The EmployerOne Survey results are in, and there are some key lessons and messages for the community of Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board officials say the data that is collected through this survey is used by community planners to look at programming and opportunities within the community.
“The EmployerOne Survey is an annual data collection tool used in Chatham-Kent to identify hiring patterns, challenges, concerns and successes in our current workforce. This survey is completed throughout Ontario and provides an opportunity for community comparators,” Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board officials sai in a press release.
“This rich ‘snap shot’ data is impossible to find (especially at such a local level) without the participation of our local employers. It includes information on separations, hires, training, recruitment and hard to fill positions.”
Now in its third year, Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board officials say the EmployerOne Survey data will help them identify workforce trends that are specific to Chatham-Kent, and thanks to our partnership with the Local Boards in the Western Region, and University of Guelph and Statistics Canada, they will also be able to roll up their data and identify regional developments.
This roll up will be coming to the community in October.
The Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board broke the survey down into these key points:
– 6% of employee based organizations in Chatham-Kent completed the survey in January 2017 providing rich “snapshot data” from the respondents. (As an organization we are striving for a 12% “statistically significant” benchmark for next year).
– Increases in the number of responses were noted in each geographic area. Better geographic representation will help us tell a more wholesome story of the challenges in CK.
– 350 “recent post-secondary grads” (meaning they graduated within the last two years) were employed in 2016 (up from 119 in 2015).
– 70% of respondent organizations experienced separations (for a total of 1,638).
– 78% of respondent organizations hired a total of 1,842 employees.
– 37% of respondent organizations had a hard time filling positions in 2016 (Agriculture and Manufacturing sectors were identified as the top two sectors).
– The majority of employers identified a college diploma as the minimum preferred level of education in many of the categories (Apprentice, Production and Service worker had high school or equivalent).
– 63% of respondents reported that they are planning to hire in 2017 (a total of 1036 positions); the majority stated that they plan to hire because of expansions in their organization.
– Employers are still experiencing challenges finding soft skills in their employees in Chatham Kent and this mirrors other communities in the province, country and internationally.
To learn more about the Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board and its activities in Chatham-Kent, visit their website at ckworkforcedev.com.
