Better pay and perks on the job
WORKFORCE I - A booming B.C. economy means employers are going out of their way to attract and retain staff
Michael Kane, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, October 07, 2006
Imagine your favourite coffee shop closed in the early evening because it lacks staff. Or going to a free movie matinee at your firm's busiest time of the year because the boss wants to keep the workers happy.
Both of those things are happening in British Columbia as the workforce stretches toward breaking point to meet the demands of a booming economy, says Richard Rees, CEO of the Chartered Accountants of B.C.
The upside is that pay and perks are picking up as employers compete to attract and retain staff. The downside is that labour shortages are pushing up costs and forcing some firms to turn business away.
British Columbia has become Canada's leader in job growth, according to the latest instalment of the BC Check-Up released Friday by the Chartered Accountants of B.C.
"Not only did we see a 30-year low in the unemployment rate last year, it was also the first time since 1997 that B.C.'s rate bettered the national average," Rees said. "Simply put, as B.C.'s economic fortunes improved, companies went out and hired more people."
With an unemployment rate now at five per cent, the challenge is hanging on to existing staff and finding enough new workers to fill vacancies, Rees said in an interview.
Perks for 280 employees at Vancouver's award-winning Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd., for example, include profit sharing for everybody, along with extensive benefits, social events, and a strong emphasis on training, career planning and personal growth. Bonuses are paid to staff who recommend potential new employees.
"We trying to find people one person at a time for our company," founder Don Kasian, 53, said in an interview. "I wouldn't say it is a struggle to find people but we work very hard at it."
As the company expands across Canada and into Asia, he said everybody is striving to preserve a people-oriented culture. "It is important that we are happy and cause others to be happy because we don't want to work in a pressure-cooker environment."
Bonuses for employees who refer new staff have also been highly effective at AMEC, said Bob Stanlake, general manager of the global giant's Vancouver-based engineering and project management for the booming mining and metals sector.
The firm has hired 175 people so far this year for its Vancouver office, boosting the total to 650, and most were found in B.C., he said.
Salaries have been moving up for the past two years but AMEC also emphasizes training as a way of retaining staff. For example, it has created a technical writing program for the increasing number of hires who have English as a second language.
While AMEC enjoys the flexibility of being able to shift Vancouver work to sister offices in Canada, the U.S. and South America -- and bring work here when the domestic mining sector is in the doldrums -- outsourcing is not an option for a coffee and doughnut shop that can't cover the evening shift.
Some chartered accounting firms in B.C. are also turning away clients because they can't handle more business, Rees said.
"It's problematic because it may well be that some clients need to have financial statements in order to renew their bank credit. It's a real Catch-22 if they can't get them. Does the bank call their credit? I'm not aware of that happening, but it seems to be getting close."
To help retain staff, he cited a Vancouver accounting firm that rented a movie theatre for the opening day of the last Star Wars release and gave everybody a two-hour break, with popcorn, at the height of tax season. Afterwards, everybody went back to work. "The employees thought it was great and the firm recognized it was a good investment."
The Check-Up shows that B.C. led all provinces in job growth in 2005, adding 67,800 jobs or 30 per cent of all new jobs created across the country. Construction accounted for 26.7 per cent of new jobs while 20 per cent were in wholesale and retail trade and 19.2 per cent were in technical services.
Strong job growth should boost wages. B.C. workers had an average real hourly wage rate of $21.05 last year, three cents ahead of the national average, but 95 cents behind Alberta.
The CAs say education and training are key to solving the skilled labour shortage. While the percentage of the B.C. labour force with post-secondary education increased from 56 per cent in 2000 to 60 per cent in 2005, the Canadian average was 63 per cent.
Rees said government initiatives and continued vigilance in education are needed to ensure BC. can supply a growing number of skilled professionals for the jobs of the future.
Friday's report on B.C. as a place to work is the second of three sections of the BC Check-Up. Next Friday the CAs will release their assessment of the province as a place to live. Their study of B.C. as a place to invest was released last week and is available online at www.bccheckup.com.