The good news is there is almost always jobs in Northern Manitoba, especially here in Thompson, the largest urban centre north of the 53rd parallel. That can't be said for many other parts of Canada, which is a fact easily overlooked sometimes, especially by those of us who have been living and working here for years.
Not only are there some pretty good jobs here, there is also a reasonable degree of job mobility. If you're not happy in your present job, or a better opportunity simply comes along, people switch jobs in Thompson all the time. Just think of your own circle of colleagues, friends and family if you doubt that fact for a minute. Tough for employers in some ways, especially small businesses, if they're having trouble paying a competitive wage, but empowering for employees, especially non-union workers who don't enjoy that reality many other places.
Hiring and retention are huge issues up here. It seems they almost always have been in Thompson and always will be. As far back as the 1960s, Inco was turning over huge numbers of employees at times, hiring to replace miners leaving after a short stay. It was akin to a revolving door.
The brutal winter cold and relative isolation of Northern Canada - be it in Thompson, Yellowknife or Iqaluit - are not for everyone who ventures north, even those who come for often better-than-average pay cheques. Mind you, while this winter demonstrated the cold hasn't gone away, even with global warming, the relative isolation is relatively less so than it was in the 1960s; improved highway and air transportation links to the south and quantum leaps in communications technology have seen to that.
The challenges local employers face in hiring and retention has visible real and immediate impacts on the community.
The long-awaited withdrawal management unit at the Addiction Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) Eaglewood facility on Princeton Drive, announced finally last May 17, it turns out has been closed since Jan. 13 due to lack of staff, but should be operational again soon as a nurse has recently been hired to fill the position that has been vacant for all but the first two weeks of this year.
Project Northern Doorway, approved by city council last Nov. 4 to offer supportive "damp" housing for 16 chronically homeless people at the former Northern Lights Bed & Breakfast, now known as Mino-Ska-Nah-Wey-Ta-Ahk (which translates from Cree to English as "leaving good tracks") at 95 Cree Rd., to be owned by the Thompson Housing Agency and leased by the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), was scheduled to open April 16, but did not. It has faced a number of challenges. Finding staff has not been the only one, but it has been one of them.
Different employers have adopted different strategies to deal with hiring and retention. There is no one-size-fits-all-solution, but there are strategies that can and are being tried to alleviate the problem.
Helga Bryant, former chief executive officer of the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority (NRHA) in Flin Flon, who was named as the chief executive officer for the new Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) almost two years ago when NOR-MAN RHA was merged by the province with the Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA), told the Thompson Chamber of Commerce April 2 that in terms of recruitment and retention, "We want to become an employer of choice." Bryant said they are starting as a region to use the concept of being a "niche market."
Taking the fact of being the North out of the equation completely, Bryant said, "today's workforce, as it's being experienced globally a mobile, transient workforce that probably will not stay in one job for 20 to 25 or 30 years like some of us might or our parents might. So we need to just recognize that's a reality and really encourage people to say, "You know, give us three or four years. We're not asking for your whole career. But give us three or four of the best years of your career and we will give you an experience that is diverse, that is multicultural, both in the people you serve, as well as the people you work with, and we provide really good training and education."
Vale's Manitoba Operations, as part of its Northern Employment Strategy adopted several years ago, last Friday, graduated its fourth Process Operator in Training (POinT) cohort in a ceremony at the Valer-Vale Education building. The eight-week training program prepares Northerners who wouldn't otherwise necessarily measure up with either experience or education, to enter the workforce with Vale.
Given the huge retention problem the company had in Thompson - within two years 50 per cent of new hires had decamped and within four years that number had increased to 75 per cent - it makes sense to hire Northerners who want to live and work here.
Hence, the company has reached out in particular to 11 Northern communities, including the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation at Nelson House; Bunibonibee Cree Nation at Oxford House; and Norway House Cree Nation at Norway House.
