Canadian HR Reporter - Ontario

CANADIAN HR REPORTER NOVEMBER 2018 22 FEATURES Len Murray president and CEO of Klohn Crippen Berger The Vancouver-based engineering rm has about 300 employees in Canada T he engineering sector covers a whole range of disciplines, from geotechnical, geoscience and electrical to mechanical and structural, according to Len Murray, president and CEO of Klohn Crippen Berger (KCB) in Vancouver. "All of those disciplines have labour shortages and it's very acute… in the mid-ranges, so the 10 to 20 years' experience, there's very few people in that range. And of course they're the ones who we look to to replace the retirees… we need to backfi ll those places, and that's really hard to do." Part of the reason is because for a few years, there wasn't a lot of recruiting going on in the resource and hydro sectors, meaning fewer graduates were entering the profession, he says. "Also, I think there were other sectors around that time that talented scientists were going into, like the tech sector, which didn't exist when I graduated. So there's competition for scientists and that didn't exist before." In the last four to fi ve years, KCB has become a lot more systematic in how it recruits people, says Murray. e 300-employee Canadian fi rm has six grades of staff , ranging from the lower-level "a" to the top level of "f." And recruitment has focused on the mid-range, he says. "I don't think the recruiting is such a problem below that because there's still lots of people coming out of university and such. It's the d's, e's and f 's, the top 3 grades that we have really focused on." at's because many of the current mid-level employees are moving up to fi ll senior positions that are being vacated. Sometimes, KCB hires at the very senior level but it can be hard for somebody with 40 years' expe- rience to start somewhere new and change how they work, says Murray. "If we can get them at 10 to 15 years, people are still trainable, so that's good." And KCB has a slightly diff erent model in terms of compensation in that people are given a base salary along with compensation based on performance. " e industry we're in, there's lots of ups and downs so by doing it that way — base salary plus a pretty substantial performance component — if we have a down year, people just don't get that bonus so they get their base salary, but then if they do well, they do very, very well," says Murray. "It gives everybody a bit of protection against having to let people go when the workload drops off , because our base salary is manageable in most circumstances." But when the fi rm is hiring, job candidates aren't always enticed by the performance side of the equation, he says. " ey think it's smoke and mirrors, they look at their base salary — so that's been a problem for us… We actually sweeten the pot a little bit with signing bonuses and things, and that works well. We schedule that over 18 months and the intent is by the time they're through that, they know whether they fi t in the company, we know whether they fi t in the company, and then they're in the regular bonus pools." Another challenge for fi lling the job gaps is the expensive cost of living in British Columbia, which is a very serious issue, says Murray, especially for people in the mid-range. "Having said that, we do recruit some pretty senior people who are looking towards retirement and they often want to move to Vancouver." KCB also works with the University of British Columbia to source new recruits, in providing lecturers or sponsorships. "We try to recruit co-op (students) throughout all of our offi ces, and that gives us a very good insight into whether someone's going to be a fi t. And for us, we've possibly focused more on attitude because not everybody wants to work in the mining sector," he says. "So, with all our recruiting, that's another thing we've tried to do is not sugar-coat what we do — we're not a lifestyle company, we expect people to work hard… We've taken a more forthright role in describing to people what we do, and what sectors we're in. It's better to weed them out at the interview process than later on. We try to get people excited about the higher level of technical competence, and work we try and win and do… not thinking so much about the money." KCB also makes good use of immigration programs to fi nd potential employees. "Our HR people are very well-versed in bringing in people from all over the place. Yeah, it's like the United Nations here actually," he says. Retention can also be diffi cult, as turnover at KCB can range from 10 to 20 per cent if the economy is buoyant, says Murray, and the fi rm often has to compete with the Alberta oil industry when that industry "ticks up." However, once people have several years of experience under their belt, they are less likely to leave KCB, says Murray. "People like working here; they have infl uence over the direction of the company and what projects they do. And why would they go any- where else? ey can do what they want (and) get reasonably well-paid for it." Gaëtan Thomas president and CEO of NB Power The Fredericton-based Crown corporation has about 2,300 employees F or Gaëtan omas, a labour shortage means a lack of resources, whether that is full-time, part- time or contracted services needed to meet business needs. It's not only about access to talent, but access to skills and specialized expertise, he says. " e aging demographic (baby boomers retiring) is being felt across all sectors, with the energy sector being particularly impacted due to the hiring done for infra- structure builds 40 years ago." But as to why Canada is facing a labour shortage, that's a complex issue, he says. " e rate of change is rapid these days. Technology ad- vancements as well as changing customer expectations require companies to be agile and pivot to be competitive and stay in business." And it will be a challenge for employers when it comes to being pre- pared for the shortages, says omas. "Some of the skills that will be needed in the future are not yet known, and talent will need to be sourced and developed fast." At NB Power, fi nding people with specialized skills — such as those for IT and the nuclear station — is a challenge. And it's anticipated there may soon be diffi culties in fi nding trade resources too, he says. " is is why we need to embrace diversity and inclusion and support more women going into non-traditional careers, like the trades… We also need to ensure we have a dynamic, innovative, winning culture to retain the talent." For this reason, the Crown corporation embarked on an intentional culture-shaping process three years ago, based on John Kotter's book Accelerate, says omas. "I have used the Kotter change management methodology through- out my career but the changes we were going through, which spanned the whole company, needed an enterprise change leadership approach," he says. "Working on your corporate culture is key to attracting, retain- ing and engaging your workforce." As a result of these eff orts, NB Power was named a top employer in 2017, says omas. Workforce planning is also essential to ensure the utility has the skilled staff in place in anticipation of demographic changes and new business needs, he says. " is is part of its annual business planning process where people and culture (HR) work closely with operations to ensure talent needs are known and built into plans and budgets." In addition, NB Power is boosting its recruitment eff orts through a multi-channel approach so potential talent will see the corporation as a great employer, says omas. As the workforce changes, it's important to understand and respond to the employee value proposition, he says. "One-size-fi ts-all approaches will not work. People and culture (HR) must be strategic and have a seat at the table with operations to build a broad talent management strategy to meet the needs of the business and employees." e Crown corporation also sees value in engaging in more strategic partnerships with educators in all educational areas or levels — public school, community colleges and universities — to build the skills needed for the future, says omas. at includes learning program development and more experiential work experiences, he says, and "government can assist by supporting these processes."

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