilient work force. We’ll quickly outline some of the methodology here, and then continue to keep our members updated on the progress of this project. In the coming weeks, employers in Alberta will receive communications from WRLA asking for participation in the survey. We are hoping for as high a participation rate as possible, as the more actual data we can collect, the more meaningful our results will be. Phase One of this project involved the creation of a Steering Committee to guide the project and keep the work focused on our stated goals, and the goals of the Alberta government, who is sponsoring this survey. We are thrilled to have the following YARDSTICK MAGAZINE
Spring 2022