Workers Offered Yoga And PlayStations
From The Canadian Press
REGINA — It used to be that Christmas marked the time when employees might look to their boss for a bonus, but a growing labour shortage in Western Canada has prompted some businesses to offer extra goodies no matter the season.
Twice a week, office staff at Scott Plastics Ltd. in Sidney, B.C., can slip away from the tensions of the day-to-day workplace and into a yoga class. It’s an idea that the company launched about a year ago to help keep workers happy.
“We started doing it just for a small group of office staff, really for a bit of break,” said Robin Richardson, Scott’s vice-president of operations. “Whilst they go out and have walks at their break time, I felt that some additional relaxation … was a good idea.”
“They seem to really enjoy it and the net result of it was after a while a number of the male office staff asked if they could join as well.”
It might seem like an odd incentive for a company that manufactures the Scotty range of sport fishing, marine, outdoor and firefighting equipment and makes custom injection moulding.
But Richardson said it’s been good for employees - and for business.
“We were basically looking for something that was going to be beneficial to them and at the same time basically probably improve the work performance. I think they’d all say that it does both,” he said.
It’s just one example of what a company is doing to help keep staff in a tight labour market.
The shortage of staff is “hitting hard right across the West,” said Laura Jones, vice-president for Western Canada for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The federation estimates that almost 40 per cent of Saskatchewan employers had trouble finding workers last year. In Alberta the number rose to half.
The group recently asked small business owners in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia if they’ve done anything different to retain or attract employees over the past three years as a result of labour shortages.
More than 50 per cent said they had.
“I was floored, frankly, by how many people said yes,” Jones said from her Vancouver office. “It’s pretty neat some of the things they’ve tried.”
“Many are going beyond the obvious and doing things like signing bonuses or adding perks like golf trips, family days, dinners out.”
Jones said employees aren’t just looking for more money - they want things that enhance their quality of life.
“They are looking for things like ‘Can I bring my dog to work?’ and in some cases in a small business that’s possible.”
Yes, even Fluffy and Fido are getting attention. Home Depot, for example, offers pet insurance to its employees.
Other companies, like Regina-based NorthPoint Energy Solutions Inc., have stepped up with something more tangible. The subsidiary of SaskPower offered all 35 employees the choice of a PlayStation 3, a television or a GPS unit at the end of last year.
“Essentially people can look at that, they’ll probably have it for several years, and they’ll be able to take pride in saying, ‘My company gave that to me,’ ” said Grant Ring, NorthPoint’s chief executive officer.
“By and large, people get so little recognition in companies that I think the average person is surprised if they get a couple of good thank yous every so often.”
NorthPoint competes with companies outside of Saskatchewan across Canada and in the United States. Ring said he thinks the incentive makes a difference in helping to keep workers.
“People feel that they belong, that they can develop and grow within the company and that they’re appreciated,” he said.
“We’re not at all competing per se on bonus plans and other incentive plans; we just don’t have that in our structure. So what we want to do is show other ways that we can recognize our employees.”
While workers use the PlayStations, it’s employers who may have to up their game as the labour crunch grows.
Alberta’s government estimates that by 2016, the province could experience a shortage of up to 109,000 workers across all sectors. Saskatchewan Labour Minister Rob Norris said if his province’s economic boom continues on its current path, it will be short as many as 12,000 workers in just three to five years.
On the other hand, places hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs are trying to come up with ways to take advantage of the western shortage.
Eddie Francis, the mayor of Windsor, Ont., is touting a plan to help residents of his city commute to jobs in Western Canada. Francis wants mayors from Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary to put their heads together to develop a program to eliminate or reduce the cost of travel between the cities.
“If we’re able to do that, effectively what we’re doing is creating a shuttle where employees can go work .. then come back home on the weekend,” said Francis.
Francis called it “a win-win situation.” Western cities would get highly skilled workers and Windsor would benefit when they brought their paycheques home.
One day after floating the idea, Francis said he was inundated with calls from companies in Saskatchewan.
In the meantime, employers like Richardson in B.C. are concentrating on making work a little nicer for those workers they do have.
“If you’ve got a happier workplace, then you’re less likely to lose staff.”
