Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 2, 2014 June 2, 2014 NEWS NEWS 3 ere's no place ere's no place like home like home 55 per cent of Canadians won't 55 per cent of Canadians won't relocate – regardless of incentives relocate – regardless of incentives BY LIZ BERNIER IT'S A problem that's cited of- ten when we talk about the "skills mismatch": Unemployed workers aren't always ready and willing to relocate to where the jobs are. A new study sheds further light on that phenomenon, suggesting less than half of the workforce could be convinced to move for a job. Fifty-fi ve per cent of Canadians said they won't relocate for work, regardless of the incentives of- fered, according to an Ipsos Reid survey of more than 2,000 people, commissioned by the Toronto- based Canadian Employee Relo- cation Council (CERC). On average, 46 per cent of Ca- nadians said they might take a job or work contract that would force them to move. e fact that so many Canadi- ans demonstrated such a reluc- tance to move speaks to the com- plexity of labour mobility, accord- ing to Stephen Cryne, president and CEO of CERC. " e challenge today is it's far more complex than ever before. We've got double-income fami- lies, many of those young profes- sionals — they're both in profes- sional positions. ey've got con- straints and concerns on family and housing issues, so I think it's a lot more complicated." e fi ndings were not a sur- prise, he said. "It just underscores the chal- lenges that we've got with skills gaps in this country, where we've got areas in the country where there are excellent job opportuni- ties, but it's diffi cult to convince people to take those." Barriers to labour mobility e survey was timely, given the nationwide controversy over the Temporary Foreign Worker Pro- gram, said Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Fed- eration of Independent Business (CFIB). "It is a useful reality check for a lot of Canadians who believe that all an employer needs to do is just pay a bit more and they'll have a plethora of candidates, regard- less of where they happen to be in Canada," he said. " e ability to get Canadians to pick up their lives, leave their fam- ilies and move to remote parts of a province they've never been to before is just unlikely to happen. And even if an employer digs deep and improves their wages, still it's unlikely to happen." Family life and relationships are a huge aspect of this, said Kelly. "Often if you're relocating, you're losing whatever support network you had and close friends and contacts. And so we have a variety of programs that help sup- port Canadians to stay in the areas that they're from. Employment insurance would be the most no- table of them," he said. "And Canadians are often quite choosy about the kinds of jobs they have — and I'm not suggest- ing that's a negative thing, but it is just a reality." Credential recognition is also a factor when it comes to inter- provincial mobility, though some movement has been made on that front, said Kelly. But interprovincial movement isn't the only area where there are potential barriers. "It's also intraprovince — from urban to rural areas. And a lot of the jobs, especially in the re- source sector, are in areas where there are just not a lot of people," he said. "It's a big deal for somebody who's only lived in the city to con- sider going and living in a town of 500 people. It's very, very diffi cult to convince them to do that." ' e long commute' and demographic trends Another important consideration is the fact many workers are tak- ing jobs in more remote locations without actually relocating, said Deatra Walsh, a sociologist and labour market expert based in Iqaluit. "I do a lot of work on long- distance labour mobility, or what people are referring to as 'the long commute.' And that enables people to stay in place and make decisions so that they don't have to move or relocate for a variety of reasons — they don't want to uproot their families, they don't want to uproot their kids or they already own their house." Because of enhanced technol- ogy, communication, infrastruc- ture and the dynamics of labour markets, people are able to move around for work and yet still have a place of residence somewhere else, she said. "People know now that they don't necessarily need to relocate — and men in particular are (of- ten the ones) doing these kinds of jobs that enable them to com- mute. e family can stay where they are and things don't need to change, but they can conceivably work up north or work abroad or work out west." Typically, it's younger workers who are the most mobile, accord- ing to the statistics and literature on the subject, said Walsh — so younger workers are generally more likely to relocate instead of commuting. "And in terms of the gendered dimension, there's no way to ig- nore it. We're going to see men most mobile," she said. "Historically, even in the reloca- tion equation, it was often women were moving as tied migrants with men. And that's not so much (the case) anymore." Going mobile So how can we build a more mo- bile workforce? ere are plenty of opportunities where creative incentives may help, said Cryne. "Can we fi nd some ways to as- sist employees with housing con- cerns, moving from areas where prices are lower, and they have to go into higher-priced markets?" he asked. " at struck me as being an op- portunity where the government may be able to off er some creative ideas in order to motivate and in- cent people to consider moving. "For example… we could have a plan similar to what we have for the fi rst-time homebuyers pro- gram, where there are particular tax incentives." From a government perspec- tive, there are a lot of diff erent in- centives that could be put in place — but we need to start thinking outside the box, said Cryne. "One of the things we didn't put in that study, for example — and this could be an incentive that maybe we have for young profes- sionals — is assistance with re- payment of student loans for in- dividuals that take on a (remotely located) job." at's just one of many ideas that will hopefully arise as a broader discussion around la- bour mobility issues gains more traction, he said. " is (survey) is part of a three- part strategy… we're trying to develop a mobility framework for Canada, which includes elements of immigration, temporary for- eign workers, how do we get Ca- nadians to be more mobile," said Cryne. "I don't think we've had a robust discussion about this in the Cana- dian context, about how mobility can solve some of these problems for us." Ashton College | Vancouver, BC 604 899 0803 | 1 866 759 6006 w w w. a s h t o n c o l l e g e . c o m Equip yourself with the knowledge and qualification to obtain a licence for international talent recruitment. "I joined the immigration consulting program so that we had a licenced presence in the immigration market, which ties into our international recruitment and search business." Peter Meingast, CHRP, IPMA-CP | Private Consultant in HR & Foreign Recruitment, TPD Immigration Consultant Diploma Program, 2008 Immigration Consultant Diploma Program: Full-time | Part-time | Online Credit: Todd Korol (Reuters), Cover Image: Andresr/Shutterstock.com Oil field workers walk to their planes to go home during shift change at the Conklin airfield 120 km south of Fort McMurray, Alta. Thousands of workers work in the Alberta tar sands but reside in other parts of the country.

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