Need a worker?
Looking for a labourer who is likely to stay for more than a few months after training?
In today’s economy, searching for a suitable employee can be akin to finding a needle in a haystack, especially for small rural employers like grain and livestock producers.
But labour market experts say the search for dependable, qualified help will be more successful if employers start with a plan.
Terry Murray, chair of the Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council (CAHRC), says farmers have always had difficulty recruiting qualified help.
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“It’s terribly hard. Especially with the oilpatch, it’s very difficult to recruit and retain qualified people,” said Murray, who farms in the heart of Alberta oil country near Wainwright.
“Particularly for grain and oilseed (producers), with the new technologies that are available like GPS, satellite mapping and autosteer technology … finding new people that have the capacity and the willingness to learn and be unsupervised can be very tough.”
According to Murray, attracting farm workers can be difficult because, in many cases, wages are relatively low, hours are long, overtime work is not compensated, health and dental packages are not available and pension benefits aren’t provided.
Recruitment is even tougher if the position is seasonal and requires relocation to a rural community. Finding innovative solutions to these challenges is the key to ensuring a reliable long-term workforce, said Murray.
Farm employers should ask themselves how they can make their workplace more attractive to potential employees.
In addition to offering year-round employment, competitive wages, performance-based incentives and housing, employers should try to create a workplace where schedules are flexible, employee interests are recognized and seniority is rewarded.
In a seasonal occupation like grain farming, employers might offer extended winter holidays in lieu of overtime pay, Murray added.
Industry leaders must also assess the labour issues affecting the entire agricultural economy.
CAHRC was created by Human Resources Development Canada to lead that process. It is devising an industry-wide recruitment strategy aimed at ensuring producers and agribusinesses have long-term access to a stable, skilled workforce.
“Right now, labour is the pressing issue in agriculture,” said Murray.
“What we’re working on are projects and innovative ideas to enhance the opportunities for Canadian farmers to advance our industry.”
Marilyn Braun-Pollon, an expert in agribusiness issues with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, agreed that finding quality labour is a major issue.
In 2007, the agriculture sector had one of the highest long-term job vacancy rates of any industry in the West, she said.
Because of the labour shortage, farmers are hiring elderly or retired workers or young employees who have little or no machinery experience.
In a physically and mentally demanding profession that already has one of the highest injury rates in the country, that strategy could have tragic results.
Farmers are also working longer hours themselves, said Braun-Pollon, and that could lead to fatigue, stress and injuries.
The CFIB is recommending that governments take a multi-pronged approach to addressing the labour shortage.
Government initiatives should focus on achieving higher immigration rates, a streamlined immigration process, greater training opportunities and better use of under-represented labour groups such as women and aboriginals, Braun-Pollon said.
“It’s very important for government to understand the significant impact that labour shortage issues have had on employers in the ag sector,” she said.
“Employers are spending a lot more time on on-the-job training, and what’s most alarming is that almost half of them are ignoring business opportunities.”
Terry White, a spokesperson from the Saskatchewan department of advanced education, labour and employment, said employers throughout Western Canada are competing for a limited number of qualified workers.
Provincial governments are also taking steps to recruit new workers and facilitate economic growth.
In Saskatchewan, for example, the province is expanding training opportunities as quickly as possible at schools, colleges, technical institutes and universities.
To accommodate the arrival of more immigrant workers, the province has created 50 new positions at its immigration branch over the past six years, jumping from 10 employees in 2003 to 60 in 2008.
Earlier this year, provincial labour minister Rob Norris announced that Saskatchewan would attempt to bring in 2,800 immigrant workers via the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program during the 2008-09 fiscal year, an 85 percent increase over 2007-08.
Funding for training and resettlement initiatives has increased.
Manitoba is also addressing farm labour issues.
Earlier this year, changes to the Manitoba employment standards code expanded workplace benefits for greenhouse workers, hog and poultry barn workers, feedlot employees, custom combine operators and other agricultural employees.
New regulations require agricultural employers to offer holiday and overtime pay.
Family farms are exempt from the new regulations.
Manitoba has also boosted immigration targets for 2008, expanding entrants through the provincial nominee program to 12,000 in 2008 from 10,000 in 2007.
In Alberta, where labour experts project a deficit of 100,000 workers by 2014, the province released a three-year immigration plan in April.
It calls for the number of new immigrants and temporary foreign workers to increase to 50,000 per year by 2010-11 from 35,000 a year in 2006-07.
Alberta spending on immigration and employment programming is expected to increase by 10.6 percent this year.
“We’re taking all kinds of steps to ensure the number of available workers increases,” said White. “Unfortunately, all these measures take time.”
