LABOUR MARKET STUDY

Martine Yzerman, WRLA

Albert Einstein said, “if we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” Though it was said with tongue in cheek, Mr. Einstein was onto something. Together with our partner Malatest, and working on behalf of the Alberta Government, we have been busy collecting data from the Labour Study to gain better insight as it pertains to acute challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified workers in the LBM Industry.

The key objectives of the study were as follows:

• Identify the sector’s most critical labour market issues (e.g. skills/ training needs and gaps);

• Forecast future needs in terms of human resources and skills;

• Provide a complete understanding of any recruitment/retention issues;

• Assess effective strategies to support recruitment and retention; and

• Establish plans to better align the supply and demand sides of the labour market

Please note that, although we invited all of our WRLA members to participate, we are still awaiting responses from many of you. Thank you to those who have submitted your surveys. Based on your responses, we have been able to determine the following:

56%—had job vacancies open longer than three months

60%—of posted jobs were for general store staff, including retail salespersons, cashiers, store shelf stockers, forklift operators, truck drivers and other occupations

81%—hired new staff from traditionally underrepresented groups in the past 12 months

• Youth: 45%

• New Canadians: 72%

• Indigenous persons: 81%

• Women: 83%

83%—expected that there would be an increase in terms of FTE (full-time employees) positions in the next five years.

Your survey results are needed. The findings mentioned above are only from a handful of members. This project focuses on filling the labour gap and establishing key labour market information needed by the sector to facilitate the development of strategies to address human resource and skill shortages. Simply put—your input helps with our output!

Although these are preliminary results, it is interesting to note that 56 per cent of the respondents had vacancies open longer than three months, and 60 per cent posted jobs for general store staff. Perhaps herein begs the question. Are employers looking for a golden unicorn? We know that unicorns do not exist (certainly not golden ones); however, many skills are transferable and even something as simple as rephrasing your standard interview questions, could allow the interviewee the opportunity to highlight their transferable skills, and you might just discover that combined with their passion and energy you can ultimately teach them anything (a unicorn in the making).

Members of the WRLA have reported acute challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified workers in sufficient numbers, however, currently there is no further information available for the reasons behind this or corresponding strategies to address this issue. By filling this gap in knowledge, the survey allows relevant stakeholders to better align the workforce to meet more effectively and efficiently the current and forecasted needs of the growing market.

The global labour shortage is a challenge prevalent across all industries. The WRLA is working closely with our members to seek how we can support employers in understanding the challenges that our industry is facing when it pertains to the labour shortage.

Two of WRLA’s key pillars are Advocacy and Education, and we are making great strides as it pertains to both pillars. Firstly, we are actively engaging with various Boards of Education across western Canada to discover ways how we can bridge our future potential employees into the captivating world of the Building Industry. Ultimately our goal is to minimize the networking barriers for our members and high school students. Employers need guidance as to how they can capture and engage the attention of high school students and high school students need to see all the possibilities available to them when the traditional University/College route is not what they are seeking. Hence, we are excited to announce that together with the Calgary Board of Education, we discovered the CBE CAREERS program. This is a non-profit initiative to support employers in hiring students in specific skilled trades areas including the Building Industry. Currently, we have two of our Calgary WRLA members taking on High School students for the winter semester, which often rolls into summer and potential full-time employment.

Secondly, we are busy with the creation of online educational resources to ensure that our members always have access to relevant, modern and updated learning to upskill their employees. The content is driven, provided and audited by you, and the course creation, authoring and delivery is completed by the WRLA. Together, we will meet and exceed our members’ educational needs. Our vision is to provide learning pathways which allow employees to be in control of their careers and development. Gone are the days of rigid career lines. We are excited to create career pathways as moldable as putty. If there is a course you would like to see, please let us know! We are here to develop both the content and the workforce. Please stay tuned to discover all the courses you and your employees can register for to enhance your skill development.