One of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent’s top priorities is to help businesses access the labour force they need to thrive and grow. As a result, Chatham-Kent Economic Development in partnership with Goodwill Career Centre, Employment Ontario, Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board, and Chatham-Kent’s Community Attraction and Promotion services is hosting an event for employers titled Supercharge Your Workforce: Talent Attraction, Training, and Retention. The event is being held on April 25, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Chatham-Kent John D. Bradley Convention Centre on 565 Richmond Street in Chatham.
“We have been hearing from the business community across Chatham-Kent that finding the right people and ensuring there is access to the best training is vital for their ongoing success,” said Anthony Wilson, Economic Development Officer with Chatham-Kent Economic Development. “This session will provide employers with access to a wealth of information about programs designed to help attract and keep the best staff.”
The session includes a formal presentation and will educate employers on how to access programs and financial incentives need to hire, train, and develop their workforce. Attendees can expect to learn about:
Types of funding is available to help you hire, train and develop new talent
Apprentice opportunities available for your business
Different types of training incentives for both new and existing employees
Collaboration that can develop specific training for your new employees, including the ever elusive soft skills training
Partnership opportunities that exist to help attract talent to Chatham-Kent for your hard to fill positions
Available services to help properly welcome and orient a new resident
In addition, local experts will be on-hand with interactive ‘supercharged’ stations to help employers develop a customizable talent attraction and retention strategies specific to their business.
The need for this event is backed by the recent EmployerOne Survey of which half of respondents indicated that at least one position in the past 12 months was hard to fill.
“We know that there is a skilled workforce pool in the Chatham-Kent region, but sometimes employers need to draw from outside the region in order to find those with specific training and backgrounds,” said Audrey Ansell, Manager of Chatham-Kent Community Attraction and Promotion. “This is where the Community Attraction and Promotion team can become an invaluable resource for businesses as we can work with employers to tailor-make solutions in order to recruit high calibre talent.”
The event will be organized into two streams at the session the first being businesses and manufacturers with staff between 1 and 50 and the second being businesses and manufacturers with 50 or more staff. The information will be presented to both groups with customized content available.
“There are many commonalities between businesses of all size, which is why the training can bring the groups together into one room,” said Wilson. “The differences comes with how each business will look to implement programs and access financial incentives available, which is when the personalized plans become important.”
Kristy Jacobs, Project Manager with the Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board said, “I think it’s important to highlight there has been a understanding over the past few years that soft skills training is equally as important as the more traditional skills training. Which is why there are now programs developed to help new and existing staff further develop and enhance their soft skills.”
Michelle Repuski, Director of Workforce Development at Goodwill Career Centre added, “We recognize that there are great opportunities and excellent candidates, and it’s important that we collaborate with our partners and employers in bringing them together. We are able to help people look at their skills and interests to find the best match in our local labour market, which leads to high satisfaction and retention.”
There is no cost to attend and registration for the event is available by visiting www.investck.ca or by calling Economic Development at 519-351-7700.
The Supercharge Your Workforce event is open to all businesses, manufacturers, and industry professionals.
Additional Details:
EmployerOne Survey, 2018: http://ckworkforcedev.com/labour_market_info/employer-one-survey-2018-report/
282 employers completed (for context)
51% reported at least one position in the last 12 months was hard to fill
79% said applicants lacked the qualifications they required
75% said they didn’t have enough applicants
68% reported they did not receive any applications at all
Recruitment:
78% reported “word of mouth” as their top method of recruitment
63% reported using government websites
43% reported using executive search groups
Areas of recruitment:
82% reported they focused their recruitment locally
20% reported they recruited provincially
12% reported they recruited nationally
3% reported that their recruitment reached international levels
Eventbrite registration is available: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/supercharge-your-workforce-talent-attraction-training-and-retention-tickets-59588928088
Learn more about Chatham-Kent Economic Development on our website: https://www.chatham-kent.ca/business/economic-development
