UNITY — Help wanted. Where have all the employees gone? A Saskatchewan labour shortage is being experienced in our communities.
The reasons for this appear to be unknown but some people believe there are those who never came back to work after the initial COVID-19 shutdown. It is also a competitive market. Baby boomers and the ability to work remotely is considered a contributing factor.
“It’s honestly an uphill battle for all businesses right now,” says Unity business, Ma + Me Bakery owner/operator Jenn Belcher.
“Since COVID and so many people taking the time off people have realized that they don’t need to work so unfortunately COVID hurt a lot more than people.
“It also comes down to the business and what they are looking for in an employee. Some employees are outrageous in their expectations of employers. You also have to be willing to train the right candidate. All you have to do is have hope that one or two fantastic, full of drive and ambitious people will walk through the door one day.”
Having a look at the Delta Co-op website, 21 positions were listed on their careers page as of Aug. 31.
“The Labour pool is small and there are more positions available than there are people to fill them,” Human Resources Manager Christie Mitzel says.
“It is difficult to recruit to small-town Saskatchewan.”
Mitzel said Delta Co-op team members travelled to the Philippines in 2022 for employee recruitment, and while it is a slow process, 16 people are coming to four locations of Delta Co-op in the near future.”
Delta Co-op said they always have a transition period at the end of August and into September as students head back to school.
Recruitment ties up business and office resources as someone needs to advertise the positions in all the right places. This is followed by the interview process and training of new employees.
“The Town of Unity is sharing in Canada’s often discussed employee shortage,” says CAO Aileen Garrett.
“It has been approximately two years since we have been considered fully staffed, during which time we noticed a decline in the number of viable applications for both training provided, and education required positions.
“We remain optimistic as we see slight improvements. Our management team makes every effort to hire locally (after the position is not filled internally), first by posting details on our website, social media accounts and the Press-Herald. If the position remains empty, we then branch out by promoting the opening to neighbouring community social media pages. Then moving on to Indeed, SaskJobs,” adds Garrett.
The town says they recently branched out to a new medium and have a Spotify ad currently being aired in targeted areas of the province.
A shared joke on the internet was a sign at a business that simply read, “Now hiring, people that show up.”
In what might be described as a slow-motion train wreck, those 55 and older have been steadily exiting the workforce, which some say was accelerated by the pandemic as people re-evaluated their life’s goals and opted for early retirement. It seems, there aren’t enough younger workers to replace them.
With Labour Day weekend upon us, Canadians, Saskatchewan residents and local employers are hoping that someday soon they will have something to celebrate, but until then the help wanted signs and ads continue to circulate.
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