Voice of Business: Technology, Diversity and Flexibility Are Key to Workforce Challenges
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The labour issues hitting businesses across the country didn’t start with the pandemic, but it did accelerate the problem to a point where it’s one of the biggest issues holding back economic growth.
According to a survey by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC):
55 per cent of Canadian entrepreneurs are struggling to hire the workers they need
64 per cent report that labour shortage limits their growth
61 per cent must increase their hours and/or their employees’ hours
49 per cent must increase wages and benefits
44 per cent have delayed or unable to deliver orders to clients
Lack of access to a workforce with the right skills is holding back businesses and hiring difficulties increase in smaller communities.
Nationally, unemployment has fallen to 5.2 per cent.
Our economy is bouncing back, but that’s putting further strain on businesses’ ability to hire. Projections range on when things will return “back to normal,” but we can say with confidence these challenges aren’t going away in the short term.
These issues were decades in the making, but ultimately what is important is finding our path forward.
What businesses are doing according to BDC:
Offering flexible work arrangements (e.g. telework, flextime, compressed workweeks) – 37 per cent
Internally training less-qualified workers – 35 per cent
Recruiting younger workers and/or students – 26 per cent
Hiring freelancers or contractual or independent workers – 25 per cent
Recruiting immigrants and/or foreign workers – 10 per cent
Automating certain areas (e.g. using robotics, cognitive agents, smart workflows or advanced analytics) – 10 per cent
Recruiting older/previously retired workers – 9 per cent
BDC notes Increasing diversity and flexibility are important for business growth, including three key areas: youth, immigrants, and older workers. Immigration in Canada slowed to a crawl through the pandemic. Both youth and immigrants bring skills and a willingness to grow and develop. BDC recommends offering more opportunities to youth and immigrants as a way to make better use of our workforce.
When it comes to older workers, we need to address flexibility. They have an incredible set of skills and experience that our economy has relied on for years. Workers approaching retirement may no longer be interested in working full-time hours but could be open to part-time and hybrid options.
More and more businesses are turning to automation as a way to streamline the business. For most businesses, it’s not a case of a robot replacing a staff member — it’s all the small things adding up to a more efficient process. Examples include:
Automated email marketing campaigns
Chatbots and automated messaging systems
Sales lead generation and management
Touchscreen ordering
Self-checkouts
Online booking and automated appointments
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
Collect job applications
