Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 August 1, 2018 "Some of it will be traditional language training. But a lot of it will be with skilled tourism professionals who are mentoring them, who are working with them routinely." "It's very hands-on training that will help them get up to speed rapidly with the language," he said. e hotel industry, which traditionally employs many immigrants, is the perfect vehicle to provide this type of education, according to Baker. "e particular emphasis of the training is the focus on the practical language requirements and how they apply to the work context. And it would cover four dimensions: verbal or oral communications, writing communications, comprehension, and reading skills." Many opportunities Traditional hotel-based jobs are not the only ones being targeted, said Mondor. "e neat thing about this program is that it's in the accommodation and hotel sector. But there are about 60 different types of occupations within the sector," he said. "If someone has particular skills in accounting, they could end up working in the back office or they could be at the management level or at the frontline, and the focus is on full-time employment." If all goes well, the plan is to "scale it up, perhaps even double those numbers if we can demonstrate demand," said Mondor. "e funding right now does support at least 1,300 jobs. And it could mean as many as 300 to 400 employers that will absorb those people in all corners of Canada." HAC will work to identify the hotels with pressing employment needs, said Baker. "We will assist the delivery partners at the placement and the training and the pre-employment process," she said. "Also (we will) play a key role in the communication and highlighting the success stories as the project rolls out." e funding is similar to projects in the past that has targeted youth, said Grant Fiander. "It's a new initiative in relation to the new Canadians. But a number of years ago, through Tourism HR Canada, there was an initiative called 'Ready To Work,'" she said. "e concept was that there's a large number of young people not attached to the labour market, and that tourism was identified as a sector that provides a lot of those first-job skills: one of three Canadians start their working life in a tourism-type job. And most of them move on to various career paths. But it does provide those essential skills for workplace engagement." Access to funding Many other industries have labour-shortage issues, said Mondor, but the travel industry is uniquely positioned to use the money for more than just jobs. "(Many industries are) facing truly chronic issues as we are — and chronic is the right word for this — but what we have said in tourism is that we have a different value proposition. In tourism, what differentiates us from some of the other industries, is that we are also very much linked to a social agenda." "is is an industry that employs a more diverse workforce than any other; it's culturally diverse, not only in terms of who it employs, but what it offers up... so we're very important from a social lens," he said. "is industry is also very important from an ecological point of view," said Mondor. "You can anticipate that in tourism — particularly with parks, outdoor recreation, guiding adventure, and even in food and beverage and a combination of areas — we were some of the leaders in... ecological movements." "We have a major influence in terms of how practices are being managed in order to conserve," he said. And this money is a sure sign that the federal Liberals value the industry, according to Baker. "I think the government is recognizing that tourism overall is a large contributor to be economy and this project is a clear example of how government and industry can work together and achieve collective goals. We are seeing movement and we remain optimistic that we will continue to see movement as we go forward." Over the last 15 years, there were 100,000 jobs that went unfilled. And that accounted for approximately $11 billion of lost revenues." Credit: stefanolunardi (Shutterstock) On-the-job language training will be one benefit for hotel workers who are new to the country. ON THE COVER Lake Louise, Alta., is one of five sites targeted by the 'Employing Newcomers in Canadian Hotels' pilot program.

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