Every day in the news we hear about the economic boom that Western Canada is facing. With this growth comes an interesting human resources side effect: strong competition for employees with not enough people to fill the vacancies that have been created.

All employers have been affected, from large corporations to small business owners. 

In this edition of HR Smalltalk, we will provide you with some strategies to address an often overlooked, yet critical human resources challenge:  keeping the valuable employees that you’ve already got.

Stay tuned for other strategies in future newsletters.

For more information, feel free to contact us at 604.688.3879.

Warm regards,

Cissy Pau
Clear HR Consulting

SURVIVING THE ECONOMIC BOOM: HOW TO KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES

With the tremendous economic growth of Western Canada comes a significant side-effect: more jobs are being created than there are people to fill them. The unemployment rates in Canada’s three western provinces currently hover around 4%. It’s anticipated that this labour shortage will only get worse over the next few years.

There is tremendous attention being put into increasing the talent pool available in the marketplace through options such as:

• Hiring foreign workers;
• Encouraging greater enrollment in apprenticeship programs; and
• Delaying retirements of older workers.

All of these are great options, and they will inevitably bear fruit in the intermediate to long-term. In the short-term, however, employers are still faced with a labour crisis.

One area that many employers often overlook is focusing their efforts on keeping the valuable employees they already have. If employers are creating the right environment and culture, where employees want to work and are champions for the business, recruiting becomes easier. Great employers don’t face hiring problems; it’s the bad or middle-of-the-road employers that do.

So, what are some lessons that we can learn from the great employers on how to keep the best employees?

Here are the top 3 areas that employers should focus on to keep the great employees they already have:

1. Create a Compelling Vision, Mission & Purpose
   
   Why does your company exist? What is the message behind which your employees should rally? A compelling vision – your raison d’être – is what will draw employees to your company and will compel them to stay. If employees wholeheartedly support the vision and purpose, they will be inspired to work towards attaining it.
   
   Having a purpose statement, which is sincerely supported by the leaders in the company and which is truly representative of their vision, will give employees a reason to stay.



2. Provide Opportunities for Training, Learning & Development
   
   Being challenged at work and having opportunities for growth and advancement are prime keys for employee retention. Stagnant employees are more likely to leave because they are bored and unchallenged. Providing company training and education to employees when they are hired, and ensuring that they have learning and development opportunities while working with the company, will create a great work environment.
   
   As an example, Google, surveyed as the No. 1 company to work for in the US by Fortune Magazine, allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time on their own independent projects. Without this commitment, popular internet services such as Gmail, Google News and AdSense would not exist.
   
   Although not all companies can duplicate this 20% philosophy, developing your own opportunities for employee growth is a critical step towards retaining your best people.



3. Manage to Individual Strengths
   
   Each employee has different areas of strength and weakness. Unfortunately, most managers try to manage away the weaknesses and pay limited attention to the strengths.
   
   Instead, great employers manage to employees’ strengths. Encouraging employees to work from their areas of competence and capability will serve to increase their confidence and happiness. Of course, weak areas, if they are causing a problem, need to be addressed. However, constant attention on the weaknesses will not generate as much success as focusing on strong points.

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