Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

February 7, 2018

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February 7, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Apprenticeships no easy task Employers challenged by recruitment, retention: Survey BY SARAH DOBSON Apprenticeships play an essential role in the devel- opment of a highly trained workforce. And yet apprenticeship programs face a number of challenges, particularly when it comes to re- cruitment and retention, according to a report by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). e top challenge for the programs (cited by 84 per cent of respondents) is replacing the number of tradespeople retiring. Generally, in the skilled trades, the population skews older, according to Julie Stich, associate vice- president of content at IFEBP in Milwaukee. "ere's been, over the last several years, more and more challenges getting younger people to work in the industry," she said. "A lot of these jobs are heavy, physical labour, so you can't probably be 75 years old and be a brick- layer, that would be a challenge. So as the older workers — ones with the long history, the skills, the experience — are retiring out, it's getting more and more critical for the skilled industries to find and train and get new people on the job." Part of the challenge is that high school students are encouraged to move towards university to start their career, rather than the trades, said Sarah Watts-Rynard, executive director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum in Ottawa. "We started to see many more computer labs be- ing built, a number of high schools no longer had shop classes or auto shop and wood shop, so with that kind of pullback, there was less young people going into the trades." Communicating value On that note, the second and third top challenges for apprenticeship programs are communicating the value of a trade to prospective apprentices (74 per cent) and external stakeholders (72 per cent), found the survey of 284 respondents in the United States and Canada. "ere's still that challenge to make people un- derstand this is a viable career, it's well-paying… you don't need to go to a four-year college to be- come an accountant, you can have a great life, a great career (in trades)," said Stich. Every generation wants the next generation to do better, and often it's believed higher education is key, said Watts-Rynard. "ere's been, in society, this move to be think- ing blue-collar work is somehow less valuable than white-collar work, and pushing people to university as a reflection of that," she said. "That becomes ingrained in our education systems, in family conversations about what a good career looks like… and, as a result, there is a stigma." irty-one per cent of respondents anticipate it will be more difficult to recruit apprentices in the future, while 26 per cent said it will become more difficult to retain them, found the survey. Often, apprentices choose offers of more steady work in other industry sectors, or are poached by the competition. Other challenges include low wages, safety concerns and the physical nature of the work. Retention is one of the biggest challenges in any male-dominated profession, said Watts-Rynard. "It's not that women aren't interested or that oth- er under-represented groups, Indigenous people or visible minorities, aren't interested. It's just that when they get in, because they don't have a support structure, they'd be more inclined to leave." It's also easy for people to jump ship for another employer that is offering more money, according to Stich. "What these apprenticeship programs are find- ing is they'll do the work, the training, having ap- prentices go through a four- or five-year program to train, and then when they finish, (people) jump and go somewhere else." Potential solutions Apprenticeship programs are making a concerted effort to recruit a diverse workforce, including females (81 per cent), minorities (75 per cent), military members (73 per cent), aboriginal popu- lations (42 per cent) and immigrants (30 per cent), found IFEBP. At present, apprenticeships are largely made up of white males, said Watts-Rynard. "When it comes to trying to promote the trades as being a career option, you recognize that if (peo- ple) can't see it, it's hard sometimes to see (them- selves) there as being welcome, so it sometimes shuts doors to people who might be interested. ey look at the workforce and just say, 'Oh, no, that's not for me, that's a guy's job.'" And when it comes to the Indigenous popula- tion, "there's a lot of opportunity when you start considering that a lot of the skilled trades work happens in rural and remote areas, particularly… resource, mining, forestry, oil and gas," she said. Educational institutions can also help by famil- iarizing more young people with these opportuni- ties earlier in their lives, said Stich, in addition to greater involvement from potential partners such as community organizations, labour organizations, construction contractors, vocational schools, the military, veterans or faith-based organizations. "ere's definitely a push to bring more diverse populations into the trades. It makes sense, it's fair, it's right, but it also will help alleviate some of the crunch of trying to find someone to work," she said.

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