Canadian employers face significant challenges in recruiting and retaining the right talent, according to a panel of experts at a recent Toronto Region Board of Trade luncheon.
One issue is the “mismatch between supply and demand,” explained Dr. Robert Luke, vice-president, research and innovation, with George Brown College. He cited a recent Maclean’s statistic: over the last 11 years, Canada has produced 1.1 million humanities and social sciences graduates but only 41,000 plumbers and electricians. “We need to do a better job at matching the credential needed with what the labour market needs,” he said, adding that this will require greater co-ordination between industry and academia.
In a similar vein, Greg Rooney, senior vice-president, HR, with Aecon Group Inc., described the challenges of recruiting for the construction company. Due to the complexity of the business and its projects, “we’ve changed the mindset of our HR teams to be much more global,” he said. “You just can’t find project managers who are capable of executing an $8-million project. There’s just not that many of them in Canada.”
To ensure that it has the right resources in place, Aecon also focuses on developing its own talent internally. For example, Rooney explained, the company launched Aecon University a year and a half ago to leverage all training in the company through one platform and ensure consistency in skills.
But developing talent is a particular challenge in an environment where many companies are still trying to do more with less, noted Kathy Lockwood, HR leader of Aon Canada. She noted that, in many cases, companies simply aren’t filling vacated positions and are instead transferring the workload to others. When they do hire, “everyone’s looking for someone who can hit the ground running, and, unfortunately, ‘hit the ground running’ means that we’re not going to be training up,” she explained. “One of the things that organizations need to look at is how they’re going to grow their talent so that they are able to move individuals up through organizations.”
“We’re living in a world—particularly in this economic climate—of short-term gain for long-term pain,” agreed Neil Crawford, partner and leader of Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers in Canada study, noting that there are lost opportunities in hiring someone who is “ready now” instead of someone who can be developed into a role. He believes that training and development requires a continual investment in staff—even when times are tough.
“A strong commitment to learning and development through good times and bad is a critical element in sustaining the competitiveness of an organization’s key asset: its people,” he added. “Meaningful development of people can’t be turned on and off—it needs to be sustained on an ongoing basis to ensure a highly motivated and productive workforce.”