Mountain town employers are having a hard time finding staff. Some are upping the ante

Snow would possibly nonetheless be on the bottom, however summer season hiring is nicely underway for employers in Banff, Canmore and Lake Louise — and amid a persistently tight labour market, many are working tougher to persuade job seekers to use and to stay round. 

“Our key message is to be aggressive,” stated Michel Dufresne, director of the Job Useful resource Centre for Banff and Canmore, who’s telling employers to boost wages and to offer their workers sufficient break day to get pleasure from dwelling within the mountain neighborhood. 

“These are issues which have occurred in different industries, however it doesn’t occur sufficient within the hospitality sector.”

However Dufresne stated that’s beginning to change. 

He’s seen wages are going up for positions posted by means of the job centre, and employers are extra open to listening to that in the event that they don’t pay sufficient, they doubtless gained’t be capable of recruit the workers they want.

“Wages should not going to double in a single day however definitely it’s getting higher,” he stated. 

Recruiting workers has all the time been a problem in mountain communities, however these days it’s been notably powerful. 

The pandemic pressured staff on the town from Jap Canada, Quebec, Europe and Australia to go residence, Dufresne stated, and as restrictions have lifted they haven’t but returned in full pressure. Final yr, that left many employers operating with about two thirds of their typical staffing complement.

On the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, communications director Casey Peirce says the pandemic has made it notably tough to recruit individuals for hospitality jobs, corresponding to in housekeeping and eating. 

“We now have really elevated wages to be very aggressive, and so as to entice candidates and likewise to retain workers as soon as we now have them,” stated Peirce. 

For instance, the posted wage for a dishwasher on the Banff Centre has risen from $16.31 per hour in November 2021, to between $17.50 and $18.25 an hour this yr, in line with information from the Job Useful resource Centre.

Wages aren’t the one technique, Peirce stated. The Banff Centre presents different advantages starting from workers housing to reductions on fitness center memberships, airport parking and automotive leases. 

“We’re all the time searching for methods to make our workers life simpler and higher,” she stated. 

Parks Canada launches hiring marketing campaign

Even Parks Canada is getting inventive to recruit workers after battling recruitment final yr, stated Jed Cochrane, a customer expertise supervisor. 

“In some locations final summer season we had been 15-per-cent unstaffed,” stated Cochrane. “It’s a reasonably sizeable variety of those that had been unable to seek out for a few of our key jobs, like campgrounds and janitorial and people types of issues.”

At one level final summer season, Cochrane stated the scarcity pressured the Lake Louise customer centre to shut for a number of days to make workers out there to wash amenities. 

“That’s after all one thing we need to keep away from for this summer season, so we’re making an attempt actually laborious to recruit as many individuals as we are able to,” stated Cochrane. 

For the primary time, Parks Canada has rolled out a nationwide hiring marketing campaign to fill entry-level positions for the upcoming summer season. 

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On YouTube and social media, advertising and marketing movies titled “What’s an entry degree job?” and “Discover your dream job” present sweeping photographs of nationwide parks and historic websites, and Parks Canada staffers commuting to work by way of bike, snowboarding downhill and laughing with their green-shirted colleagues. 

The federal government company has additionally launched a brand new youth and pupil summer season job portal to make it simpler to use for jobs. Candidates can apply “in as little as quarter-hour,” the company stated, by importing a resume and choosing as much as 10 job sorts and 5 work areas they’re fascinated about. 

“The nationwide stock system makes making use of to entry-level Parks Canada jobs simpler, eradicating limitations that will have dissuaded candidates previously,” the company stated in a press release.

Up to now the stock already has over 7,100 candidates, the company stated. 

Whereas hiring stays a problem, Dufresne stated he’s cautiously optimistic in regards to the upcoming season. Already, he’s seeing an uptick in candidates in comparison with this time final yr, although he warns employers can’t get complacent. 

“Do all the things you may to draw workers to what you are promoting,” he stated, whether or not that’s elevating wages and advantages, or providing bonuses for staff who recruit different workers. 

“All that stuff … it really works.”