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BC Skills Force Initiative Telephone/Web Survey Project:
Survey of Skills & Training Needs Among Small
Businesses in Southern Rural BC
RESEARCH FINDINGS SUMMARY REPORT
Prepared by WCG International Consultants Ltd.
In partnership with:
Human Capital Strategies
Spark Group Management Consulting Inc.
SPARK GROUP
Management Consulting Inc
Prepared for the Community Futures Association of BC
August 29th, 2005
BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ii
1. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND 1
2. CONTEXT AND TERMS OF REFERENCE 5
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 9
3.1 Survey Sampling 9
3.2 Survey Development 15
3.3 Administration of Survey 19
4. RESEARCH RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 22
4.1 Regional Distribution of Responses 22
4.2 Responses by Community 23
4.3 Responses by Industry Sectors 25
4.4 Responses by Years of Operation 27
4.5 Responses by Number of Employees 27
4.6 Job Vacancies 29
4.7 Areas of High Turnover 35
4.8 Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs 37
4.9 Shortages of Specific Skills Sets 42
4.10 Impact of Skills Shortages 44
4.11 Strategies for Dealing with Skills Shortages 49
4.12 Impact of Aging Workforce 53
4.13 Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce 58
4.14 Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees 61
4.15 Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees 66
4.16 General Comments and Suggestions 70
4. 17 Participation in Future Surveys 71
4.18 Other Results 71
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 73
5.1 Conclusions 73
5.2 Recommendations 78
APPENDICES 81
Appendix 1 – Reliability of Survey Findings 82
Appendix 2 – Letter to Prospective Respondents 86
Appendix 3 – Primary Survey Questionnaire 87
Appendix 4 – Follow Up Questionnaire 96
Appendix 5 – Four-Digit NOC Code List of Vacancies in Difficult to Fill Positions 101
Appendix 6 – Open-Ended Responses to Final Question in Primary Survey 105
Appendix 7 – Open-Ended Responses to Questions in Follow Up Survey 110
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. PURPOSE AND INTRODUCTION
As the result of a Request for Proposal, a project team consisting of WCG International
Consultants Ltd. (WCG) and its partners, Spark Group Management Consultants Inc. and Human
Capital Strategies, was awarded a contract with the Community Futures Development
Association of British Columbia to conduct a telephone/web survey of small businesses1 in the
economic regions of Vancouver Island – Coast, Thompson-Okanagan, and the Kootenays.
As part of the Community Futures Development Association’s “BC Skills Force Initiative”, the
WCG team was contracted to complete a minimum of 4,000 survey contacts with a minimum of
1,000 survey responses. The survey questions were to focus on the nature, extent and impact of
skill shortages and related issues in the above regions.
The purpose of this report is to document the results of the telephone/web survey and to analyze
the implications of the results and make recommendations addressing small business skills and
training needs in British Columbia, particularly in southern rural regions. This report also
documents the results of a smaller follow up survey that probed questions arising out of the
larger, primary survey.
2. CONTEXT AND TERMS OF REFERENCE
Small businesses are a critical part of BC’s economy. The BC Skills Force Initiative’s focus group
presentation shows that 98% percent of all businesses in BC are small; and 84% of all small
businesses in BC are micro-businesses with less than five employees. Collectively, small
businesses account for 58% of the province’s employment and 30% of its Gross Domestic
Product, including $9.4 billion in exports. Key drivers that impact the supply of and demand for
skilled labour in BC include the following trends:
• An aging workforce and declining birth rates;
• Extreme competition for skilled labour is evident among companies within and outside of
North America;
• Over 1 million job openings are expected in BC between 2003 and 2015;
• Significant economic growth in BC during the last few years is expected to continue with
BC leading the country in a number of economic indicators;
• Immigration to BC represents 70% of net labour force growth and is expected to reach
100% in the next decade;
• Traditionally under-utilized labour force groups (i.e. Aboriginal people, immigrants and
visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and women) represent 60% of the available
Canadian and BC labour force;
• More than half of small business owners are over 45 years of age and almost one-quarter
are over 55.
Yet there is a lack of hard data on the nature and extent of skill requirements of small businesses
in BC, particularly in non-urban areas of the province. Further, there is very limited information on
the actual and potential impacts of skill shortages and the policy and program options for
addressing such impacts.
Therefore, the WCG team was contracted to design a telephone and web survey that would
provide the Community Futures Association with statistically valid data on skills shortages for
small business. The survey needed to specifically measure:
1
For purposes of this project, “small business” is defined as a company with 50 or less employees.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
• What skills BC businesses are looking for that are not found in the available workforce;
• Potential impact of an aging workforce as it pertains to skill shortages for small business;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each business sector;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each geographic regions;
• What skills development, employee retention/recruitment strategies and training
programs are required to resolve skilled labour requirements;
The target group for the survey was small businesses with less than 50 employees. The survey
was to be conducted within the Thompson Okanagan, Kootenay, and Vancouver Island/Coast
regions of BC – these regions do not include Greater Vancouver, Lower Mainland or Greater
Victoria.
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
An integrated telephone and web survey was designed to generate statistically reliable data on
skills shortages in small business throughout southern rural BC. The survey was specifically
designed to measure:
• The skills BC businesses are looking for that are not found in the available workforce;
• The potential impact of an aging workforce as it pertains to skill shortages for small
business;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each business sector;
• The nature and extent of skills shortages in each geographic region;
• The skills development, employee retention/recruitment strategies; and,
• Training programs that are required to resolve skilled labour requirements.
This primary survey was supplemented by a shorter follow up survey with a smaller sample size
in order to probe businesses about some of questions answered in the primary survey. The
methodology section describes in detail the survey sampling, survey development, and survey
administration. Appendix 1 describes the survey sample and response reliability.
4. RESEARCH RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Representativeness of Responses
The survey response sample was generally representative of the regions and sectors studied and
responses were received from small businesses in 102 communities, mostly in rural regions of
BC.
The small businesses, which responded to the survey, were generally well established, with 83%
having been in operation five years or more. In terms of business size (i.e. number of
employees), micro-businesses (less than five employees) were under-represented in the
responses and companies with five to nineteen employees and twenty to fifty employees were
over-represented.
Job Vacancies
Over one-third or 34% of respondents reported that they had job vacancies in “difficult to fill”
positions. One-fifth of companies with less than five employees reported “difficult to fill” positions,
almost half of businesses with twenty to fifty employees and almost 60% of businesses with more
than 50 employees indicated they had “difficult to fill” positions. Those companies with five to
nineteen employees had “difficult to fill” vacancies in the vicinity of 30% to 40%.
There were few sectoral differences in terms of job vacancies for “difficult to fill” positions. The
four areas that were notably above the average were: Construction (42%), Manufacturing (39%),
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Food and Accommodation (38%), and Business Services (35%). This is not surprising given what
we have been hearing in reports about the growing importance of these industries over the last
year.
Of those businesses whom indicated that they had a “hard to fill” vacancy, jobs in the Trades,
Skilled Transport and Equipment Operator and Sales and Service occupational categories were
the most frequently reported, involving 36% and 33% of the respondents who reported “difficult to
fill” vacancies, respectively.
At a more detailed level, Sales and Service representatives, Construction Trades, Transport,
Operators and Maintenance occupations, Technical and Natural Science Occupations, Machinery
and Related Skilled Trades, and Clerical Occupations figured prominently in the responses
among businesses who reported “difficult to fill” positions.
Areas of High Turnover
Overall, 29% of respondents identified areas with high rates of turnover.
The Interior region was slightly more likely to report areas of high turnover (33%), while the
Kootenay region was slightly lower at 26% and Vancouver Island/Coast region was at the overall
average.
There were some significant differences among the industry sectors. A much lower number of
enterprises in Education (3%) and High Tech sectors (14%) reported high staff turnover. The
three sectors with the most areas of high turnover were: Primary Industry (42%), Food and
Accommodation (40%) and Construction (40%). In some cases (e.g. Construction, Food and
Accommodation), the relatively high turnover rates may have a positive correlation with high
levels of job vacancies discussed in an earlier section of these results.
Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs
The most frequently reported reason for difficulties in filling jobs was the lack of qualified staff
(44%), followed, by the difficulties of attracting people into certain types of careers (17%), and
compensation issues and seasonal work (14%). Few respondents noted difficulties related to lack
of training programs, competition, community infrastructure, training costs or the work
environment – all of these categories scored under 10% of responses.
While all regions identified, a lack of qualified staff, as the principal reason, there were some
regional differences amongst the other reasons. The Vancouver Island/Coast region’s second
reason was, the difficulty of attracting people into a particular type of career. The Kootenay region
identified the same difficulty as well, but issues with community infrastructure (i.e. housing,
amenities, quality of life, etc.) show the greatest difference from other regions.
There were few notable sectoral differences in the reasons provided as to why jobs were difficult
to fill.
In the follow up survey, three major themes were found:
• There is a lack of accessible training;
• There is a lack of qualified people available; and,
• There is a problem with recruiting employees with a good work ethic.
One sub-theme built on the problem with a lack of work ethic, and identified youth as having a
particularly poor work ethic. Finally, the second minor theme was that there is, in general, a
shortage of skilled staff, especially in smaller communities.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Shortages of Specific Skills Sets
Respondents were questioned about what skills they are seeking that are not adequately being
met by job applicants. They were posed this question both for all workers and specifically
regarding younger workers (ages 15-30). They were asked to select from a list of specific skill
sets, many of which are commonly regarded as “essential”, “transferable” or “employability” skills.
The principal skill shortages identified for all workers were: life skills (19% of all responses),
technical skills (11%) and problem solving (9%). The areas with the fewest issues were: the basic
skills of arithmetic, reading and writing, as well as supervisory and project management skills.
As with all workers, the most important skill issue for younger workers (15-30) was life skills,
again with 19% of responses. Other major issues included independent work, technical skills and
problem solving. Compared to all workers, employers found younger workers to be more deficient
in oral communication, the ability to work independently and to a lesser extent in basic literacy,
writing and arithmetic skills.
A strong theme among the “other” responses in the follow up survey identified the lack of work
ethic, similar to the trend found in the question of, “Why jobs are hard to fill”. The other themes
identified in the second survey were:
• A lack of training opportunities;
• A lack of available applicants with appropriate licensing or certification;
• A lack of people with the job-specific skills and qualifications required for the job; and,
• In general, again, young people are not as well skilled as older workers.
Impact of Skills Shortages
The responses showed significant economic impacts on companies as well as impacts on
customers and employees. The major impacts were reported on limiting production levels (28%)
and customer service (26%). The least cited impacts were on, limiting expansion plans (7%) and
slowing exports (6%).
Approximately 22% of companies reported “other” impacts; and the same number indicated the
skill shortages result in more hours worked by staff or business owners. The “other” response is a
significant proportion of respondents that needs to be further probed.
The impacts of skills shortages were experienced differently among businesses in each region.
Companies in the Interior were most concerned with the impacts on production levels and
customer service. Vancouver Island/Coast region businesses were most concerned with the
impacts on hours worked by owners and staff, followed by impacts on production, customer
service and business opportunities. Respondents in the Kootenay region were most concerned
with the hours worked, but also with missed business opportunities and reductions in customer
service. Almost one-quarter of Interior businesses reported “other” impacts of skill shortages.
There were some notable sectoral differences with regards to the impacts of skills shortages.
Construction and Manufacturing felt the impacts in limiting production levels, while Primary
Industry and High Tech’s identified missed business opportunities as the main issues. Food and
Accommodation, Education Services, and Health and Social Services all felt the impacts in the
number of work hours that were required of staff and owners. Not surprisingly, Manufacturing had
the highest proportion of companies raising concerns about the impact on exports; however, it
was still relatively low at 8%.
Interestingly, the major theme among “other” responses in the follow up survey was that there
was no impact or that the issue of skill shortages was not applicable. Other issues identified were
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
increased levels of stress, and the negative impact on quality of work. In essence, the probing in
the second survey was not able to yield much more insight on this topic.
Strategies for Dealing with Skills Shortages
One-third of responding companies indicated that they currently have a human resource plan;
and 44% reported a succession plan was in place for ownership.
This varied widely by industry sector. Existence of an HR plan ranged from half (50%) of
Education respondents and 48% and 47% of companies in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
and Construction, respectively, to 26% of Manufacturing businesses and 14% of those in the
Health and Social Services sector. The existence of an owner succession plan ranged from over
50% of companies in Transportation and Utilities (56%), Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
(55%), Construction (52%) and Food and Accommodation (49%) to 23% of High Tech and 18%
of Primary Industry respondents.
By far, the most prevalent strategy identified was, in-house training, among 46% of all
respondents. This is consistent with the responses to the question asking for potential reasons
explaining job vacancies where a lack of training programs or cost of training, were infrequently
reported reasons. Use of flexible work schedules (12%) and greater use of apprentices (11%)
were listed next, while strategies such as, succession planning, hiring more immigrants and
interns/co-op students, were being selected by less than 10% of all respondents. Hiring
immigrants (2%) appears to be much less frequent option among businesses outside the large
urban centres of the province.
Across all regions, the major strategy reported was, in-house training. The Kootenay and
Vancouver Island/Coast regions also showed a preference for a greater use of apprentices
(approximately 18%), which in part may be due to higher proportion of goods-producing industries
(i.e. Construction, Manufacturing, Primary, Transportation), which have a larger number of trades
workers. Businesses in the Vancouver Island/Coast region reported less reliance on in-house
training – just over 35% versus 38-47% for companies in the other regions.
There were few major differences among industry sectors in the strategies used for dealing with
skills shortages. High Tech was much more likely to hire interns or co-op students (18%), but was
much less likely to use in-house training (22%). Primary Industry was the most likely sector to use
in-house training (54%), but had no responses that identified succession planning (neither did
Health and Social Services). Primary Industry was also the most likely to use flexible work
schedules (22%), perhaps due to some of the trends in pulp and paper and solid wood
manufacturing. Transportation and Utilities respondents were most likely to use apprentices
(16%) and were just behind Primary Industry in their use of in-house training.
Impact of Aging Workforce
The most significant reported impact was the requirement for more work by the owner, with 17%
of respondents identifying this as an issue. All other suggested responses received less than 15%
(e.g. 12% identified production levels were impacted and 10% indicated aging reduced customer
service), while the “Other” category was identified by 43% of respondents. As this will be a key
topic in the coming years as the population ages, it may be an area for further research. Any
future surveys should attempt to add more impact categories and a “comments” field to seek
views from the respondents.
There were some sectoral differences in how the impacts of an aging workforce were felt.
Responding businesses in Primary Industry, Transportation and Utilities and Food and
Accommodation (25-28%) all felt that they were required to work more hours, while High Tech
respondents were most likely to note the impact of an aging workforce on expansion plans (22%).
Education services felt the impact in their customer service more than other sectors.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
In the follow up survey, the “other” responses for the impact of aging were fairly evenly split
between negative and positive impacts. On the positive side, many respondents noted the extra
experience and better work ethic that older workers bring to the workplace.
On the negative side, there were higher costs, especially in relation to benefits, and the skill gaps
that will occur when the current workforce retires.
Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce
Respondents again identified in-house training (37%) as a key strategy for dealing with an aging
workforce, as well as “other” strategies (34%), greater use of flexible work schedules (12%),
greater use of apprentices (8%) and succession planning (6%). All other strategies identified
represented 5% or less of respondents.
The Interior region was once again more likely than the other regions to identify “other” strategies
(47%) to deal with an aging workforce. Both the Kootenay and Vancouver Island/Coast regions
were more likely than the Interior (more than 40% vs. 26%) to identify in-house training, as well
as being more likely to try profit/performance based compensation packages and a greater use of
apprentices. Twelve percent of Kootenay respondents identified greater use of apprentices
versus 4% of Interior companies.
There were some notable differences with regards to the strategies used to deal with an aging
workforce. Again, Transportation and Utilities were more likely to use apprentices and in-house
training. One interesting difference between the skill shortages strategy responses is that High
Tech showed a much greater likelihood to use in-house training in response to the aging
workforce (over 42%) as opposed to in response to skill shortages (22%).
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees
One-third of respondents identified “other” services/programs rather than the predicted choices.
Of the predicted responses, tax credits and an employment referral service were seen as the
most helpful, with 22% of respondents identifying each followed by more relevant training in
schools (18%). Assistance in developing compensation packages (7%) was seen by respondents
as the least helpful.
More relevant college/university training, more appropriate apprenticeship programs, and school-
business partnerships were reported as strategies used by 14%, 14% and 13% of companies,
respectively. The “other services/programs” was chosen by 33% of the respondents. As this is a
large response, future surveys should include and list additional programs and add a comments
field to obtain additional information.
There were some notable differences in sectoral responses. As has been the case in the other
sectoral comparisons, Transportation and Utilities and Primary Industry were much more likely to
emphasize apprenticeship programs (24%) and more relevant training (19%) than other sectors.
Education and Health and Social Services emphasized partnerships between schools and
business (18% and 16%, respectively) and more relevant college/university training (22% and
14%, respectively). High Tech companies preferred tax credits (22%) – as did Finance, Insurance
and Real Estate respondents (21%) – and an employment referral service (18%).
“Other” responses from the follow up survey on how to improve recruitment focused around three
main areas:
• Developing a pool of more qualified/skilled applicants to draw from;
• Providing better and more accessible training;
• Training more qualified people; and,
• Providing government financial contributions to assist in training and the recruitment
process.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees
Tax credits and more relevant training in schools were seen as important, with 19% and 15% of
the responses respectively. Again, assistance in developing competitive compensation packages
was seen as the least helpful of the modes of assistance. The “other services and programs” was
chosen by 33% of the respondents. As this is a large response, any future surveys should include
a list of additional programs and add a comments field to obtain additional information.
The sectoral responses in this area follow the pattern of other areas, with a few exceptions. The
tax credit for training is popular with a wider range of sectors, including High Tech, Finance,
Insurance and Real Estate and Food and Accommodation. Business Services is the most likely
sector to choose “other” services and programs.
The main response in the “other” category of the follow up survey as to how best to retain
employees was the issue of ensuring that employees feel that they are sufficiently compensated
for their work. Additionally, other themes in the follow up probing included:
• Better benefits and working conditions;
• Providing training;
• Offering long term and/or full-time employment; and,
• Developing a larger pool of available qualified workers to draw from.
Other themes included more support for employers to help them retain seasonal workers, and
progressive workplace approaches such as employee recognition and team-building activities.
General Comments and Suggestions
At the end of the primary survey, respondents were asked to provide any further comments that
they may have had. Seventy-one respondents provided comments, which reflected a few central
themes:
• The need for stability and reform in apprenticeship training programs;
• The need for more accessible training programs;
• The need for more relevant training; and,
• The need for more assistance from government regarding apprenticeship and training.
Two-thirds or 67% of respondents indicated that they would be willing to participate in future
surveys. This response reflects quite a significant level of interest in the survey and skill issues
among respondents.
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
The conclusions of this survey report are essentially a synthesis of the preceding Results/
Analysis section. The survey response was generally quite representative of the regions, sectors,
and size of company that were intended to be studied. The results showed significant levels of
“difficult to fill” job vacancies and high turnover rates, as well as significant impacts on businesses
as a result of these pressures. The results also provided a good sense of the reasons for these
shortages and turnover rates, what strategies small businesses employ to address these
pressures, and, most importantly, what types of assistance would help them bridge skill gaps in
their businesses. Two types of recommendations have been provided.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
Recommendations on Communication, Policy and Program Options
1. Widely disseminate this report and the other reports of the BC Skills Force Initiative to
government, industry, education and training, community and other stakeholder groups
throughout the province.
2. From the data collected and analyzed in this survey, it may be useful to develop “mini”
reports for responses from businesses in each of the three rural regions, and possibly for
each of the industry sectors with the largest sample sizes and highest rates of vacancies
and turnover. This data would be interest to various regional and industry associations.
3. Work with regional and industry groups – particularly in those sectors which most
frequently identified shortages and retention problems – to develop specific strategies for
the Trades/Transport/Equipment Operator and Sales and Service job categories.
4. Work with the Construction, Food and Accommodation, Transportation, Manufacturing,
and Business Services sectors in particular to identify strategies for addressing skill
shortages and high staff turnover rates.
5. Consider specific actions or strategies which address the main reasons for shortages and
turnover identified by respondents – particularly the lack of qualified staff (i.e. strategies
that generate a greater supply), problems in attracting people in certain careers,
compensation incentives, and seasonal work.
6. Encourage education, training and employment service providers to include life skills,
“soft skills,” and other “essential” skills in their programs.
7. Use the results of this survey – particularly the impact of skill shortages, high turnover
and aging workforce on small businesses – to promote the need for businesses and
sectors to develop strategies to address these pressures. For example, the results show
that small businesses feel a definite impact on production levels and customer service
from skill shortages and staff turnover.
8. Promote small business human resource planning and ownership succession planning as
a strategic tool for companies to get on top of these problems and for developing
proactive strategies for addressing skill gaps.
9. While overall, almost half of the small businesses reported they used in-house training;
just over one-third of micro businesses did so. While training is not a panacea, work
needs to continue on promoting the business case (i.e. return on investment) for training
among very small businesses, and to develop tools and assistance that will help such
companies use training to their advantages in offsetting skill shortages and turnover.
10. The survey yielded a significant degree of interest in apprenticeship training – particularly
in certain regions and sectors. This should be capitalized upon and more information
could be provided to small businesses in rural regions on what the Industry Training
Authority is doing and how it can help smaller businesses participate in such training. For
example, do the small businesses know much about the Secondary School
Apprenticeship Program, the Accelerated Credit Enrolment in Industry Training Program,
or new industry training programs developed through the ITA? The Community Futures
Development Association could work with the ITA and BC Chamber on an initiative.
11. In addition to the use of apprentices, small businesses in certain sectors showed
significant interest in co-op education students and interns as a source of skilled workers.
This source of talent needs to be promoted more
12. In addition to the “other” option, tax credits for training and employment referral service
were the types of assistance small businesses in the rural regions were interested in. The
tax credit finding should be communicated to both federal and provincial governments as
an important option for them to consider. The CFDA should work with industry and small
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
business organizations to explore options for piloting an employment referral service,
whether this involves building on an existing mechanism or creating something new.
13. Many small businesses identified the need for more relevant and accessible training by
schools and post-secondary institutions. This information should be passed onto relevant
provincial government ministries and to school and post-secondary organizations. They
and small business and industry groups should be encouraged to build stronger linkages
between business and education.
14. The survey found a very low level of usage of and interest in strategies or assistance
involving hiring older workers and immigrants. Since various government agencies and
other groups in certain parts of the province promote these widely, it would be useful to
find out the reasons for the lack of interest. Is it an awareness issue, a perception issue
or some other factor?
Recommendations on Potential Future Research
The following recommendations should be considered if the Community Futures Development
Association of BC or other business groups undertake survey research on small business skills
and training needs and issues in the future:
15. Some of the open-ended questions such as business size (number of employees),
occupation, “other” in the industry should be changed to specific categories or groupings
(i.e. forced-choice questions). This would improve data quality and remove the need for
time consuming coding and allow better analysis.
16. For a few questions with a “other” category of response – particularly the impact of skill
shortages and an aging work force, assistance in addressing challenges of recruitment
and assistance in the challenge of retaining employees – some additional categories of
strategies and a comments field would be helpful although this would increase response
burden somewhat.
17. Respondents should be asked their primary business sector, instead of being asked to
choose all that apply. This would simplify analysis, while providing greater focus.
18. Rankings could be used for questions asking about assistance, to allow more in-depth
analysis and help to set priorities.
19. Consideration should be given to including “self employment” in some of the questions in
order to differentiate between businesses with employees and businesses without
employees. This is a growing area of entrepreneurial activity in all regions of the
province.
20. The survey did not quantify the number of vacancies or the extent of turnover per each
respondent. Also, the questions on turnover did not ask respondents in what occupations
turnover was most prevalent. The questioning in future surveys might consider how to do
so, perhaps through forced-choice ranges.
21. Some of the above research recommendations could be actioned relatively quickly
through more focused primary research such shorter issue-specific surveys, key
informant interviews, topic-specific focus groups, etc.
22. More research would also be useful for probing into the relatively low rate of the
existence of human resource plans among small businesses. In the primary survey, there
was only time for a simple “yes/no” question, but it would be useful to find out what is
behind this.
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BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
1. PURPOSE AND INTRODUCTION
As the result of a Request for Proposals, a project team consisting of WCG International
Consultants Ltd. (WCG) and its partners, Spark Group Management Consultants Inc.
and Human Capital Strategies, was awarded a contract with the Community Futures
Development Association of British Columbia to conduct a telephone/web survey of
small businesses2 in the economic regions of Vancouver Island – Coast, Thompson-
Okanagan, and the Kootenays.
As part of the Community Futures Development Association’s “BC Skills Force Initiative”,
the WCG team was contracted to complete a minimum of 4,000 survey contacts with a
minimum of 1,000 survey responses. The survey questions were to focus on the nature,
extent and impact of skill shortages and related issues in the above regions.
The purpose of this report is to document the results of a telephone/web survey and to
analyze the implications of the results and make recommendations on options for
addressing small business skills and training needs in British Columbia, particularly in
southern rural regions. This report also documents the results of a smaller follow up
survey to probe on questions arising out of the larger primary survey.
.
Project Background
In April 2004, the Community Futures Association of BC and the BC Chamber of
Commerce agreed to undertake a study to analyze the impact of skills shortages on
small business, within BC. This is known as the BC Skills Force Initiative.
The Community Futures Development Association of BC was recently contracted by
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to analyze the labour market for
small business as it relates to skills and an aging workforce.
The project is to serve as a venue to engage BC small businesses in a proactive
process that will enable them to deal more effectively with the current challenges they
are facing in acquiring the skilled workers they need to be successful.
Throughout this process, the small business community has been enlisted to help
develop a report that identifies:
2
For purposes of this project, “small business” is defined as a company with 50 or less employees.
SURVEY OF SKILLS & TRAINING NEEDS AMONG SMALL BUSINESSES IN SOUTHERN RURAL BC 1
BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
• The skills that BC businesses currently require to be competitive;
• Where and to what extent skill shortages exist; and,
• Solutions to the problems BC businesses are encountering in accessing the
skilled workers they need.
The proposed activities in this project also include connecting BC small businesses with
employment service providers. This process will allow the private sector to raise
awareness of the types of employment opportunities that currently exist for unemployed
individuals. This linkage may result in job placement for those unemployed workers that
have the necessary skills to do the work. This project will also analyze how BC
businesses will be affected by projected labour skill shortages in the future. Specifically,
it will examine the future impact that an aging workforce will have on BC’s small
businesses.
The BC Skills Force Initiative involves working with B.C. businesses, at the ground level,
within the economic regions of Vancouver Island – Coast, Thompson-Okanagan, and
the Kootenays. This will be achieved by conducting both focus group sessions and
telephone surveys within each region.
The project involves three components, the last of which is the subject of this report:
• Literature Research and Project Planning. A brief review of labour market
information, projections and prior research studies in British Columbia and other
jurisdictions was conducted. The review covered issues related to skills
shortages, their impact on business performance and approaches and best
practices in alleviating skill shortages.
• Focus Group Sessions. There have been 15 focus group sessions held
involving participants from small businesses throughout the Southern Rural BC.
A broad cross section of the small business community was asked to participate
in the focus group sessions.
• Telephone/Web Survey. To achieve broader input from businesses within the
regions identified above, the project utilized a telephone/web survey process.
The survey was designed to gather detailed information on the current impact of
skill shortages on small BC businesses. The survey also provides an avenue for
follow-up feedback with those businesses that participated in the focus group
sessions.
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The Community Futures project team will collaborate in analyzing and distilling the
information gathered from all the focus groups and telephone surveys. The project team
will then develop a report of the findings based on the information collected. The report
will contain recommendations regarding the action to be pursued in Phase II of the BC
Skills Force Initiative. The report and recommendations will then be circulated to
participating organizations and funding agencies.
WCG Project Team
WCG International Consultants Ltd. (WCG) and its partners, Spark Group
Management Consulting Inc., and Human Capital Strategies have extensive
experience in designing, implementing, interpreting and analyzing labour market
information surveys for small businesses, organizations, and Governments in
British Columbia and throughout Canada.
WCG brings strong labour market survey experience and small business connections
to the Team, including a database of 115,000 small business employers in BC and
working relationships with the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, 43 local
Chambers and the Community Futures Association. Everyday, WCG observes the
imbalance in skilled workers and small business throughout British Columbia through
the operation of its employment programs.
Spark Group Management Consulting has over 25 years experience in designing and
delivering a wide range of labour market, social and economic survey and research
projects.
Kerry Jothen, Principal of Human Capital Strategies brings over 27 years of extensive
experience in skills shortage research and analysis. He is currently Chair of and
Advisor to the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce Critical Skills Task Force.
This project team recently worked together to successfully deliver a survey and report
on Research – Recruitment and Retention of Persons with Disabilities in the small
business sector. Collectively the Team has implemented over 30,000 surveys and is
well positioned to deliver the Telephone/Web Survey for the BC Skills Force Initiative.
In addition to delivering the best survey design and implementation possible, the
project team, led by WCG, has the ability and demonstrated experience to develop
innovative strategies and solutions to meet the overall expected outcomes of the BC
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Skills Force Initiative. WCG has had tremendous success placing over 31,500 people
in small business employment opportunities using its innovative case management
technology, which matches workers’ skills to job vacancies.
This experience, combined with Spark Group and Human Capital Strategies’
knowledge of labour market surveys, research and analysis, provided the strategic
planning expertise required to develop and share innovative skills shortage solutions
based on the results of the survey.
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2. CONTEXT AND TERMS OF REFERENCE
Small businesses are a critical part of BC’s economy. The BC Skills Force Initiative’s
focus group presentation shows that 98% percent of all businesses in BC are small; and
84% of all small businesses in BC are micro-businesses with less than five employees.
Collectively, small businesses account for 58% of the province’s employment and 30%
of its Gross Domestic Product, including $9.4 billion in exports.
Key drivers that impact the supply of and demand for skilled labour in BC include the
following trends:
• An aging workforce and declining birth rates mean, that for the first time in the
history of the BC economy, the number of people leaving the workforce will
exceed the number of new entrants by 2008-2010.
• Extreme competition for skilled labour is evident among companies in
jurisdictions in and outside of North America. For example, in Alberta the
province will see major projects totaling over $80 billion during 2004-2008, while
the highest estimate for BC is under $70 billion.
• Over 1 million job openings are expected in BC between 2003 and 2015, with
over 130,000 of these coming from the impacts of the 2010 Games and related
projects – particularly in tourism, construction, retail and transportation; these
sectors are already experiencing labour shortages.
• Significant economic growth in BC in the last few years is expected to continue
with BC leading the country in a number of economic indicators.
• Immigration to BC represents 70% of net labour force growth and is expected to
reach 100% in the next decade.
• The traditionally under-utilized labour force groups – women, immigrants and
visible minorities, Aboriginal people and persons with disabilities – represent 60%
of the Canadian and BC labour force.
• According to the BC Skills Force Initiative presentation, there are 383,700 self-
employed people in BC and this number has grown significantly in the last
decade.
• Fifty-two percent of small business owners are over 45 years of age and almost
one-quarter (22%) are over 55.
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The economic viability of BC small businesses is threatened by these key drivers and
the increasing skill shortages and other skills gaps (e.g. quality of available workers).
The BC Chamber of Commerce Closing the Skills Gap Report of 2002 sums up this
challenge:
“British Columbia is at a skills crossroads. The quality and creativity of the
workforce has become the single most competitive factor in the
industrialized nations. The degree to which skill shortages are averted by
stakeholders will be a large determinant of B.C.’s economic prosperity
and social health.”
Yet there is a lack of hard data on the nature and extent of skill requirements of small
businesses in BC, particularly in non-urban areas of the province. Further, there is very
limited information on the actual and potential impacts of skill shortages and the policy
and program options for addressing such impacts.
See http://www.bcskillsforce.com/docs/BCSkillsForce-Backgrounder.pdf for a summary
of the background to and rationale for the BC Skills Force Initiative.
Project Scope, Goals and Objectives:
The WCG team was contracted to design a telephone and web survey that will provide
the Community Futures Association with statistically valid data on skills shortages for
small business. The survey needed to specifically measure:
• What skills BC businesses are looking for that are not found in the available
workforce;
• Potential impact of an aging workforce as it pertains to skill shortages for small
business;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each business sector;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each geographic region;
• What skills development, employee retention/recruitment strategies and training
programs are required to resolve skilled labour requirements;
The target group for the survey was small businesses with less than 50 employees. The
survey was to be conducted within the Thompson Okanagan, Kootenay, and Vancouver
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Island/Coast regions of BC – these regions do not include Greater Vancouver, Lower
Mainland or Greater Victoria.
The sector mix of businesses surveyed was to include:
• Accommodation and Food;
• Health and Social Services;
• Education Services;
• Finance Insurance and Real Estate;
• Trade;
• Transportation and Utilities;
• Construction;
• Primary;
• Manufacturing;
• Business Services; and,
• Other.
As indicated previously, the WCG team was contracted to complete a minimum 4,000
survey contacts with a minimum 1,000 survey responses from the aforementioned
regions and business sectors. The sample of businesses was to be stratified according
the number of businesses in each region and sector.
WCG was to make initial contact with business owners to ascertain if they were willing to
participate in the survey. If they agreed, a brief backgrounder on the BC Skills Force
Initiative was to be sent to the business and a date and time for the survey was
established. Survey questions were to be sent out to participating businesses in advance
so that business owners would have the opportunity to formulate responses to the
questions.
A final summary report was to provide data that could be broken down by region and
business sector. The report had to identify any significant general trends, and also
identify any regional or sector-specific differences. The survey was to measure if
businesses are being impacted by skill shortages, and how this impact is translated to
their business (i.e. lack of growth or loss in profitability).
More specifically, the survey was to be designed to gather the following information:
• A profile of the owner’s current labour force;
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• The current level of skill shortages their business is facing;
• The impact of skill shortages on business employment, output, exports and
expansion plans;
• Strategies currently utilized to compensate for skill shortages e.g. production cut
back, overtime, contracting out, etc.;
• What skill development programs/services are available to them, and are they
using them; and if not, why;
• How service providers could help to address the skill shortage issues;
• What new skill development programs/services could be provided to assist them
and how should they be delivered;
• Their view on how the aging of the labour pool will impact their business over the
next five years; and,
• Other useful information.
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3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
An integrated telephone and web survey was designed to generate statistically reliable
data on skills shortages in small business throughout southern rural BC. The survey was
specifically designed to measure:
• The skills BC businesses are looking for that are not found in the available
workforce;
• The potential impact of an aging workforce as it pertains to skill shortages for
small business;
• The nature and extent of skill shortages in each business sector;
• The nature and extent of skills shortages in each geographic region;
• The skills development, employee retention/recruitment strategies; and,
• Training programs that are required to resolve skilled labour requirements.
After the administration and analysis of what has been termed, the “primary” survey as
described in the project terms of reference, in consultation with the Community Futures
Association, the project team agreed to conduct a small “follow up” survey to probe into
questions arising from the primary survey.
This methodology section contains three main components for both the primary and
follow-up surveys:
• 3.1 Survey Sampling;
• 3.2 Survey Development; and,
• 3.3 Survey Administration.
3.1 Survey Sampling
Based on the project team’s past experience in obtaining survey responses from busy
small business enterprise owners/managers during the traditionally difficult summer
months, a relatively large number of business contacts were planned. To ensure a
minimum of 1,000 completed responses, a sample of approximately 13,000 BC
employers was prepared from a database of over 115,000 provincial businesses
maintained by WCG International and from businesses whom are members of the
community chambers of commerce (CCC). WCG’s database is kept current by regular
telephone canvassing throughout the year and CCC membership is maintained by
annual membership renewals.
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Within southern rural BC, WCG’s database contains approximately 11,400 businesses in
the Vancouver Island/Coast region, 13,500 businesses in the Thompson Okanagan and
over 5,500 businesses in the Kootenay regions. The following is an outline of these
regions.
The Kootenay region encompasses communities in the southeast of British Columbia.
Specific communities in this region include:
Ainsworth Hot Springs Grasmere Radium Hot Springs
Balfour Gray Creek Revelstoke
Boswell Invermere Rock Creek
Canmore Kaslo Rogers Pass
Castlegar Kimberley Rossland
Cranbrook Kootenay Bay Salmo
Crawford Bay Lake Koocanusa Silverton
Creston Lethbridge Sirdar
Donald Malakwa Skookumchuck
Elkford Meadow Creek Slocan
Elko Mica Creek Sparwood
Erickson Nakusp Tete Jaune Cache
Fairmont Hot Springs Nelson Trail
Fernie New Denver Wardner
Field North Shore Nelson Wasa
Fort Steele Panorama Mountain Windermere
Fruitvale Parson Winlaw
Golden Proctor Wynndel
The Interior region includes communities in the Thompson Okanagan and in the
southern Caribou Chilcotin areas of British Columbia. Specific communities in this
region include:
70 Mile House Hedley Oyama
Adams Lake Heffley Creek Peachland
Armstrong Hixon Penticton
Ashcroft Kaleden Pinantan Lake
Barriere Kamloops Portland
Beaverdell Kelowna Princeton
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Big White Ski Resort Keremeos Quilchena
Blind Bay Kettle Valley Riske Creek
Blue River Knutsford Salmon Arm
Brookmere Lac Le Jeune Savona
Cache Creek Likely Scotch Creek
Cawston Lillooet Sicamous
Celista Little Fort Silver Star
Chase Logan Lake Slocan Park
Cherryville Lone Butte Sorrento
Christina Lake Lumby Spences Bridge
Clearwater Mara Lake Summerland
Clinton Mcleese Lake Sun Peaks
Douglas Lake Merritt Tappen
Dunster Midway Valemount
Enderby Monte Lake Vaseux Lake
Falkland Naramata Vavenby
Fraser Lake Nicola Lake Vernon
Gold Bridge Okanagan Falls Westbank
Grand Forks Oliver Winfield
Greenwood Osoyoos Yale
Grindrod
The Vancouver Island/Coast region includes communities other than Victoria on
Vancouver Island as well as the gulf islands. Specific communities in this region include:
Alert Bay Gold River Port Hardy
Anacortes Hanson Island Port Mcneill
Bamfield Heriot Bay Port Renfrew
Black Creek Holberg Powell River
Blackfish Sound Hornby Island Quadra Island
Bowser Knight Inlet Qualicum Bay
Brentwood Bay Kyuquot Qualicum Beach
Campbell River Ladysmith Quathiaski Cove
Cassidy Lake Cowichan Renton
Cathedral Grove Langara Rivers Inlet
Chemainus Lantzville Salt Spring Island
Cobble Hill Lasqueti Island Saratoga Beach
Comox Little River Saturna Island
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Comox Valley Mayne Island Sayward
Coombs Merville Shawnigan Lake
Cortes Island Mill Bay Sidney
Courtenay Minstrel Island Sidney Island
Cowichan Bay Mitlenatch Island Simoon Sound
Cowichan Lake Mt. Washington Sointula
Crofton Nanaimo Sooke
Cumberland Nanoose Bay South Winchelsea Island
Denman Island Newcastle Tahsis
Duncan Nootka Island Texada Island
Echo Bay Oyster Bay Thetis Island
Errington Parksville Tofino
Esperanza Pender Island Ucluelet
Fanny Bay Piers Island Whaletown
Gabriola Island Port Alberni Woss
Galiano Island Port Alice Zeballos
For the primary survey, a random sample of approximately 4,200 businesses was
selected from WCG’s databases that were all contacted by telephone. A supplementary
sample of approximately 8,700 of businesses that are members of the community
Chambers of Commerce were contacted by e-mail. All of the survey responses from e-
mail/web link and telephone were received by an integrated Survey Logix web database
that prevented duplicate or multiple responses. Each of the selected businesses was
contacted multiple times until response was obtained or decision made to discontinue. A
breakdown of the survey sample sources is provided on the next page. Survey contact
and interview methodology is described in section 3.3.
The number of businesses contacted was reviewed against total number of business
establishments in Statistics Canada’s Business Register for representation and
coverage. As summarized in the table below, sample coverage is approximately 32%
with small ±3% range around this average by region.
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Survey Sample Sources
Via Email Via Email Via Phone
Community Futures
Chambers of Commerce Development Corporations Project Survey Team
Castlegar 220 CFDC Nicola Valley 310 Island 1,495
Comox Valley 560 CFDC Trail 12 Interior 1,941
Duncan 196 CFDC Sun Country 20 Kootenays 823
Gibsons 226 CFDC Central Koot. 248 Sub-Total 4,259
Vernon 526 Sub-Total 590
Kamloops 660
Grand Forks 77
Nanaimo 728
Kelowna 1,555
Kitamat 189
Merritt 175
Nelson 410
Parksville 410
Powell River 106
Penticton 710
Qualicum 285
Salmon Arm 389
Sechelt 293
Sparwood 75
Ucluelet 14
Terrace 325
Sub-Total CCC 8,129
Total Survey Contacts: 12,978
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Sample Size of Businesses Contacted
Statistics Percent
Total Canada Coverage
Region Telephone E-mail
Contacted Business
Register
Vanc. Island 1495 2818 4,313 12,200 35%
(excl. Capital)
Interior 1941 4859 6,800 23,100 29%
Kootenays 823 1042 1,865 5,900 32%
Total 4,259 8,719 12,978 41,200 32%
Most business contacts in WCG’s database and Chamber members are small
businesses; however the survey will confirm that each contact fell within the 1-50
employee range prior to asking if the business is willing to participate in the survey. In
addition, the survey will include a question on business size in terms of the number of
employees to enable analysis by the following size categories as determined in
consultation with Community Futures:
• Less than 5 employees;
• 5 to 9 employees;
• 10 to 19 employees; and,
• 20 to 50 employees.
In addition, the Team included a small supplementary sample of larger (50+ employees)
businesses to compare the small business results to the larger employers. This is an
additional value-added component of the study.
The survey also included information collection to enable analysis by the following
industry sectors determined in consultation with Community Futures:
• Accommodation and Food;
• Health and Social Services;
• Education Services;
• Finance Insurance and Real Estate;
• Trade;
• Transportation and Utilities;
• Construction;
• Primary;
• Manufacturing;
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• Business Services; and,
• Other.
The survey design was based on a minimum of 1,000 survey completions and minimum
reliability estimates are shown in the table below. For example, in determining the
proportion of employers experiencing a skills shortage: if the proportion of affirmative
responses is 25%, this proportion at the full sample level would be estimated to be
reliable within ±2.6 percentage points if we only achieve the minimum target of 1,000
completed responses. The reliability range is wider such that the estimated proportions
are good within 25% ±4.5% for minimum 1,000 target completions. If the respondents
were divided into approximately 10 business sectors, on the average, reliability will be
within a broader band of ±8.2%.
Appendix 1 provides more details on the reliability of the survey sample and responses.
Minimum Design Reliability Estimates*
Completed Survey
Province Region Employer Size Business Sector
Responses
1,000 ±2.6% ±4.5% ±5.2% ±8.4%
*
At the 95% confidence level, based on a question with affirmative response proportions of 25%.
The follow-up survey involved contacting 802 businesses drawn from the random
sample used for the primary survey.
3.2 Survey Development
The primary and follow up survey instruments were developed in consultation with the
Community Futures Association of BC.
Primary Survey Questionnaire and Scope
The primary objective of the survey was to measure if small businesses in southern rural
BC are impacted by skills shortages and magnitude of this impact, and how this has
translated to their business. More specifically, the survey collected information on:
• The profile of the owner’s current business labour force;
• The current level of skill shortages their business is facing;
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• The impact of skill shortages on business employment, output, exports and
expansion plans;
• Strategies currently utilized to compensate for skill shortages e.g. production cut
back, overtime, hiring from non-traditional sources, etc.;
• What skill development programs/services are available to them, and are they
using them;
• How service providers can help to address the skill shortage issues;
• What new skill development programs/services could be provided to assist them
and how should they be delivered;
• Their view on how the aging of the labour pool will impact their business over the
next five years; and,
• Other useful information in addressing current and future skill shortages and
aging of the workforce.
One of the objectives of the survey design was to keep it clear and concise. Survey
completion time averaged less than five minutes for the core questions, followed by an
open-ended question that enabled the respondents to provide more details if necessary.
The questionnaire structure is summarized below:
1. Instructions (all close-ended questions unless noted);
2. Contact information (title, contact #s of individual/s who complete the survey);
3. Tombstone information on characteristics of the company (region, type of
business activity, size, years in operation, etc.);
4. Current employment levels, full time and part time (open ended to be coded to 2
digit ranges);
5. Proportion of employees age 50 years or over;
6. Current occupational structure (open ended to be coded into two or three-digit
occupational categories);
7. Current unfilled vacancies;
8. Causes of vacancies;
9. Skills in short supply;
10. Attrition levels;
11. Human resource plan for recruitment, retention and training of employees;
12. Succession plan for the business owner;
13. Potential impact of aging workforce;
14. Strategies to deal with skill shortages;
15. Strategies to deal with aging workforce;
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16. Programs that would help in dealing with skill shortages;
17. Programs that would help in dealing with an aging workforce;
18. Programs that would help in retaining skilled employees;
19. Other comments and suggestions (open ended);
The project research team worked closely with the Project Manager and Business
Liaison of Community Futures in building the survey questions and flow. The team also
reviewed and utilized the results of the literature research and focus group sessions to
assist in the development of the survey. Through discussions with the Project Manager
and Business Liaison, the team was able to concentrate on the most critical information
required to keep the response time to five minutes.
A draft questionnaire approved by the Community Futures Association was tested on 50
businesses to ensure all questions were clear. Additionally, the sample test assessed
the flow of the survey, and ensured Survey Logix’s technology and reports generated
were custom tailored to the requirements of the project. The sample enabled the
research team to verify the results by region, business size and business sector. In
consultation with the Project Manager, a number of modifications were made to wording,
the order and the structure of the questionnaire to improve the administration of the
survey.
Also, to minimize response burden, the set of questions on skill shortages and related
impacts/strategies and on aging and related impacts/strategies were each sent to
alternate respondents so that 50% of the respondents received each of these areas.
Survey Logix allows setting the probability of each question being asked from a given
respondents so this was process was automated and invisible to survey administrators.
Concurrently, the research team worked with the Project Manager and Business Liaison
to create an introduction letter describing the purpose of the Skills Force Initiative. This
was sent to businesses that agreed to participate in the survey, either via email or fax.
The letter included a link to the web-based survey tool and a time that was agreed upon
in which the survey will be competed.
The introduction letter is provided in Appendix 2 and the questionnaire instruments
(primary and follow up versions) are shown in Appendix 3 and Appendix 4.
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Leading Web Survey System – Survey Logix
Survey Logix is web survey software used by thousands of professional market
research, consulting, business and public sector organizations. The project research
team has used this product in past surveys, and it was utilized for the purposes of this
initiative to collect and summarize data.
Survey Logix can be utilized for telephone, fax and web based surveys, and it allows for
seamless integration of all survey types. The technology enables users to create
professional surveys, post them on the web or distribute them via email, automatically
collect responses, analyze the results, and instantly produce effective reports. Survey
Logix uses a distribution manager to coordinate email invitations, which can be
automatically customized for each respondent. The project research team can
automatically set the system to send a reminder email to businesses that have not yet
responded or alternatively to those that have previously shown interest in responding to
particular kinds of surveys. Other features of Survey Logix are:
• Custom analysis functionality (i.e. point-and-click cross-tabs, frequency
distribution reports, summary statistics, and charting for comprehensive results
analysis);
• Easy access to surveys through the use of a standard browser;
• Unlimited number of questions;
• Fully customizable logos, fonts, images and colours;
• Jump Logix technology – enables users a customized path through the survey by
skipping non-applicable questions; Also, the system allows the setting of
automated probabilities to include specific questions or sections to a given
percent of the respondents allowing collection of a wider range of information
while minimizing response burden;
• Powerful options to ensure valid input;
• Flexible question types and instructions – dozens of question types such as
single choice, multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus, matrices and
others;
• Online results graphing, tabulation and downloadable data; conditional reporting
function to filter responses; and,
• Real-time results monitoring for latest responses.
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3.3 Administration of Survey
Through the completion of over 30,000 surveys with employers, employment support
programs and other areas, the project research team has developed effective protocols
for response rate enhancement and respondent tracking to ensure the effective
completion of the survey.
The project team utilized a variety of response tracking strategies and attempted to
make contact with each respondent a maximum of 7 times during the course of survey
administration. Any respondent, who could not complete the survey at the time that they
had been contacted, had the option of requesting to be contacted at another, more
convenient time. The surveys were administered by up to eight telephone surveyors
who were available for return calls and survey administration from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
Telephone/Web Survey Procedure
Step 1 Review, edit and select a random sample
Step 2 Contact business owners to ascertain their willingness to participate in the
survey. If they agree, determine if telephone survey or web survey would
be preferred.
If no contact made on initial call, leave a message with 1-800 number and
hours of operation. If no response in two days, an attempt was made to
contact again for a minimum of two additional times.
Step 3 If telephone survey chosen, inform business about the Skills Force
Initiative, and set a time to complete the survey, if not immediate. If
necessary, the business will be contacted up to three additional times. If a
web survey is chosen, the employer will be sent a backgrounder on the
Skills Force Initiative to the business, with a link to the web-based survey –
requesting a response within two days. For those not responding, they will
be sent up to three electronic reminders, which include the web survey link.
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Quality Control for Survey/Qualitative Data
To ensure that stakeholders have access to appropriate qualitative data and open-ended
comments, our process included the following:
• On-line, real time monitoring of responses. This enabled the Team to monitor
the data entry activities of surveyors in real time; supervisory personnel could
ensure that surveyors correctly interpreted responses. Survey Logix software
also executes logic checks on a continuous basis. Out-of-scope or illogical
responses result in error messages, which require surveyors or respondents to
check the data entry;
• Use of the sophisticated system allowed an extended number of characters for
each open-ended field. There is no need to force responses in limited field
lengths;
• For web surveys, Survey Logix has built in edit features, unlimited comments
space, flexible field lengths and helpful pointers to prevent reporting of
inconsistent data;
• Regular surveyor debriefing sessions highlighted surveyor issues with respect to
any problems they identified in the project; and
• Data is “cleaned” continuously.
Additional Response Rate Enhancement Strategies
The project team has developed several sound survey implementation approaches to
ensure efficient and reliable information from survey participants. The Team carried out
a number of activities:
• Distribution of an Information Letter to Survey Businesses: Official letters were
sent to potential participants that explained the purpose of the survey and
provided a toll-free contact number;
• Multiple contact attempts were made at various times to reach respondents;
• Diligent tracking of survey participants using a number of tracking approaches to
locate respondents including:
o Utilization of WCG database of employers, in the requested regions, that are
in active rotation for calls and a large subset of thousands of employers with
e-mail addresses on file;
o Utilization of community Chambers of Commerce and Community Futures
Development Corporations membership e-mail lists for individual businesses;
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o The provision of a toll-free (1-800) number to encourage individuals to call the
surveyors back;
o The use of directory assistance;
• Utilized trained and experienced telephone survey staff and provided close
supervision for quality control.
Follow Up Survey
The primary survey yielded substantial information on the labour market conditions and
skills challenges for small businesses in southern rural British Columbia. However, a few
of the survey questions had relatively a high proportion of responses in the “other”
categories. It was decided to conduct a smaller follow up survey of the approximately in
which 802 businesses who responded to the primary survey were contacted. The
questions repeated for probing into the “other” categories were:
• Why is it difficult to fill certain jobs vacancies and retain staff in these positions?
• What skills are you seeking that are not adequately met by younger job
applicants between ages 15 to 30? By job applicants of all age groups?
• What impacts do skill shortages have on your company?
• What impacts does an aging workforce have on your company?
• What would help your company address the challenges of recruiting employees?
• What would help your company to address the challenges of retaining skilled
employees?
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4. RESEARCH RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
A total of 1,318 useable responses were received in response to the primary survey.
This exceeded by over 31% the minimum response of 1,000 businesses required by the
client; and provided a large enough sample to obtain statistically significant responses to
key survey questions.
In the follow up survey, 400 responses were obtained with responses to individual
questions ranging from 60 to 140 responses (i.e. some were not “other” responses)..
4.1 Regional Distribution of Responses
Respondents were asked in which region their company operates.
The majority of respondents were from the Interior Region (Thompson Okanagan and
southern Cariboo Chilcotin). Slightly more than a quarter were from the Vancouver
Island/Coast region. The distribution by region matches fairly closely with the expected
results.
Region of Respondent
Vancouver
Island/Coast
region (including
Gulf Islands and
excluding
Greater Victoria)
Interior region
(Thompson
Okanagan and
southern
Cariboo
Other
Chilcotin)
Kootenay region
(southeastern
BC)
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As the table below shows, the percentages of respondents by region mirrors reasonably
well the regional distribution of businesses according to Statistics Canada Business
Register. While businesses in the Kootenay region were slightly over-represented and
businesses in the Vancouver Island/Coast region were slightly under-represented, this
relative alignment provides support to the validity of the survey sampling.
Distribution of
Survey Region Percentage of Responses Businesses
(Statistics Canada)
Interior (Thompson
Okanagan and southern 54 56
Cariboo Chilcotin)
Kootenay (southeastern
BC) 18 14
Vancouver Island/Coast
(including Gulf Islands and 28 30
excluding Greater Victoria)
4.2 Responses by Community
Respondents were also asked in which local community their business operates.
Responses were received from companies in 102 individual communities. At the
community level, the larger centres such as Kelowna, Kamloops and Nanaimo each had
more than 100 respondents, while mid-sized centres such as Penticton, Vernon,
Castlegar, Salmon Arm and Nelson had between 30 and 65 each. Smaller communities
were proportionally represented as well. A complete listing of responses by community is
provided below.
70 Mile House 1 Meadow Creek 1
Armstrong 18 Lone Butte 2
Ashcroft 3 Lumby 1
Balfour 3 Mayne Island 1
Barriere 2 Meadow Creek 1
Blind Bay 1 Merritt 10
Cache Creek 3 Merville 1
Campbell River 22 Mill Bay 2
Cassidy 1 Nanaimo 106
Castlegar 31 Nanoose Bay 4
Chase 2 Naramata 1
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Chemainus 4 Nelson 47
Clearwater 4 New Denver 4
Clinton 1 Okanagan Falls 1
Cobble Hill 4 Oliver 7
Comox 6 Osoyoos 4
Coombs 1 Oyama 1
Courtenay 30 Panorama Mountain 1
Cowichan Bay 2 Parksville 24
Cowichan Lake 1 Peachland 3
Cranbrook 34 Pender Island 1
Creston 16 Penticton 61
Duncan 35 Port Alberni 13
Elkford 1 Port Hardy 9
Enderby 8 Port Mcneill 2
Erickson 1 Port Renfrew 1
Errington 1 Powell River 15
Fairmont Hot Springs 3 Princeton 6
Fernie 8 Qualicum Beach 9
Fruitvale 1 Radium Hot Springs 2
Gold Bridge 1 Revelstoke 8
Golden 8 Riske Creek 1
Grand Forks 15 Rock Creek 1
Gray Creek 1 Rossland 2
Hornby Island 1 Salmo 1
Invermere 10 Salmon Arm 49
Kaleden 1 Savona 1
Kamloops 151 Scotch Creek 1
Kaslo 3 Shawnigan Lake 1
Kelowna 170 Sicamous 7
Keremeos 2 Sidney 8
Kimberley 4 Sorrento 3
Kootenay Bay 1 Sparwood 10
Ladysmith 13 Summerland 17
Lake Cowichan 4 Sun Peaks 3
Lantzville 7 Tofino 2
Likely 1 Trail 15
Lillooet 3 Ucluelet 1
Logan Lake 1 Vernon 53
Lone Butte 2 Westbank 22
Lumby 1 Not provided 90
Mayne Island 1
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4.3 Responses by Industry Sector
Respondents were asked how they would classify the industry in which their
business operates.
The respondents to the survey represent a wide range of the BC business sectors. The
major respondent groups include the Retail and Wholesale sector (22%), Food and
Accommodation sector (14%), Construction (14%), Business Services (10%), and
Manufacturing (9%). The chart below shows the percent of respondents who identified
their business with a particular sector.3
Industry of Respondent
Food and Accomodation,
14%
Other, 19%
Health and Social
Services, 4%
Education, 3%
High Tech, 3% Finance, Insurance and
Real Estate, 4%
Business Services, 10%
Retail and Wholesale,
22%
Manufacturing, 9%
Primary Industry, 3%
Transportation and
Construction, 14%
Utilities, 5%
3
The analysis addresses the number of instances that an industry selection was made divided by the
number of respondents. There are 105 respondents who chose more than one industry.
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The responses by sector analysis showed some notable differences from the population
distribution. Most of the sectoral groups responded in a representative fashion. However,
there was an over-representation of food and accommodation respondents, and an
under-representation of health services, finance/insurance and business services
respondents. Detailed industry sector data are only available at the provincial level.
Consequently, these differences in the representation may be due to differential
response rates in these sectors or due to differences in the distribution of sectors in the
Southern rural communities and the overall province. Furthermore, it is possible that
health, finance and business services may be under represented in the community
Chambers of Commerce membership and food and accommodation may be over
represented. Also, part of the difference could be due to how the sectors are categorized
for the survey (for instance, High Tech is a “Special Sector” and is not part of the BC
Stats main groupings). As well, respondents were able to choose more than one sector,
which may have influenced the distribution.
Overall, the 30% of the respondent businesses are in the goods-producing sector, while
27% of the businesses in BC are in that sector. Given that the three specific regions
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sampled in this survey have a higher proportion of business activity in resource-based
industries, the sample of respondents appears quite representative of the regions.
4.4 Responses by Years of Operation
The respondents were asked how long has their company been in operations (in
years).
The respondents’ companies tended to be well-established companies, with the majority
having been in business for more than 10 years, and almost a quarter having been in
business for more than 25 years. Only 17% had been in operation for less than 5 years.
How Long Company has been in Operation
Less than 5
5 to 10 years, years, 17%
22%
More than 25
years, 24%
10 to 25 years,
37%
4.5 Responses by Number of Employees
Respondents were asked how many employees their firm has and how many are
full-time (number and percentage).
The majority of respondents were from smaller companies with 10 or less employees,
although 31% of the respondents had between 10 and 49 employees. This general
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mirrors the provincial average – 98% of businesses in BC have 50 or fewer employees,
compared to 94% of the respondents in this survey.
Number of Employees
20 to 50, 18%
Less than 5, 34%
10 to 19, 18%
More than 50, 6%
5 to 9, 25%
As can be seen in the table below, the percent of respondents who were from the
smallest companies (less than five employees) that responded was considerably lower
than the provincial average.4 Under reporting by the very small businesses is typical of
most business surveys. It could partly be due to the under-representation of the very
small (“micro”) businesses in the membership of the community Chambers of Commerce
and/or due to the time and human resource constraints that the smaller companies face.
Since, 50+ businesses were not part of the target group of businesses, their numbers in
the sample was not representative and hence not appropriate to be compared with that
of the BC Stats data base, Therefore the numbers in the table have been restated to
exclude the 50+ businesses.
4
The groupings are done differently in the table to mirror the BC Stats groupings.
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4.6 Job Vacancies
Respondents were asked if their business has job vacancies that were difficult to
fill and, if so, how many and what kind.
Over one-third or 34% of respondents reported that they had job vacancies in difficult to
fill positions. This compares generally with recent survey by the Canadian Home
Builders’ Association of BC of 150 home builders throughout the province, in which 43%
of responding companies identified a “difficult to fill” vacancy; or a recent go2 survey that
found 41% of tourism employers with 10 or more employees identified finding skilled,
qualified workers as their top priority.
As the chart below shows, the larger the business of the respondent, the more likely they
were to identify vacancies in “difficult to fill” positions. While one-fifth of companies with
less than five employees reported difficult to fill positions, almost half of businesses with
20 to 50 employees and almost 60% of businesses with more than 50 employees
indicated they had difficult to fill positions. Those companies with five to nineteen
employees had “difficult to fill” vacancies in the vicinity of 30% to 40%.
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Difficult to Fill Positions by Business Size
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Overall Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 50 More than 50
While companies with between 20 and 50 employees only made up 18% of
respondents, they accounted for 25% of the companies with reported vacancies.
However, because there are a greater number of smaller businesses, businesses with
nine or fewer employees accounted for majority of the vacancies.
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Proportion of Vacancies by Size
40%
35%
30%
25%
Population
20%
Difficult to fill
15%
10%
5%
0%
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 50 More than 50
Job vacancies by Industry Sector
There were few sectoral differences in terms of job vacancies for difficult to fill positions.
The three areas that were notably above the average are Construction (42%),
Manufacturing (39%), and Food and Accommodation (38%). This is not surprising given
what we have been hearing in reports from these industries over the last year.
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Job Vacancies in Difficult to Fill Positions
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
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Job Vacancies by Occupational Category
Respondents were also asked what kinds of jobs or occupations are hard to fill.
As the next chart shows, of those businesses who indicated that they had a “hard to fill”
vacancy, jobs in the Trades, Skilled Transport and Equipment Operator and Sales and
Service occupational categories were the most frequently reported, involving 36% and
33% of the respondents who reported “difficult to fill” vacancies, respectively.
The other significant vacancy categories were in the Sciences and Business
occupational categories, where 9% of companies reporting vacancies identified these
types of jobs. All other occupational categories represented 3% or less of the companies
reporting “difficult to fill” job vacancies.
This data is coded at the 1-digit National Occupational Code (NOC) level. More
disaggregated occupational data follows.
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Difficult to Fill Positions (% of All Identified)
Business
Art & Culture
Health
Management
Trades, Skilled
Primary Industry
Transport, and
Equipment Processing,
Operators Manufacturing &
Utilities
Social Services and
Government Sales and Service
Sciences
As the table below shows, at a somewhat more detailed level (2-digit NOC level), Sales
and Service representatives, Construction Trades, Transport, Operators and
Maintenance occupations, Technical and Natural Science Occupations, Machinery and
Related Skilled Trades, and Clerical Occupations figured prominently in the responses
among businesses who reported difficult to fill positions. Appendix 4 gives responses at
a detailed 4-digit NOC level.
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2-Digit NOC Code List of Vacancies in Difficult to Fill Positions
Number of Percentage
Responses of Overall
Position that Identified Difficult to
Position as Fill
Difficult to Fill Positions
Administrative Services Managers 1 0.2%
Assisting Occupations: Health Services 1 0.2%
Clerical Occupations 43 7.4%
Construction and Transportation Managers 2 0.3%
Construction Trades 61 10.5%
Elemental Sales and Service Occupations 50 8.6%
Intermediate occupations in Primary Industry 4 0.7%
Intermediate Sales and Service Occupations 81 14.0%
Labourers and Helpers 53 9.1%
Labourers in Primary Industry 2 0.3%
Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing & Utilities 7 1.2%
Machine Operators & Assemblers - Processing &
Manufacturing 7 1.2%
Machinery and Other Skilled Trades 38 6.6%
Manufacturing and Utilities Managers 1 0.2%
Paraprofessional: Law, Social Services, Education, Religion 11 1.9%
Professional Occupations in Art and Culture 1 0.2%
Professional Occupations in Business and Finance 1 0.2%
Professional Occupations in Health 6 1.0%
Professional: Natural & Applied Sciences 6 1.0%
Professional: Social Science, Education, Government,
Religion 1 0.2%
Sales, Marketing and Advertising Managers 14 2.4%
Senior Management Occupations 2 0.3%
Skilled - Primary Industry, Horticulture and Aquaculture 2 0.3%
Skilled Administrative and Business Occupations 11 1.9%
Skilled Sales and Service Occupations 61 10.5%
Technical & Skilled: Art, Culture, Recreation & Sport 4 0.7%
Technical and Skilled Occupations in Health 1 0.2%
Technical: related to Natural and Applied Sciences 49 8.4%
Transport, Operators, Installation, Maintenance:
Intermediate Occupations 54 9.3%
Art and Culture 5 0.9%
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4.7 Areas of High Turnover
Respondents were asked if their business experiences high staff turnover in some
areas.
Overall, 29% of respondents identified areas with high rates of turnover.
Areas of High Turnover by Region
The Interior region was slightly more likely to report areas of high turnover (33%), while
Kootenay was slightly lower at 26% and Vancouver Island/Coast region was at the
overall average.
It is interesting that a comparison with the ‘other’ region comprising responses mostly
from the large urban areas in Lower Mainland and the Greater Victoria regions shows a
slightly lower rate of staff turnover in these large urban areas.
Areas of High Turnover
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Interior region Kootenay region Vancouver Other Overall
Island/Coast region
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Areas of High Turnover by Industry Sector
There were some significant differences among the industry by sectors. A much fewer
number of enterprises in Education (3%) and High Tech sectors (14%) reported high
staff turnover. The three sectors with the most areas of high turnover were Primary
Industry (42%), Food and Accommodation (40%) and Construction (40%). In some
cases (e.g. Construction and Food and Accommodation), the relatively high turnover
rates may have a positive correlation with high levels of job vacancies discussed in an
earlier section of these results.
Areas of High Turnover
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
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Areas of High Turnover by Size of Business
A direct correlation between size of business and turnover rates was found among the
responses. A simple progression in the areas of high turnover: the larger the
organization, the more likely that they have areas of high turnover. Less than 20% of
businesses with less than five employees reported areas of high turnover, compared
with greater than 50% of businesses with more than 50 employees.
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Areas of High Turnover
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less than 5 5 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 50 More than 50
4.8 Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs
Respondents were asked why it is difficult to fill certain job vacancies and retain
staff in certain positions.
The most frequently reported reason for difficulties in filling jobs was the lack of qualified
staff (44%), followed by the difficulties of attracting people into certain types of careers
(17%), and compensation issues and seasonal work (14%). Few respondents noted
difficulties related to lack of training programs, competition, community infrastructure,
training costs or the work environment – all of these categories ranged from under 10%
to under 5% of respondents.
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Areas of High Turnover and Why Jobs are Hard to Fill
No Qualified Staff
Other
Difficult to attract people into
type of career
Compensation - can't afford to
pay
Seasonal work
Not enough training programs
Competition
Community infrastructure
Too costly to invest in training
Work environment
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs by Region
While all regions identified a lack of qualified staff as the principal reason, there were
some regional differences in the other reasons. The Vancouver Island/Coast region’s
second reason was the difficulty of attracting people into a particular type of career. The
Kootenay region identified that difficulty as well, but issues with community infrastructure
(i.e. housing, amenities, quality of life, etc.) show the greatest difference from other
regions.
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Why Jobs Hard to Fill by Region
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
No qualified staff available
Competition from other companies
Not enough training programs for these jobs
Difficult to attract people into this type of career
Interior region
Compensation - cannot afford to pay Kootenay region
Vancouver Island/Coast
Work environment (e.g. social, career advancement etc.) region
Other
Seasonal w ork
Too costly to invest time and money in training staff
Community infrastructure (e.g. housing, amenitites, quality of life
etc.)
Other reasons
Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs by Industry Sector
There were few notable sectoral differences in the reasons that jobs were “difficult to fill”.
Food and Accommodation respondents noted the seasonal nature of their work more
frequently than other sectors (20%), but were much less likely to cite the lack of qualified
staff. Education and Finance, Insurance and Real Estate respondents were more likely
than others to note competition as a factor. High Tech, Education Services, Health
Services and Business Services were more likely to cite the costs of training staff than
other sectors. Health Services and Education were also much more likely to cite the
work environment, including chances for career advancement, than other sectors.
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Why Jobs Hard to Fill by Sector
Other reasons
Community infrastructure
(e.g. housing, amenitites,
quality of life etc.)
Too costly to invest time and
money in training staff
Other
Seasonal w ork High tech
Business services
Work environment (e.g. Manufacturing
social, career advancement Primary industry
etc.) Construction
Transportation and utilities
Compensation - cannot
Retail and w holesale trade
afford to pay
Finance insurance and real estate
Education services
Difficult to attract people into
this type of career Health and social services
Food and accomodation
Not enough training
programs for these jobs
Competition from other
companies
No qualified staff available
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs by Size of Business
There were also few notable differences based on the size of business in relation to the
reasons that jobs were “difficult to fill”. The smallest businesses (less than five
employees) were more likely to say that it was too costly to invest in training (8% versus
5% for all businesses), but less likely to say that there were no qualified staff (37%
versus 44%). Larger companies (more than 50 employees) felt that it was more difficult
to attract people and that competition played a greater role than for smaller companies.
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Why Jobs are Hard to Fill by Business Size
Other
Community infrastructure
Too costly to invest in
training
Seasonal w ork
More than 50
Work environment 20 to 50
10 to 19
Compensation - can't
5 to 9
afford to pay
Less than 5
Difficult to attract people
into type of career
Not enough training
programs
Competition
No Qualified Staff
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Follow Up Question on Why Jobs are Difficult to Fill
As indicated, almost one-fifth of respondents to the primary survey indicated “other”
reasons for difficulties in filling vacancies. Therefore, respondents to a follow up survey
were asked what “other” might have meant to them.
In the “other” reasons given by respondents, there were three major themes and two
minor themes.
The three major themes were:
• There is a lack of accessible training;
• There is a lack of qualified people available; and,
• There is a problem with recruiting employees with a good work ethic.
One sub-theme built on the problem with work ethic, and identified youth as having
particularly poor work ethic. Finally, the second minor theme was that there is in general
a shortage of skilled staff, especially in smaller communities.
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4.9 Shortages of Specific Skills Sets
Respondents were asked what skills they are seeking that are not adequately met
by job applicants. They were asked this for all workers and specifically regarding
younger workers (ages 15-30).
They were asked to select from a list of specific skill sets, many of which are commonly
regarded as “essential”, “transferable” or “employability” skills.
The principal skill shortages identified for all workers were life skills (19% of all
responses), technical skills (11%) and problem solving (9%). The areas with the fewest
issues were the basic skills of arithmetic, reading and writing, as well as supervisory and
project management skills.
Identified Skill Shortages
All Workers
Technical, 11%
Other skills, 24%
Computers, 5%
Arithmetic, 3%
Literacy, 2%
Writing, 4%
Oral Communication, 5%
Supervisory, 3%
Life skills, 19%
Project Management, 4%
Team Work, 6%
Problem solving, 9% Independent w ork, 7%
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While they were not asked to elaborate on the “other” category, 24% of responses
indicated that skills were in short supply in “other skills.” An educated guess would be
that this category probably included job-specific skills not considered “technical.”
As with all workers, the most important skill issue for younger workers (15-30) was life
skills, again with 19% of responses. Other major issues included independent work,
technical skills and problem solving. Compared to all workers, employers found younger
workers to be more deficient in oral communication, working independently and to a
lesser extent in basic literacy, writing and arithmetic skills. Other skills and to a lesser
extent technical and computer skills were identified to be less of an issue with younger
workers compared to all workers.
Identified Skill Shortages
Younger Workers (15-30)
Other skills, 6% Technical, 9%
Computers, 3%
Arithmetic, 5%
Life skills, 19%
Literacy, 6%
Writing, 6%
Problem solving, 9%
Oral Communication,
10%
Independent w ork, 12%
Supervisory, 5%
Team Work, 7% Project Management, 3%
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Follow Up Question on Which Skills are in Short Supply
As indicated, almost two-thirds of respondents in the primary survey identified “other”
skill sets were missing for “all workers.” Therefore, respondents to a follow up survey
were asked what “other” might have meant to them.
A strong theme among the “other” responses in the follow up survey identified skill
shortage was the lack of work ethic, similar to the trend found in the question of why jobs
are hard to fill.
The other themes were in the follow up responses were:
• A lack of training opportunities;
• A lack of available applicants with appropriate licensing or certification;
• A lack of people with the job-specific skills and qualifications required for the job;
and,
• In general, again, young people are not as well skilled as older workers.
4.10 Impact of Skills Shortages
Respondents were asked to identify the impacts of skills shortages on their
company.
The responses showed significant economic impacts on companies as well as impacts
on customers and employees. The major impacts were reported on limiting production
levels (28%) and customer service (26%). The least cited impacts were on limiting
expansion plans (7%) and slowing exports (6%).
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Impact of Skill Shortages
Limits production levels
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
Requires staff/business
owner(s) to work more hours
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Slows exports
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Approximately 22% of companies reported “other” impacts; and the same number
indicated the skill shortages result in more hours worked by staff or business owners.
The “other” response is a significant proportion of respondents that needs to be further
probed.
Impacts of Skill Shortages by Region
The impacts of skills shortages were experienced differently among businesses in each
region. Companies in the Interior were most concerned with the impacts on production
levels and customer service. Vancouver Island/Coast region businesses were most
concerned with the impacts on hours worked by owners and staff, followed by impacts
on production, customer service and business opportunities. Respondents in the
Kootenay region were most concerned with the hours worked, but also with missed
business opportunities and reductions in customer service. Almost one-quarter of Interior
businesses reported “other” impacts of skill shortages.
The southern rural BC regions were similar in terms of responses to the large urban
areas in the “other” regional category. The only area with a notable difference was that
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the ‘other’ region reported somewhat higher impact of skill shortages on curtailing of
expansion plans.
Impacts of Skill Shortage by Region
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels Interior region
Kootenay region
Slow s exports
Vancouver Island/Coast
region
Other
Requires staff/business
ow ner(s) to w ork more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
Impacts of Skill Shortages by Industry Sector
There were some notable sectoral differences with regards to the impacts of skills
shortages. Construction and Manufacturing felt the impacts in limiting production levels,
while Primary Industry and High Tech’s identified missed business opportunities as the
main issues. Food and Accommodation, Education Services, and Health and Social
Services all felt the impacts in the amount of work hours that were required of staff and
owners. Not surprisingly, Manufacturing had the highest proportion of companies raising
concerns about the impact on exports; however, it was still relatively low at 8%.
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Impacts of Skill Shortages by Sector
Other impacts
Reduces customer service
Other
Requires staff/business
owner(s) to work more High tech
hours Business services
Manufacturing
Primary industry
Construction
Slows exports
Transportation and utilities
Retail and wholesale trade
Finance insurance and real estate
Education services
Limits production levels
Health and social services
Food and accomodation
Curtails expansion plans
Missed business
opportunities
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Impacts of Skill Shortages by Size of Business
There were a few notable differences in the impacts of skills shortages by business size.
Larger businesses tended to feel the impacts in reduced customer service and limited
production levels. Smaller organizations were more likely to feel the impact in the
requirement for owners and staff to work more hours.
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Impacts of Skill Shortages by Business Size
Other impacts
Reduces customer service
Requires staff/business
owner(s) to work more
hours More than 50
20 to 50
Slows exports 10 to 19
5 to 9
Less than 5
Limits production levels
Curtails expansion plans
Missed business
opportunities
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Follow Up Question on the Impact of Skills Shortages
As indicated, 22% of respondents in the primary survey identified “other” impacts of skill
shortages. Therefore, respondents to a follow up survey were asked what “other” might
have meant to them.
Interestingly, the major theme in the “other” comments for the impact of skills shortages
was that there was no impact or that the issue of skill shortages was not applicable.
Other issues identified were increased levels of stress, and the negative impact on
quality of work.
In essence, the probing in the follow up survey was not able to yield much more insight
on this topic.
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4.11 Strategies for Dealing with Skills Shortages
Respondents were asked if their businesses have a company human resources
plan to recruit and retain staff; and a succession plan for the business owner.
One-third of responding companies indicated they have a human resource plan; and
44% reported that a succession plan was in place for ownership.
This varied widely by industry sector. Existence of an HR plan ranged from half (50%) of
Education respondents and 48% and 47% of companies in Finance, Insurance and Real
Estate and Construction, respectively, to 26% of Manufacturing businesses and 14% of
those in the Health and Social Services sector. The existence of an owner succession
plan ranged from over 50% of companies in Transportation and Utilities (56%), Finance,
Insurance and Real Estate (55%), Construction (52%) and Food and Accommodation
(49%) to 23% of High Tech and 18% of Primary Industry respondents.
There was some variation by region, with 52% of Interior respondents having a
succession plan versus 41% of Vancouver Island/Coastal region businesses; and with
36% of Kootenay region businesses having an HR plan versus 29% of Vancouver
Island/Coastal region ones.
Respondents were also asked to identify the strategies they employ to address
skill shortages.
By far, the most prevalent strategy identified was, in-house training among almost half or
46% of all respondents. This is consistent with the responses to the question of reasons
for job vacancies where a lack of training programs or costs of training were infrequently
reported reasons. Use of flexible work schedules (12%) and greater use of apprentices
(11%) were next while strategies such as succession planning, hiring more immigrants
and interns/co-op students were being employed by less than 10% of all respondents.
Hiring immigrants (2%) appears to be much less frequent option among businesses
outside the large urban centres of the province.
One-quarter of responding businesses identified “other strategies” as part of their
response to skill shortages. Again, without further investigation, one can only guess what
these strategies would entail.
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Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages
In-house training
Other strategies
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
Greater use of apprentices
Performance/profit based
compensation packages
Hiring more older workers
Succession planning
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Hiring more immigrants
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages by Region
Across all regions, the major strategy reported was: in-house training. The Kootenay and
Vancouver Island/Coast regions also showed a preference for a greater use of
apprentices (approximately 18%), which in part may be due to higher proportion of
goods-producing industries (i.e. Construction, Manufacturing, Primary, Transportation),
which have a larger number of trades workers. Businesses in the Island/Coast region
reported less reliance on in-house training – just over 35% versus 38-47% for
companies in the other regions.
The southern rural BC regions differed from large urban areas in lesser use of flexible
work schedules, a somewhat lesser use of in-house training but a greater reliance on the
use of apprentices.
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Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages by Region
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Performance/profit based
compensation packages
Greater use of apprentices
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Interior region
Hiring more immigrants
Kootenay region
Hiring more older workers
Vancouver Island/Coast
region
Other
In-house training
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
Succession planning
Other strategies
Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages by Industry Sector
There were few major differences among industry sectors in the strategies used for
dealing with skills shortages. High Tech was much more likely to hire interns or co-op
students (18%), but was much less likely to use in-house training (22%). Primary
Industry was the most likely sector to use in-house training (54%), but had no responses
that identified succession planning (neither did Health and Social Services). Primary
Industry was also the most likely to use flexible work schedules (22%), perhaps due to
some of the trends in pulp and paper and solid wood manufacturing. Transportation and
Utilities respondents were most likely to use apprentices (16%) and were just behind
Primary Industry in their use of in-house training.
Given the aging workforce in many of these industries, it is somewhat alarming that
succession planning plays are very small role in averting or addressing shortages of
skilled labour.
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Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages by Sector
Other strategies
Succession planning
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
Other
High tech
In-house training Business services
Manufacturing
Primary industry
Construction
Hiring more older workers
Transportation and utilities
Retail and wholesale trade
Finance insurance and real estate
Hiring more immigrants Education services
Health and social services
Food and accomodation
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Greater use of apprentices
Performance/profit based
compensation packages
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Strategies for Dealing with Skill Shortages by Size of Business
There were some notable differences between different sized businesses. Larger
businesses in general were more likely than other companies to employ most strategies,
possibly reflecting the comparative resources of the companies in question. There were
substantial differences in the questions around hiring more immigrants, with the larger
companies being more willing to hire immigrants.
Only 36% of micro-businesses identified in-house training as a strategy they used,
compared to 62% of companies with more than 50 employees. Use of interns/co-op
students, apprentices and performance-based compensation also showed an increased
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frequency with larger companies. Also, one-third of businesses with 20 to 50 employees
and 27% of those with less than 5 employees identified “other” strategies.
Strategies to Address Skill Shortages by Business Size
Other strategies
Succession planning
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
In-house training
More than 50
20 to 50
Hiring more older workers 10 to 19
5 to 9
Hiring more immigrants Less than 5
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Greater use of apprentices
Performance/profit based
compensation packages
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
4.12 Impact of Aging Workforce
Respondents were asked to specify the impacts that an aging workforce has on
their company.
The most significant result of the reported impacts was the requirement for more work by
the owner with 17% of respondents identifying this as an issue. All other predicted
responses showed less than 15% (e.g. 12% identified production levels were impacted
and 10% indicated aging reduced customer service), while the “Other” category was
identified by 43% of respondents. As this will be a key topic in the coming years as the
population ages, it may be an area for further research. Any future surveys should
attempt to add more impact categories and a “comments” field to seek views from the
respondents.
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Impact of Aging Workforce
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Other impacts
Requires staff/business
ow ner(s) to w ork more hours
Limits production levels
Reduces customer service
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Slow s exports
Impacts of Aging Workforce by Region
Responses varied somewhat by region. Fewer respondents from the Interior identified
impacts than from other regions, except for the “Other” category, which represented 57%
of Interior responses. Vancouver Island/Coast region were more likely to note the effects
of an aging population on most categories except for business opportunities and exports,
while the Kootenay region provided the middle ground for most categories except
business opportunities.
Compared to the impacts of skill shortages, the impacts of an aging workforce were
reported as less significant for every impact category except for the “Other” category.
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Impacts of Aging by Region
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels Interior region
Kootenay region
Slow s exports
Vancouver Island/Coast
region
Other
Requires staff/business
ow ner(s) to w ork more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
Impacts of Aging Workforce by Industry Sector
There were some sectoral differences in how the impacts of an aging workforce were
felt. Responding businesses in Primary Industry, Transportation and Utilities and Food
and Accommodation (25-28%) all felt that they were required to work more hours, while
High Tech respondents were most likely to note the impact of an aging workforce on
expansion plans (22%). Education services felt the impact in their customer service
more than other sectors, while Manufacturing (62%) and Finance, Insurance and Real
Estate (70%) identified “other impacts” very strongly, even more than the already high
average response in that area. This further reinforces the need to explore what these
impacts are specifically.
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Impact of Aging Workforce by Sector
Other impacts
Reduces customer service
Other
Requires staff/business
ow ner(s) to w ork more High tech
hours Business services
Manufacturing
Primary industry
Construction
Slow s exports
Transportation and utilities
Retail and w holesale trade
Finance insurance and real estate
Education services
Limits production levels Health and social services
Food and accomodation
Curtails expansion plans
Missed business
opportunities
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Impacts of Aging Workforce by Size of Business
The impacts of an aging workforce are very similar in this analysis to the impacts of skills
shortages. The smallest businesses are most likely to feel the impact in the
requirements of owners and staff to work more hours, and also are more likely than large
businesses to feel that it curtails expansions plans. Larger businesses are likely to feel
the impacts on hours, but also are more likely than the smallest businesses to feel the
impacts in customer service, limited production levels, and exports.
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Impacts of Aging Workforce by Business Size
Other impacts
Reduces customer service
Requires staff/business
ow ner(s) to w ork more
hours More than 50
20 to 50
Slow s exports 10 to 19
5 to 9
Less than 5
Limits production levels
Curtails expansion plans
Missed business
opportunities
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Follow Up Question on the Impact of an Aging Workforce
As indicated, 43% of respondents in the primary survey identified “other” impacts of an
aging workforce. Therefore, respondents to a follow up survey were asked what “other”
might have meant to them.
The “other” responses for the impact of aging were fairly evenly split between negative
and positive impacts.
On the positive side, many respondents noted the extra experience and better work ethic
that older workers bring to the workplace.
On the negative side, there were higher costs, especially in relation to benefits, and the
skill gaps that will occur when the current workforce retires.
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4.13 Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce
Respondents were also asked to identify what strategies their business uses to
deal with an aging workforce.
Respondents again identified in-house training (37%) as a key strategy for dealing with
an aging workforce, as well as “other” strategies (34%), greater use of flexible work
schedules (12%), greater use of apprentices (8%) and succession planning (6%). All
other strategies identified represented 5% or less of respondents.
Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce
In-house training
Other strategies
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
Greater use of apprentices
Succession planning
Hiring more older workers
Profit/performance based
compensation packages
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Hiring more immigrants
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce by Region
The Interior region was once again more likely than the other regions to identify “other”
strategies (47%) to deal with an aging workforce. Both the Kootenay and Vancouver
Island/Coast regions were more likely than the Interior (more than 40% vs. 26%) to
identify in-house training, as well as being more likely to attempt profit/performance
based compensation packages and a greater use of apprentices. Twelve percent of the
Kootenay region respondents identified greater use of apprentices versus 4% of Interior
companies.
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Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce by Region
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Profit/performance based
compensation packages
Greater use of apprentices
Hiring more interns/co-op
workers
Interior region
Hiring more immigrants
Kootenay region
Hiring more older workers
Vancouver Island/Coast
region
Other
In-house training
Greater use of flexible work
schedules
Succession planning
Other strategies
Strategies for Dealing with Aging Workforce by Industry Sector
There were some notable differences with regards to the strategies used to deal with an
aging workforce. Again, Transportation and Utilities were more likely to use apprentices
and in-house training. One interesting difference from the skill shortages strategy
responses is that High Tech showed a much greater likelihood to use in-house training
in response to the aging workforce (over 42%) as opposed to a response to skill
shortages (22%). Education and Health and Social Services were much more likely than
other sectors (over 30%) to use flexible work schedules.
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Strategies for Dealing with Aging Workforce by Sector
Other strategies
Succession planning
Greater use of flexible w ork
schedules
Other
High tech
In-house training Business services
Manufacturing
Primary industry
Construction
Hiring more older w orkers
Transportation and utilities
Retail and w holesale trade
Finance insurance and real estate
Hiring more immigrants Education services
Health and social services
Food and accomodation
Hiring more interns/co-op
w orkers
Greater use of apprentices
Profit/performance based
compensation packages
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Strategies to Address Aging Workforce by Size of Business
Again, the larger businesses (20 or more employees) were more likely to employ
strategies to address the aging workforce than the smaller organizations. In-house
training and the use of apprentices were most likely to be used by mid-sized companies
(10 to 19 employees), and the small organizations were also most likely to be using a
succession plan and flexible work schedules as strategies.
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Strategies to Address Aging Workforce by Business Size
Other strategies
Succession planning
Greater use of flexible w ork
schedules
In-house training
More than 50
20 to 50
Hiring more older w orkers 10 to 19
5 to 9
Less than 5
Hiring more immigrants
Hiring more interns/co-op
w orkers
Greater use of apprentices
Profit/performance based
compensation packages
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
4.14 Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees
Respondents were asked to identify what would assist them to meet the
challenges of recruiting employees.
One-third of respondents identified “other” services/programs rather than the predicted
choices. Of the predicted responses, tax credits and an employment referral service
were seen as the most helpful, with 22% of respondents identifying each followed by
more relevant training in schools (18%). Assistance in developing compensation
packages (7%) was seen by respondents as the least helpful.
More relevant college/university training, appropriate apprenticeship programs, and
school-business partnerships were reported as strategies used by 14%, 14% and 13%
of companies, respectively.
The “other services/programs” was chosen by 33% of the respondents. As this is a large
response, any future surveys should include additional programs and add a comments
field to obtain additional information.
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Address Challenge of Recruiting Employees
Other services/programs
Tax credits for employee training
An employment referral service
More relevant training in schools
More relevant college/university training
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
Partnerships betw een schools and business
Assistance in developing competitive compensation packages
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees by Region
The Kootenay and Vancouver Island/Coast regions were evenly distributed among all of
the strategies, although the Kootenay region responses clustered more around relevant
training in schools and changes to the apprenticeship program, while the Vancouver
Island/Coast region was slightly more focused on tax credits (as well as the Kootenay
respondents) and college/university training. More in-depth research should be done to
discover what the suggestions of these respondents for “other” programs and services
might be. For example, 35% of Interior respondents chose the “other” category
compared to 12% or less of businesses in the other regions.
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Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
An employment referral
service
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for employee
training
Interior region
More relevant college/university
training Kootenay region
Vancouver Island/Coast
More appropriate/friendlier region
apprenticeship programs Other
More relevant training in
schools
Partnerships betw een schools
and business
Other services/programs
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees by Industry Sector
There were some notable differences in sectoral responses. As has been the case in the
other sectoral comparisons, Transportation and Utilities and Primary Industry were much
more likely to emphasize apprenticeship programs (24%) and more relevant training
(19%) than other sectors. Education and Health and Social Services emphasized
partnerships between schools and business (18% and 16%, respectively) and more
relevant college/university training (22% and 14%, respectively). High Tech companies
preferred tax credits (22%) – as did Finance, Insurance and Real Estate respondents
(21%) – and an employment referral service (18%).
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Assistance in Addressing Challegnes of Recruiting Employees by Sector
Other services/programs
Partnerships betw een
schools and business
More relevant training in
Other
schools
High tech
Business services
More appropriate/friendlier Manufacturing
apprenticeship programs Primary industry
Construction
Transportation and utilities
More relevant Retail and w holesale trade
college/university training Finance insurance and real estate
Education services
Health and social services
Tax credits for employee
Food and accomodation
training
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
An employment referral
service
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees by Business Size
There were few major differences based on business size in terms of the assistance
needed to address challenges of recruiting employees. Larger businesses were more
likely to want an employment referral service than the smallest companies, but were less
likely to want greater partnerships between schools and businesses or more emphasis
on apprenticeship programs. The smallest businesses were less likely to request
assistance in all categories, except for developing partnerships with schools and
competitive compensation packages. Mid-sized businesses were more likely to want
more relevant training in schools. The smallest businesses (less than five employees)
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were least likely to advocate tax credits for training (just over 20%), possibly due to a
fear of less benefit because of lower revenue levels than larger companies.
Assistance in Addressing Challenge of Recruiting Employees by
Business Size
Other services/programs
Partnerships betw een
schools and business
More relevant training in
schools
More appropriate/friendlier More than 50
apprenticeship programs 20 to 50
10 to 19
More relevant 5 to 9
college/university training Less than 5
Tax credits for employee
training
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
An employment referral
service
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Follow Up Question on Addressing the Challenge of Recruiting Employees
As indicated, one-third of respondents in the primary survey identified “other” types of
assistance in addressing challenges of recruiting employees. Therefore, respondents to
a follow up survey were asked what “other” might have meant to them.
“Other” responses from the follow up survey on how to improve recruitment focused
around three main areas:
• Developing a pool of more qualified/skilled applicants to draw from;
• Providing better and more accessible training;
• Training more qualified people; and,
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• Providing government financial contributions to assist in training and the
recruitment process.
4.15 Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees
Respondents were also asked about what would help their companies to address
the challenge of retaining skilled employees.
Tax credits and more relevant training in schools were seen as important, with 19% and
15% respectively. Again, assistance in developing competitive compensation packages
was seen as the least helpful of the modes of assistance. The “other services and
programs” was chosen by approximately 37% of the respondents. As this is a large
response, any future surveys should include additional programs and add a comments
field to obtain additional information.
Address Challenge of Employee Retention
Other services/programs
Tax credits for training employees
More relevant training in schools
An employment referral service
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
More relevant college/university training
Partnerships betw een schools and business
Assistance in developing competitive compensation packages
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
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Compared to assisting in recruitment, responses regarding options for assisting
employee retention were lower for all categories except the “other” services/programs
and compensation packages.
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees by Region
The Kootenay region did not have any strong preferences, although tax credits for
training, more relevant training and more appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
all received more than 15% of responses. The Vancouver Island/Coast region’s
preferred form of assistance was tax credits for training (almost 22%), with the
remainder of the forms of assistance fairly equally represented.
Southern rural regions indicated a somewhat greater need for an employment referral
service compared to the “other” regions (i.e. large urban centres).
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
An employment referral service
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for training
employees
Interior region
More relevant college/university
training Kootenay region
Vancouver Island/Coast
More appropriate/friendlier region
apprenticeship programs Other
More relevant training in
schools
Partnerships betw een schools
and business
Other services/programs
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Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees by Industry Sector
The sectoral responses in this area follow the pattern of other areas, with a few
exceptions. The tax credit for training is popular with a wider range of sectors, including
High Tech, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate and Food and Accommodation.
Business Services is the most likely sector to choose “other” services and programs.
Assistance in Addressing Challegnes of Retaining Employees by Sector
Other services/programs
Partnerships betw een
schools and business
More relevant training in
schools Other
High tech
Business services
More appropriate/friendlier Manufacturing
apprenticeship programs Primary industry
Construction
Transportation and utilities
More relevant Retail and w holesale trade
college/university training
Finance insurance and real estate
Education services
Health and social services
Tax credits for training
Food and accomodation
employees
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
An employment referral
service
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees by Business Size
There were few notable differences or trends between the different-sized businesses on
this question. However, the largest businesses were much less likely to require
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assistance with apprenticeship programs than the smaller businesses, and the smallest
businesses were less likely to request more relevant college/university training.
Assistance in Addressing Challenge of Employee Retention by Business
Size
Other services/programs
Partnerships betw een
schools and business
More relevant training in
schools
More appropriate/friendlier More than 50
apprenticeship programs 20 to 50
10 to 19
More relevant 5 to 9
college/university training
Less than 5
Tax credits for training
employees
Assistance in developing
competitive compensation
packages
An employment referral
service
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Follow Up Question on Addressing the Challenge of Employee Retention
As indicated, approximately 37% of respondents in the primary survey identified “other”
types of assistance for addressing employee retention challenges. Therefore,
respondents to a follow up survey were asked what “other” might have meant to them.
The main response in the “other” category of the follow up survey as to how best to
retain employees was the issue of ensuring that employees feel that they are sufficiently
compensated for their work. Additionally, other themes in the follow up probing included:
• Better benefits and working conditions;
• Providing training;
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• Offering long term and/or full-time employment; and,
• Developing a larger pool of available qualified workers to draw from.
Other themes included more support for employers to help them keep seasonal workers,
and progressive workplace approaches such as employee recognition and team-building
activities.
4.16 General Comments and Suggestions
At the end of the primary survey, respondents were asked to provide any further
comments that they may have.
Seventy-one respondents to the primary survey provided comments, which reflected a
few central themes.
The first theme was the need to focus on apprenticeships. Typical comments included:
• “reinstate the apprenticeship program!!!!”
• “more help from government with apprenticeships”
• “needing more holistic apprenticeship programs”
The second major theme was the need for accessible training. Typical comments
included:
• “local training programs”
• “more training schools in rural areas”
• “closer training school to the interior”
Another theme was relevant training. Typical comments included:
• “teach students 'real life' situations in cook schools”
• “More training courses in customer service at the local level, relevant to the
particular community in terms of demographics, industry, nature of business,
income level. In other words, training tailored to the particular industry and
community it is servicing.”
• “I think some sort of "whole business" training should be available for people
especially in the IT field, where things like people skills and marketing are often
deficient. Now more than ever people need to see themselves as a self-
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contained marketable business, with skills and other valuable assets to offer their
"clients" (businesses, customers).”
A final theme in the open-ended responses to the primary survey was the need for more
government help, with comments that included:
• “government should look more into helping seasonal companies get useful
employees”
• “more government funding for trade apprenticeships”
• “help from the government in paying for apprentice training”
• “more funding for wages”
See Appendix 5 for the full list of open-ended responses to this question.
4. 17 Participation in Future Surveys
Respondents to the primary survey were asked if they would be interested in
participating in similar future surveys.
Two-thirds or 67% of respondents indicated that they would be interested in participating
in future surveys. This response reflects quite a significant level of interest in the survey
and skill issues among respondents.
4.18 Other Results
Automated Survey Technology
The research team is able to offer the Community Futures Association an automated
tool for conducting future updates of this survey efficiently and economically using
Survey Logix Web and combined Telephone/Electronic survey capability. The survey
sample can be retained in Survey Logix for quick future repeats of the surveys as
economic conditions change. The data, sample of businesses and the questionnaire
instrument for the current survey will be saved in Survey Logix for 1 year to enable
Community Futures Association to exercise this option.
Community Futures Association can also be provided with direct access to the Survey
Logix report generation technology. This allows the Community Futures Association the
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ability to comprehensively analyze the data collected during the survey to answer other
questions; not just as presented in the summary report.
Additional Survey Components
The research team was able to provide some of the survey results by community and
employer size. This provides the Community Futures Association the ability to conduct a
much more detailed and thorough analysis.
In addition, two other supplementary samples were included at no additional cost to the
project. The results of the supplementary samples are compared to data collected from
the primary target groups in the three regions. These are:
• A supplementary sample of large employers and analysis of small business
results in relation to the large employers; and,
• A supplementary sample for large urban areas (Lower Mainland and Capital
region) and an analysis of southern rural businesses in relation to the large urban
areas.
The research team believes that these two supplementary samples provide useful value
added to this report. It gives the Community Futures Association the opportunity to
review if any issues uncovered are due to geography or business size.
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5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This Summary Report ends with conclusions and recommendations based on the
analysis and interpretation of the results of the primary and follow up surveys and based
on the project team’s experience in dealing with small business skills and training needs,
issues and policy and program implications.
5.1 Conclusions
Representativeness of the Survey Sample and Responses
Based on the survey sample and survey contacts described earlier in this report, and
based on the number and profile of survey responses, the data analyzed for each survey
questions can be reasonably considered as representative of the small business
population in BC in terms of regional/community, industry sector and business size (i.e.
number of employees) variables.
Job Vacancies
This survey showed a significant level of unfilled jobs among companies in the surveyed
regions. Just over one-third of small businesses in the southern rural regions of BC are
experiencing “difficult to fill” job vacancies. This ranged from one-fifth of micro-
businesses to almost 60% of companies with more than 50 employees. Construction,
Manufacturing, Food and Accommodation, and Business Services ranged from 42% to
35%, respectively.
More than one in three (36%) of the responding companies identified Trades, Skilled
Transport and Equipment Operator jobs as having the greatest vacancies; and one-third
of companies indicated Sales and Service jobs were the “hardest to fill”.
Areas of High Turnover
Just under one-third of small businesses were experiencing what they consider as high
rates of staff turnover. The three sectors with the most reported turnover were Primary
Industry, Food and Accommodation and Construction.
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Reasons for Difficulties in Filling Jobs
The most frequently reported reason for difficulties in filling jobs was the lack of qualified
staff, followed by the difficulties of attracting people into certain types of careers, and
compensation issues and seasonal work. Few respondents noted difficulties related to
lack of training programs, competition, community infrastructure, training costs or the
work environment. There were few notable sectoral differences in the reasons that jobs
were difficult to fill.
In probing further, the lack of training, candidates with appropriate qualifications, and a
good work ethic – particularly among younger workers – identified as significant reasons
for job-filling difficulties.
Shortages of Specific Skills Sets
Just over half of respondents identified life skills as being a key skill shortage area
followed by technical skills and problem solving skills. While very few respondents
identified specific skills shortages specific to youth, life skills and the ability to work
independently were the most commonly cited shortages. Overall, basic skills such as
literacy and arithmetic were seen to be generally satisfactory.
In a follow up survey, lack of work ethic emerged as a clear priority among respondents
– for all workers and particularly for younger ones.
Impact of Skills Shortages
The responses showed significant economic impacts on companies as well as impacts
on customers and employees. The major impacts were reported on limiting production
levels and reducing customer service. The least cited impacts were on limiting
expansion plans and slowing exports.
Approximately 22% of companies indicated the skill shortages result in more hours
worked by staff or business owners, and there were some notable sectoral differences
with regards to the impacts of skills shortages.
The follow up survey did not identify more detail regarding the impacts identified by
respondents.
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Strategies for Dealing with Skills Shortages
Human resources planning is undertaken by a minority of small businesses, with one-
third of responding companies indicating they have a human resource plan, and 44%
reporting a succession plan was in place for ownership.
This varied widely by industry sector. Existence of an HR plan ranged from half (50%) of
Education respondents and 48% and 47% of companies in Finance, Insurance and Real
Estate and Construction, respectively, to 26% of Manufacturing businesses and 14% of
those in the Health and Social Services sector. The existence of an owner succession
plan ranged from over 50% of companies in Transportation and Utilities (56%), Finance,
Insurance and Real Estate (55%), Construction (52%) and Food and Accommodation
(49%) to 23% of High Tech and 18% of Primary Industry respondents.
The most prevalent strategy for dealing with skill shortages was in-house training among
almost half or over 46% of all respondents. Use of flexible work schedules and greater
use of apprentices were next, while strategies such as succession planning and use of
interns/co-op students was chosen by less than 10% of all respondents. Hiring
immigrants (2%) appears to be much less a popular option among businesses.
There were few major differences among industry sectors in the strategies used for
dealing with skills shortages.
Impact of Aging Workforce
The most significant reported impacts of an aging workforce were the requirement for
more work by the owner with 17% of respondents identifying this as an issue. All other
predicted responses showed less than 15%.
There were some sectoral differences in how the impacts of an aging workforce were
felt. Responding businesses in Primary Industry, Transportation and Utilities and Food
and Accommodation (25-28%) all felt that they were required to work more hours, while
High Tech respondents were most likely to note the impact of an aging workforce on
expansion plans (22%).
Further questioning in the follow up survey found that many respondents considered the
benefits of older workers (e.g. extra experience, better work ethic) as well as the
downside of the extra cost of benefits and gaps created by retiring workers.
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Strategies for Dealing with an Aging Workforce
Respondents again identified in-house training (37%) as a key strategy for dealing with
an aging workforce, as well as greater use of flexible work schedules (12%), greater use
of apprentices (8%) and succession planning (6%).
Transportation and Utilities were more likely to use apprentices and in-house training.
One interesting difference from the skill shortages strategy responses is that High Tech
showed a much greater likelihood to use in-house training in response to the aging
workforce (over 42%) as opposed to in response to skill shortages (22%).
Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Recruiting Employees
Tax credits and an employment referral service were seen as the most helpful
assistance in responding to employee recruitment challenges, with 22% of respondents
identifying each followed by more relevant training in schools (18%). Assistance in
developing compensation packages (7%) was seen by respondents as the least helpful.
More relevant college/university training, more appropriate apprenticeship programs,
and school-business partnerships were reported as strategies used by 14%, 14% and
13% of companies, respectively.
There were some notable differences in sectoral responses. As has been the case in the
other sectoral comparisons, Transportation and Utilities and Primary Industry were much
more likely to emphasize apprenticeship programs (24%) and more relevant training
(19%) than other sectors. Education and Health and Social Services emphasized
partnerships between schools and business (18% and 16%, respectively) and more
relevant college/university training (22% and 14%, respectively). Twenty-two percent
and 21% of High Tech and the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate companies called for
an employment referral service.
The follow up survey found more accessible training, better qualifications, and funding to
assist in recruitment and training we the most desired options among business
respondents.
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Assistance in Addressing Challenges of Retaining Employees
Tax credits and more relevant training in schools were seen as important areas of
assistance in retention issues, with 19% and 15% respectively. Again, assistance in
developing competitive compensation packages was seen as the least helpful of the
modes of assistance.
The sectoral responses in this area follow the pattern of other areas, with a few
exceptions. The tax credit for training is popular with a wider range of sectors, including
High Tech, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate and Food and Accommodation.
Business Services is the most likely sector to choose “other” services and programs.
Competitive compensation packages – both salary/wage and other benefits – was
reinforced as a key factor in responses to the follow up survey, Team building, training
and employee recognition were also identified as factors in retaining in employees.
Other Findings
At the end of the primary survey, respondents were asked to provide any further
comments that they may have. Seventy-one respondents provided comments, which
reflected a few central themes:
• The need for stability and reform in apprenticeship training programs;
• The need for more accessible training programs;
• The need for more relevant training; and,
• The need for more assistance from government regarding apprenticeship and
training.
Overall, two-thirds or 67% of respondents indicated that they would be interested in
participate in future surveys. This response reflects quite a significant level of interest in
the survey and skill issues among respondents.
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5.2 Recommendations
Recommendations on Communication, Policy and Program Options
1. Widely disseminate this report and the other reports of the BC Skills Force
Initiative to government, industry, education and training, community and other
stakeholder groups throughout the province.
2. From the data collected and analyzed in this survey, it may be useful to develop
“mini” reports for responses from businesses in each of the three rural regions,
and possibly for each of the industry sectors with the largest sample sizes and
highest rates of vacancies and turnover. This data would be interest to various
regional and industry associations.
3. Work with regional and industry groups – particularly in those sectors which most
frequently identified shortages and retention problems – to develop specific
strategies for the Trades/Transport/Equipment Operator and Sales and Service
job categories.
4. Work with the Construction, Food and Accommodation, Transportation,
Manufacturing, and Business Services sectors in particular to identify strategies
for addressing skill shortages and high staff turnover rates.
5. Consider specific actions or strategies which address the main reasons for
shortages and turnover identified by respondents – particularly the lack of
qualified staff (i.e. strategies that generate a greater supply), problems in
attracting people in certain careers, compensation incentives, and seasonal
work.
6. Encourage education, training and employment service providers to include life
skills, “soft skills,” and other “essential” skills in their programs.
7. Use the results of this survey – particularly the impact of skill shortages, high
turnover and aging workforce on small businesses – to promote the need for
businesses and sectors to develop strategies to address these pressures. For
example, the results show that small businesses feel a definite impact on
production levels and customer service from skill shortages and staff turnover.
8. Promote small business human resource planning and ownership succession
planning as a strategic tool for companies to get on top of these problems and for
developing proactive strategies for addressing skill gaps.
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9. While overall, almost half of the small businesses reported they used in-house
training, just over one-third of micro businesses did so. While training is not a
panacea, work needs to continue on promoting the business case (i.e. return on
investment) for training among very small businesses, and to develop tools and
assistance that will help such companies use training to their advantages in
offsetting skill shortages and turnover.
10. The survey yielded a significant degree of interest in apprenticeship training –
particularly in certain regions and sectors. This should be capitalized upon and
more information could be provided to small businesses in rural regions on what
the Industry Training Authority is doing and how it can help smaller businesses
participate in such training. For example, do the small businesses know much
about the Secondary School Apprenticeship Program, the Accelerated Credit
Enrolment in Industry Training Program, or new industry training programs
developed through the ITA? The Community Futures Development Association
could work with the ITA and BC Chamber on an initiative.
11. In addition to the use of apprentices, small businesses in certain sectors showed
significant interest in co-operative education students and interns as a source of
skilled workers. This source of talent needs to be promoted more
12. In addition to the “other” option, tax credits for training and employment referral
service were the types of assistance small businesses in the rural regions were
interested in. The tax credit finding should be communicated to both federal and
provincial governments as an important option for them to consider. The CFDA
should work with industry and small business organizations to explore options for
piloting an employment referral service, whether this involves building on an
existing mechanism or creating something new.
13. Many small businesses identified the need for more relevant and accessible
training by schools and post-secondary institutions. This information should be
passed onto relevant provincial government ministries and to school and post-
secondary organizations. They and small business and industry groups should
be encouraged to build stronger linkages between business and education.
14. The survey found a very low level of usage of and interest in strategies or
assistance involving hiring older workers and immigrants. Since these are
promoted widely by various government agencies and other groups in certain
parts of the province, it would be useful to find out the reasons for the lack of
interest. Is it an awareness issue, a perception issue or some other factor?
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Recommendations on Potential Future Research
The following recommendations should be considered if the Community Futures
Development Association of BC or other business groups undertake survey research on
small business skills and training needs and issues in the future:
15. Some of the open-ended questions such as business size (number of
employees), occupation, “other” in the industry should be changed to specific
categories or groupings (i.e. forced-choice questions). This would improve data
quality and remove the need for time consuming coding and allow better
analysis.
16. For a few questions with a “other” category of response – particularly the impact
of skill shortages and an aging work force, assistance in addressing challenges
of recruitment and assistance in the challenge of retaining employees – some
additional categories of strategies and a comments field would be helpful
although this would increase response burden somewhat.
17. Respondents should be asked their primary business sector, instead of choosing
all that apply. This would simplify analysis, while providing greater focus.
18. Rankings could be used for questions asking about assistance, to allow more in-
depth analysis and help to set priorities.
19. Consideration should be given to including “self employment” in some of the
questions in order to differentiate between businesses with employees and
businesses without employees. This is a growing area of entrepreneurial activity
in all regions of the province.
20. The survey did not quantify the number of vacancies or the extent of turnover per
each respondent. Also, the questions on turnover did not ask respondents in
what occupations turnover was most prevalent. The questioning in future surveys
might consider how to do so, perhaps through forced-choice ranges.
21. Some of the above research recommendations could be actioned relatively
quickly through more focused primary research such shorter issue-specific
surveys, key informant interviews, topic-specific focus groups, etc.
22. More research would also be useful for probing into the relatively low rate of the
existence of human resource plans among small businesses. In the primary
survey, there was only time for a simple “yes/no” question, but it would be useful
to find out what is behind this.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 – Reliability of Survey Findings
APPENDIX 2 – Letter to Prospective Respondents
APPENDIX 3 – Primary Survey Questionnaire
APPENDIX 4 – Follow Up Survey Questionnaire
APPENDIX 5 – Four-Digit NOC Code List of Vacancies in Difficult to Fill Positions
APPENDIX 6 – Open-Ended Responses to Final Question in Primary Survey
APPENDIX 7 – Open-Ended Responses to Questions in Follow Up Survey
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APPENDIX 1
Reliability of Survey Findings
The WCG database of employers containing approximately 115, 000 businesses was
used as the master frame for drawing 4,200 random samples for telephone contacts. In
addition, a supplementary sample of approximately 8,700 of businesses that are
members of the community Chambers of Commerce were contacted by e-mail.
Altogether, the project team contacted slightly under 13,000 employers with targeted
completion of at least 1,000 responses. The actual survey responses numbered
approximately 1,318 at the time of survey analysis while survey was left open for a
further period of time to obtain supplementary analysis after the completion of this report.
Two types of error are possible in an estimate based on a survey: sampling error and
non-sampling error. Non-sampling error may occur for reasons such as non-response
bias, incorrect responses, interviewer errors, attrition and processing errors. Sampling
error is a measure of the variability that occurs because a sample, rather than the entire
population, responds to a survey.
The first important assumption in analyzing the survey results is that the 1,320
respondents are representative of the universe of businesses in the respective regions.
Analysis of coverage by region in Table 1 does not point to any strong bias in the
selection of business contacts by region. The second assumption is that the response
bias because of questions’ wording is not material. The third assumption is that non-
response bias of 1,318 responses out of 13,000 organizations that were contacted
during the survey is not significant. Small businesses typically provide for low response
rate, which was further compounded in this survey by the late June - July holiday
season. All of these assumptions are typical of most surveys undertaken although the
extent of errors varies with the method of sample selection and design of questionnaire
(wording).
The sample errors are quantitatively measurable. One measure of the likely difference is
given by the standard error. There are about nineteen chances in twenty (or 95%) that
the difference will be less than 2 (1.96 to be precise) standard errors. Standard errors
enable us to calculate confidence intervals for the estimates. By convention, a 95%
confidence interval is applied in judging the reliability of survey estimates. That is, if the
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survey were to be repeated there is a 95% chance that the new results obtained would
be within plus or minus twice the standard error.
For a variable measuring proportion of population, such as the proportion, p, giving a
‘yes’ response can be estimated by first calculating the variance:
Variance = [p(1-p)/(n-1)]x[(N-n)/N]
Where n = sample responding and N = total population of members
Standard error = Square Root of Variance and
90% Confidence interval = ± 1.645xStandrd Error and
95% Confidence Interval = ± 1.96xStandard Error
In this survey, for the southern rural province as a whole sample response is n = 1,320;
universe of all members is, say N = 41,200 (from Table x.1).
Excluding the non-sampling errors or biases discussed above, the following table shows
the relationship between proportion p giving a particular response (e.g. yes, no or
unsure) and the 95% confidence interval. The reliability estimates for regional and
industry sector results are calculated based on average number of responses for each of
the three regions and 10 industry sectors.
Table 1 Reliability of Various Proportions of Responses
Core Survey
Responses Variance 95% Intervals ± % points
Southern Southern
Proportion, Rural Rural Regiona Industry
p, % Fraction Province Province l Sector
10 0.1 0.00017 1.6 2.8 5.0
20 0.2 0.00031 2.1 3.7 6.7
30 0.3 0.00040 2.4 4.2 7.7
40 0.4 0.00046 2.6 4.5 8.2
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Core Survey
Responses Variance 95% Intervals ± % points
Southern Southern
Proportion, Rural Rural Regiona Industry
p, % Fraction Province Province l Sector
50 0.5 0.00048 2.7 4.6 8.4
60 0.6 0.00046 2.6 4.5 8.2
70 0.7 0.00040 2.4 4.2 7.7
80 0.8 0.00031 2.1 3.7 6.7
90 0.9 0.00017 1.6 2.8 5.0
Survey Results
Using the above table or the formula, one can readily estimate the confidence range for
responses in each of the survey questions. Table 2 summarizes the estimates. For the
entire southern rural province, the range of the 95% confidence intervals for most
responses is 2 to 4%. For instance, in response to the question on whether businesses
experienced a high staff turnover, 30% of businesses responded in affirmative. We can
be 95% certain that had we conducted a census of all the businesses that the result
would have been within 30±2.4% or between 28% and 32%. For the same question,
Vancouver Island/coast region, 29% responded in the affirmative and 95% confidence
would be 29%±4.4% or between 25% and 33%
Table 2 Illustrative Results For Selected Survey Questions
Yes Responses
Survey Question 95% Confidence Range
Low End High End
1. Do you have job vacancies?--overall (southern rural province) 32 36
-- interior region 33 39
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2. Why jobs hard to fill? No qualified staff available
-- Overall 32 34
-- Food & Accommodation sector 35 41
3. Does you business experience high staff turnover?- overall 28 32
--- businesses with 5-9 employees 24 32
4. Skills in short supply – ‘technical’ response -- overall 75 83
-- construction sector 65 87
5. Impact of skill shortages – response of staff overtime;
-- Overall 11 23
-- Kootenay region 15 35
6. Strategies to deal with aging work force – in-house training
--- overall 29 37
--- retail trade 32 50
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APPENDIX 2
Letter to Prospective Respondents
THE BRITISH COLUMBIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
1201-750 West Pender St., Vancouver, BC V6C 2T8
phone: 604-683-0700 … fax: 604-683-0416
www.bcchamber.org
Dear Chamber of Commerce Member
On behalf of your local Chamber of Commerce, the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce and
Community Futures Development Association of BC we would appreciate your assistance in
conducting a survey on the impact of skills shortages on small business across southern rural BC.
Small business employers will benefit directly from this BC Skills Force initiative. By participating in
this random survey you will help develop a final report for government and key stakeholders that will
establish an action strategy to address this important issue. The key is to help small and medium sized
business deal effectively with the challenges of acquiring, training and retaining skilled workers.
This is a voluntary survey but your participation would be greatly appreciated. Any information you
provide is confidential and retained in accordance with the laws of Canada regarding the protection of
personal information (i.e. the Privacy Act and Access to Information Act). The identity of yourself and
your company will remain completely confidential and the research findings will only report
aggregate trends and opinions.
It is expected that this survey will take less than 5 minutes to complete.
To begin the survey you can click on the link below to use the survey tool, Survey Logix, which is
provided by Sparklit Networks: http://www.SurveyLogix.com/take_survey?surveyID=9050.
You may over the next month receive a telephone call from the WCG call centre, which has been
contracted to conduct this survey. If you have already completed the questionnaire you can inform the
telephone surveyor or you can take this additional opportunity to answer the skills initiative questions.
If you would like to complete the survey through other means than the Internet, please contact WCG
at (toll-free) 1-888-562-9283) between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm Monday through Friday. In
addition you may contact WCG by email at bgallant@wcginternational.com.
If you would like more information regarding the BC Skills Force Initiative, please go to
www.bcskillsforce.com. The results of this survey and a report on meeting BC’s skills shortages will
be available on the BC Skillsforce site in September.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely
Dr. James Rae
Senior Vice President
WCG International Consultants Ltd.
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APPENDIX 3
Primary Survey Questionnaire
SURVEY OF SMALL BUSINESS LABOUR FORCE IN SOUTHERN
BRITISH COLUMBIA COMMUNITIES
A Skills Force Initiative of the Community Futures
Association of British Columbia
Any information you provide is confidential and will be
retained in accordance with the laws of BC regarding the
protection of personal information (i.e. the Freedom Of
Information And Protection Of Privacy Act). The information
collected is for research purposes and will be reported in
aggregate form only with no personal identifiers used.
I. Company Information
Name of Respondent
Title
Telephone
Email
Company Name
Region (in which your company operates)
Interior region (Thompson Okanagan and southern Cariboo
Chilcotin)
Kootenay region (southeastern BC)
Vancouver Island/Coast region (including Gulf Islands and
excluding Greater Victoria)
Other
Community (in which your company operates)
Please select
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Approximately, how long has your company been in
operation? Enter number of years
How would you classify the industry that your firm is in?
(check all that apply)
Food and accomodation (e.g. restaurants, hotels, resorts,
bed and breakfast etc.)
Health and social services
Education services
Finance insurance and real estate
Retail and wholesale trade
Transportation and utilities
Construction (residential and non-residential)
Primary industry (e.g. logging, mining, fishing, agriculture,
aquaculture)
Manufacturing (e.g. pulp & paper, saw mill, smelting, metal
and wood working)
Business services
High tech (e.g. information technology, biotechnology etc.)
Other
If you selected other in response to the above question,
please specify your company's industry below.
II. Employees
How many employees does your firm
have?
How many employees are full time? (30
or more hours per week)
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Approximate percent of employees
aged 50 or greater?
III. Unfilled positions
Do you have job vacancies?
Yes
No
If yes, how many?
What kinds of jobs/occupations do you find hard to fill?
IV. Retention of staff
Does your business experience high staff turnover in some
areas?
Yes
No
V. Barriers to recruitment and retention of staff
Why is it difficult to fill certain job vacancies and retain staff
in these positions? (check all that apply)
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No qualified staff available
Competition from other companies
Not enough training programs for these jobs
Difficult to attract people into this type of career
Compensation - cannot afford to pay
Work environment (e.g. social, career advancement etc.)
Seasonal work
Too costly to invest time and money in training staff
Community infrastructure (e.g. housing, amenitites, quality
of life etc.)
Other reasons
VI. Skills in short supply
What skills are you seeking that are not adequately met by
job applicants? (check all that apply)
All Younger workers
workers (ages 15 - 30)
Technical
Computers
Arithmetic
Literacy
Writing
Oral communication
Supervisory
Project management
Team work
Independent work
Problem solving
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Life skills (e.g. attitude,
punctuality, hygiene etc.)
Other skills
VII. Impact of skill shortages
What impacts do skill shortages have on your company?
(check all that apply)
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels
Slows exports
Requires staff/business owner(s) to work more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
VIII. Strategies for dealing with human resources
Does your company have a human resources plan to recruit
and retain staff?
Yes
No
Does your company have a succession plan for the business
owners?
Yes
No
What strategies does your company employ to deal with skill
shortages? (check all that apply)
Performance/profit based compensation packages
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Greater use of apprentices
Hiring more interns/co-op workers
Hiring more immigrants
Hiring more older workers
In-house training
Greater use of flexible work schedules
Succession planning
Other strategies
VII. Impact of aging workforce
What impacts does an aging workforce have on your
company? (check all that apply)
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels
Slows exports
Requires staff/business owner(s) to work more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
VIII. Strategies for dealing with human resources
Does your company have a human resources plan to recruit
and retain staff?
Yes
No
Does your company have a succession plan for the business
owners?
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Yes
No
What strategies does your company employ to deal with an
aging workforce? (check all that apply)
Profit/performance based compensation packages
Greater use of apprentices
Hiring more interns/co-op workers
Hiring more immigrants
Hiring more older workers
In-house training
Greater use of flexible work schedules
Succession planning
Other strategies
IX. Addressing the challenge of recruiting employees
What would help your company address the challenges of
recruiting employees? (check all that apply)
An employment referral service
Assistance in developing competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for employee training
More relevant college/university training
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
More relevant training in schools
Partnerships between schools and business
Other services/programs
X. Addressing the challenge of employee retention
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What would help your company to address the challenges of
retaining skilled employees? (check all that apply)
An employment referral service
Assistance in developing competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for training employees
More relevant college/university training
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
More relevant training in schools
Partnerships between schools and business
Other services/programs
XI. Other comments and suggestions
Do you have any other comments or suggestions that you
feel are central to the training, employment and retention of
your current of future employees?
XII. Involvement in future surveys
Would you be interested in participating in similar future
surveys?
Yes
No
Thank you very much for completing the survey. Your
participation is most helpful in providing valuable
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information and advice to the BC Skills Force Initiative and
the Community Futures Association of BC.
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APPENDIX 4
Follow Up Survey Questionnaire
SURVEY OF SMALL BUSINESS LABOUR FORCE IN SOUTHERN
BRITISH COLUMBIA COMMUNITIES
A Skills Force Initiative of the Community Futures
Association of British Columbia
You kindly participated in this survey earlier in the summer.
Many of the responses indicated "other" as an answer to
some of the questions. We would appreciate your comments
or elaboration to explain what other might have meant to
you.
Any information you provide is confidential and will be
retained in accordance with the laws of BC regarding the
protection of personal information (i.e. the Freedom Of
Information And Protection Of Privacy Act). The information
collected is for research purposes and will be reported in
aggregate form only with no personal identifiers used.
Why is it difficult to fill certain job vacancies and retain
1
staff in these positions? (check all that apply)
No qualified staff available
Competition from other companies
Not enough training programs for these jobs
Difficult to attract people into this type of career
Compensation - cannot afford to pay
Work environment (e.g. social, career advancement
etc.)
Seasonal work
Too costly to invest time and money in training staff
Community infrastructure (e.g. housing, amenitites,
quality of life etc.)
Other reasons
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What skills are you seeking that are not adequately met
2
by younger job applicants between ages 15 to 30? (check
all that apply)
Technical
Computers
Arithmetic
Literacy
Writing
Oral communication
Supervisory
Project management
Team work
Independent work
Problem solving
Life skills (e.g. attitude, punctuality, hygiene etc.)
Other skills
What skills are you seeking that are not adequately met
3
by job applicants of all age groups? (check all that apply)
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Technical
Computers
Arithmetic
Literacy
Writing
Oral communication
Supervisory
Project management
Team work
Independent work
Problem solving
Life skills (e.g. attitude, punctuality, hygiene etc.)
Other skills
What impacts do skill shortages have on your company?
4
(check all that apply)
Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels
Slows exports
Requires staff/business owner(s) to work more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
What impacts does an aging workforce have on your
5
company? (check all that apply)
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Missed business opportunities
Curtails expansion plans
Limits production levels
Slows exports
Requires staff/business owner(s) to work more hours
Reduces customer service
Other impacts
What would help your company address the challenges of
6
recruiting employees? (check all that apply)
An employment referral service
Assistance in developing competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for employee training
More relevant college/university training
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
More relevant training in schools
Partnerships between schools and business
Other services/programs
What would help your company to address the challenges
7
of retaining skilled employees? (check all that apply)
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An employment referral service
Assistance in developing competitive compensation
packages
Tax credits for training employees
More relevant college/university training
More appropriate/friendlier apprenticeship programs
More relevant training in schools
Partnerships between schools and business
Other services/programs
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APPENDIX 5
Four-Digit NOC Code List of Vacancies in Difficult to Fill Positions
Number of
Percentage of
Responses that
Overall Difficult
Position Identified Position
to Fill Positions
as Difficult to Fill
Accounting and Related Clerks 7 1.2%
Administrative Officers 1 0.2%
Administrative Support Clerks 2 0.3%
Agriculture and Horticulture Workers 1 0.2%
Artisans and Craftspersons 1 0.2%
Attendants in Recreation and Sport 1 0.2%
Auditors, Accountants and Investment Professionals 1 0.2%
Automotive Mechanical Installers and Servicers 2 0.3%
Bakers 7 1.2%
Banking, Credit and Other Investment Managers 1 0.2%
Bartenders 1 0.2%
Boat Operators 1 0.2%
Bookkeepers 6 1.0%
Butchers and Meat Cutters, Retail and Wholesale 2 0.3%
Cabinetmakers 2 0.3%
Carpenters 11 1.9%
Cashiers 8 1.4%
Chefs 4 0.7%
Childcare and Home Support Workers 3 0.5%
Cleaners 12 2.1%
Coaches 1 0.2%
Community and Social Service Workers 1 0.2%
Computer Operators 1 0.2%
Computer Programmers 1 0.2%
Computer Systems Analysts 3 0.5%
Construction Inspectors 1 0.2%
Construction Trades Helpers and Labourers 26 4.5%
Cooks 33 5.7%
Customer Service, Information and Related Clerk 2 0.3%
Customer Service, Information and Related Clerks 14 2.4%
Data Entry Clerks 3 0.5%
Delivery Drivers 8 1.4%
Dry Cleaning and Laundry Occupations 3 0.5%
Early Childhood Educators and Assistants 3 0.5%
Electricians (Except Industrial and Power System) 2 0.3%
Electronic Service Technicians(Household and Business
3 0.5%
Equipment)
Employment Counsellors 1 0.2%
Estheticians, Electrologists and Related Occupations 1 0.2%
Finance and Insurance Clerks 1 0.2%
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Number of
Percentage of
Responses that
Overall Difficult
Position Identified Position
to Fill Positions
as Difficult to Fill
Fish Plant Workers 1 0.2%
Floor Covering Installers 6 1.0%
Food and Beverage Servers 9 1.6%
Food Counter Attendants and Kitchen Helpers 1 0.2%
Food Service Counter Attendants and Food Preparers 2 0.3%
Forestry Technologists and Technicians 1 0.2%
Funeral Directors and Embalmers 2 0.3%
Gas Fitters 3 0.5%
General Farm Workers 2 0.3%
General Office Clerks 2 0.3%
Glaziers 3 0.5%
Graphic Designers and Illustrating Artists 7 1.2%
Hairstylists and Barbers 4 0.7%
Heavy Equipment Operators 3 0.5%
Heavy Equipment Operators (Except Crane) 1 0.2%
Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics 3 0.5%
Hotel Front Desk Clerks 4 0.7%
Industrial Butchers and Meat Cutters, Poultry Preparers
2 0.3%
and Related Workers
Insurance Agents and Brokers 3 0.5%
Insurance and Real Estate Sales Occupations and
1 0.2%
Buyers
Janitors, Caretakers and Building Superintendents 1 0.2%
Kitchen and Food Service Helpers 1 0.2%
Labourers in Food, Beverage and Tobacco Processing 1 0.2%
Labourers in Metal Fabrication 1 0.2%
Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities 1 0.2%
Labourers in Wood, Pulp and Paper Processing 1 0.2%
Landscape and Horticultural Technicians and Specialists 1 0.2%
Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance Contractors and
2 0.3%
Managers
Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance Labourers 2 0.3%
Legal Secretaries 2 0.3%
Lock and Cable Ferry Operators and Related
1 0.2%
Occupations
Logging and Forestry Workers 1 0.2%
Machine Operators and Related Workers in Pulp and
2 0.3%
Paper
Machinery and Transportation Equipment Mechanics
3 0.5%
(except Motor Vehicle)
Mail, Postal and Related Clerks 1 0.2%
Managers in Retail Trade 10 1.7%
Manufacturing Managers 1 0.2%
Material Handlers 11 1.9%
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Number of
Percentage of
Responses that
Overall Difficult
Position Identified Position
to Fill Positions
as Difficult to Fill
Medical Technologists and Technicians (Except
1 0.2%
DentalHealth)
Motor Vehicle Assemblers, Inspectors and Testers 1 0.2%
Motor Vehicle Body Repairers 2 0.3%
Motor Vehicle Mechanics 8 1.4%
Motor Vehicle Mechanics, Technicians and Mechanical
5 0.9%
Repairers
Other Aides and Assistants in Support of Health
1 0.2%
Services
Other Attendants in Accommodation and Travel (Except
1 0.2%
Airline Travel)
Other Construction Trades 2 0.3%
Other Engineers 2 0.3%
Other Installers, Repairers and Servicers 2 0.3%
Other Instructors 9 1.6%
Other Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and
3 0.5%
Utilities
Other Mechanics 5 0.9%
Other Sales and Related Occupations 7 1.2%
Other Trades and Related Occupations 7 1.2%
Other Trades Helpers and Labourers 2 0.3%
Outdoor Sport and Recreational Guides 1 0.2%
Painters and Decorators 6 1.0%
Pharmacists 1 0.2%
Pharmacists, Dietitians and Nutritionists 1 0.2%
Physiotherapists 1 0.2%
Plasterers, Drywall Installers and Finishers and Lathers 1 0.2%
Plumbers 4 0.7%
Plumbers, Pipefitters and Gas Fitters 4 0.7%
Printing Machine Operators and Related Occupations 1 0.2%
Psychologists, Social Workers, Counsellors, Clergy and
1 0.2%
Probation Officers
Public Works and Maintenance Labourers 1 0.2%
Receptionists and Switchboard Operators 8 1.4%
Records and File Clerks 2 0.3%
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanics 1 0.2%
Registered Nurses 2 0.3%
Residential Home Builders and Renovators 2 0.3%
Retail Salespersons and Sales Clerks 35 6.0%
Retail Trade Managers 1 0.2%
Roofers and Shinglers 7 1.2%
Sales Representatives, Wholesale Trade 4 0.7%
Sales Representatives, Wholesale Trade (Non-
1 0.2%
Technical)
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Number of
Percentage of
Responses that
Overall Difficult
Position Identified Position
to Fill Positions
as Difficult to Fill
Sales, Marketing and Advertising Managers 3 0.5%
Secretaries (Except Legal and Medical) 1 0.2%
Security Guards and Related Occupations 4 0.7%
Senior Managers - Financial, Communications Carriers
2 0.3%
and Other Business Services
Service Station Attendants 2 0.3%
Sheet Metal Workers 2 0.3%
Specialized Cleaners 7 1.2%
Supervisors, General Office and Administrative Support
1 0.2%
Clerks
Tailors, Dressmakers, Furriers and Milliners 4 0.7%
Technical Occupations in Civil, Mechanical and Industrial
2 0.3%
Engineering
Technical Occupations in Electronics and Electrical
41 7.1%
Engineering
Technical Sales Specialists, Wholesale Trade 5 0.9%
Therapy and Assessment Professionals 1 0.2%
Trades Helpers and Labourers 24 4.1%
Travel Counsellors 7 1.2%
Truck Drivers 25 4.3%
Visiting Homemakers, Housekeepers and Related
12 2.1%
Occupations
Welders 8 1.4%
Writers 1 0.2%
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APPENDIX 6
Open-Ended Responses to Final Question in Primary Survey
• more programs in high quality carpentry
• apprenticeships in concrete
• transportation, shuttle system
• benefited from the co-op program
• company takes workers from workers union pool (IBEW). Business is the busiest they have ever been.
There are little to no workers left in the union pool. There will be a shortage of workers very soon.
• reinstate the apprenticeship program!!!!
• closer training school to the Interior
• more affordable housing
• more team mentality
• would like to see older workers in industry, mentor type person. more advertising campaigns for
industry
• more relevant training in the smaller areas
• Retaining employees is not a problem. Learning about how to operate a successful business is the
challenge. The Chamber needs to fill this void in order to assist me. Seminars conducted by people
who can share business plans, ideas, etc. that you can actually understand and put into place is key for
me. Roy Prevost from Vancouver is an excellent example of the type of person I am looking for. More
of him and people like him please!!!!!!!!!
• teach students 'real life' situations in cook schools
• government should look more into helping seasonal companies get useful employees
• more training school in rural areas \ union base for contractors
• apprenticeship in printing industry!!! \ tax credit structure similar to Germany
• more government funding for trade apprenticeships
• there needs to be more skilled workers out there, more training programs would really help, feels
community location has something to do with skill shortages
• more skilled employees(non smokers!!!) More training program openings
• None of preceding apply in my circumstances
• organization of trade schools needs to be changed(better instruction would be more relevant)
• Has had awesome experience with older workers, will try and keep them on part time after retirement.
Loves their strong work ethic!
• help from the government in paying from apprentice training
• Are clients are immigrants: There are two main classes: Skilled Immigrants who need access to higher
levels of English then government programs provide. Often their foreign experience does not translate
into equivalent work in Canada - a) because Employers don't know how to interpret the experience
b)the Immigrant has an accent and the Employer is nervous it will impact customer service. A program
that would help - some type of Wage subsidy that would allow Employers to train and become more
familiar with the skills of Skilled Immigrants and give the Immigrants Canadian work experience. The
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second group of Immigrants is dwindling - they are not highly educated in their own country but they
are hard working and willing to work multiple jobs. They need to access to English classes.
Immigration Canada should increase the # of immigrants allowed into Canada under this class.
• Teaching students that a job is a privilege, not a right.
• I am not sure this survey applies to me, as I do not have any employees.
• better apprenticeships for smaller companies, less 'red tape' from the government
• Unfortunately, I am not in a position to take on employees, although I probably could keep an employee
busy, I find the process to cumbersome and not employer friendly.
• Doing videos is an individual skill. The editing everyone can learn, but not everyone has a feel for the
finished video. To shoot footage for a video one also has to have in mind what the final product will
look like and then shoot accordingly. Rote projects anyone can learn. But I just take on work that I can
do singularly. I really have no need for a staff. If I need an extra shooter, I hire them when needed and
I only look for professionals who are in the business.
• High school guidance counselors should be asking the students and the business communities what
the needs and wants are and have a resource centre where the two groups can find each other.
• more help from government with apprenticeships
• more provincial grants for summer staff
• Continued support of education;
• more OTR certified worker
• not applicable
• Promote smaller, rural areas. Not all jobs are in the big cities.
• I have found the over 45 applicants are the most knowledgeable about products but not available for
the hours.
• more funding for wages
• Revenue Canada should be monitoring how hair salons are run
• values older employees experience
• more cabinet makers apprenticeships, or college setting
• certificate programs for herbal remedies rae much needed
• My average employee's age is 45 and I am quite able to keep these people. My major concern is the
younger members of my staff who seem to drift in and out of employment quite regularly. There has to
be an initiative somewhere to get them to remain in the job for at least two years, so that they can
obtain a reasonable expertise in the industry of their choice.
• Relaxing some of the foreign worker laws,for smaller communities, where it is difficult to find qualified
staff. We had an Aussie chef we had to let go, because his work visa ran out, and they would not
extend his visa, even for another 6months. Saying we needed to pay higher wages. If there is no one to
fill a position, higher wages won't help, there was no qualified people in the area. We aren't the only
place experiencing this problem in Nelson. Cooks are very hard to find.
• net program skills needed \ web based application skills needed
• cheaper programs, easier access to training programs
• Targeted Wage Subsidy should be expanded so that it's not limited to those on EI.
• More training courses in customer service at the local level, relevant to the particular community in
terms of demographics, industry, nature of business, income level. In other words, training tailored to
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the particular industry and community it is servicing.
• I’m 100% behind an apprenticeship program which would ensure some form of continuity and at the
same time hone a lot of areas of the employee so by the end of apprenticeship he/she would know all
or most of the areas of intrest in the field and have skills commesarate with the high standards required
by the clients. Technical school/University (It could be incorperated into a BA programme at a
appropriate institution) or a lesser skill level at a technical collage along with appropriate business
exposure with a framing shop in the area
• Small businesses need insensitive to create more jobs. We are way too highly taxed in so many areas
that we can't retain good employees at a reasonable wage. The service industry needs to attract
people looking for a career not just a short term job while going to school.
• tax credits for people with wages under 13$ per hours
• local training programs
• The part time work we have to offer in the summer can be very boring and repetative. It is also very
unpredictable. Some weeks are nearly full time and others hardly offer any hours. It is difficult to find
people who want this type of job. The full time possitions I offer are seasonal. Not many skilled retail
workers want to work full time all summer and then be off in the winter. Hopefully we will be able to
expand our business soon so we can provide at least part time work year round.
• more emphasis on lending in university
• we routinely test new graduates, and find their basic skill levels, expectations and attitudes to be
unsatisfactory. Basic skills, including something as simple as legible handwriting are disappearing,
telephone skills are non-existent, work habits are terrible. This is not a problem limited to recent
graduates, but is pervasive. We require strong technical skills and fundamental basic sills, this package
is lamentably absent. Please see this document for more details on our concerns, and additional useful
business information: http://www.sphere.bc.ca/download/business5-3.pdf
• re-certify trade(appliance repair)
• needing more holistic apprenticeship programs
• more reliable people!!!
• Have the employee, especially the new/younger employee, understand the difference between a job
and a career; the difference between experience earning more money than a novice; and most of all
trust and honesty. We have to reduce the ME....ME....ME...factor. Take pride in your job and your new
company. Promote it and you are sure to benefit.
• I would suggest targeting your survey to a more specific market (i.e. those that actually have
employees).
• Specifically, formal training in the hospitality industry, be it line-cooking, hostessing, serving. The actual
work ethic has seemed to suffer, and that is a societal item, however, with more readily available
training a segment of our 'lesser educated' population might find creative skill in the kitchen, or the
natural talent of table service, etc.
• Courses have to be relevant to what the employer needs.. NOT what the school wants to provide. We
see A LOT of schools creating "counseling" designations which have no basis in reality for actual
counseling of youth. Schools are completely disconnected to the reality of the skills needed in the
workplace.
• Re-vamp the education system! Make the teachers of our young more accountable for the lack of
knowledge they impart on the leaders of the future. Instead of a raise, a rollback for every student who
doesn’t reach the target mark. Training people is far too costly for a small business, especially when
that business first has to teach them to read a ruler, add/subtract and make change. I love training
people just to see the light go on when they reach the goal, but even at min. wage it cost approximately
$8000.00 to get them to the point where they can actually start making money for the business.
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• In general, agriculture is seen as a no-future area. It is vital to the long-term health of the country, but is
generally regarded as work for idiots who don't want to make a living. Needless to say, this lack of
prestige limits the general desire to work in agriculture. At the same time, there are agricultural college
graduates looking for work, but expecting remuneration far greater than small farms can afford.
• This is a useless survey for us as we are the only two people who operate this business and there is
not an opportunity to hire someone to do it. It would be a waste of time and money to hire someone
else as we are hardly making it as it is. We are a year round business but seem to see only mid may to
end of Aug traffic. So this survey is pointless for us.
• Incoming costs i.e. things like WCB keep the small business from being able to hire without incurring a
bunch of paper work.
• New employees lack work ethic. They have no idea what a full day of work is, or what is expected of
them. I believe the schools are doing a poor job in preparation of students to the work force.
• I am selling my business so many of the questions do not apply. A general comment from my own
observations: the ageing and skilled workforces are at a disadvantage because their skills and
experience deserve a level of compensation that most businesses in the Interior cannot afford to pay.
Manufacturing industries do not want to pay journeyman's wages and opt for the less skilled worker.
Organizations do not want to employ "over qualified" baby boomers when they can hire college
graduates for little more than minimum wage. With respect to filling the skills gaps that will be defined,
this survey must produce measurable, actionable results in order to be effective so that high schools,
trade schools and colleges can create a targeted, collaborative action plan.
• I think some sort of "whole business" training should be available for people especially in the IT field,
where things like people skills and marketing are often deficient. Now more than ever people need to
see themselves as a self-contained marketable business, with skills and other valuable assets to offer
their "clients" (businesses, customers).
Input from a self-employed consultant in the Lower Mainland:
Thank you for taking time to discuss my observations of the survey. I have summarized my suggestions and
submit them for your consideration.
I think the opportunity exists to CAPTURE and add analysis on a key area that is not reflected in the traditional
Federal and Provincial categories of industry classification. The broad sectors where are the demographic
shifts are happening is useful; however it would be useful for the employee or human perspective to be
included.
What MANY employers (Government, Corporations, Private Sector) are doing to reduce costs incurred through
benefit packages, union negotiations and some productivity functions is to OUT SOURCE and CONTACT OUT
to CONSULTANTS or SELF EMPLOYED people.
The government funded initiatives for TRAINING more and more self employed people has grown
tremendously. The professional field of human resources - often hire Retirement Planners for delivering
programs on site - who are also directing the aging demographic into self employment and consulting.
Certainly the inventory of registered consultants and individual contractors for RFP (request for proposals) with
governments and others has grown significantly. Competition and screening for these contracts has become
pretty intense.
ADD at category of SELF EMLPLOYED &/or CONSULTANT
- capture where the aging workforce is being directed to earn a living and it may cross a variety of traditional
industry classifications. This sector is the largest growing area - self employed, both generalists and
specialists.
For example, I provide targeted services for Food & Accommodation; Government; Health and Social Services;
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Education; Retail; and Business. The scope of work can vary - research, communications, organization and
facilitation, marketing, public relations, community development . . . well you get the idea.
It seems to me that when you are doing this comprehensive web / phone survey and focus groups, you would
want to tap in early to the self-employed and consulting segment. It is also useful data for those of us working
as consultants to be acknowledged as contributors to the economy. The invisible or hidden economy that the
tax department is concerned about includes many self employed sub-contractors.
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APPENDIX 7
Open-Ended Responses to Questions in Follow Up Survey
Responses to “Why is it difficult to fill certain jobs vacancies and retain staff in
these positions?”
• No carpenter
• Knowing about the product
• Can't think of it right now
• Find people with work ethic
• Need too many Qualifications
• Can't think of it right now
• Don't care about the job the ages of 19 to 30, not work ethic
• Don’t know work ethic
• People want high paying jobs, when they are not able to work them
• They don't find it difficult, as they are a very small business.
• Seasonality, only working for 9 months out of the year.
• Trouble getting qualified people, retaining is no trouble.
• No one is qualified
• Too many jobs available, not enough interest.
• Not difficult.
• Lack of training
• Not getting any applicants.
• Controlled by big company,
• Don’t know work ethic
• Knowing about the product
• No problems getting applicants.
• No problems because it is a smaller company.
• Lack of experience and skilled labour.
• People don't have as many skills as they used to, the Education is poor.
• No qualified applicants available.
• Not taught in school.
• don't know
• Not enough skills/experience.
• Not high turn over
• Housing costs, people can't afford to live in the area.
• Because there is a shortages in the company
• No man show
• Travel - out of town a lot
• Has difficulties filling some positions sometimes but cannot identify why
• Qualified people that are looking for work
• One person operation
• No experienced staff in area
• Part time work- casual work
• Unreliable staff, do not take job seriously, job is harder than most people think
• Specialized nature of the business
• Small town, very hard
• On site training
• Lack of training
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• Contracts are year by year- funding is cut a lot
• Don’t really do any hiring
• One person operation- owner had hard time finding honest/ reliable workers, so she decided
to do everything herself
• Young people have poor work ethic and are therefore not good workers
• Young people don't want to work physical labour
• Man power shortage
• People don't show up- reliability
• No one wants to hire students(apprentice)
Responses to “What skills are you seeking that are not adequately met by
younger job applicants between ages 15 to 30? By job applicants of all age
groups?”
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• no knowledge about health and product
• Licensing
• Basic work ethic
• Experience
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Being trained for the type of work.
• office skills
• not able to get the training
• Why too busy, don't want to do survey anymore
• knowledge of products
• Customer service
• Education and training
• Just having the right skills
• knowing about oil
• People skills
• Not having basic skills, all of above
• office skills
• Fast working
• Basic work ethic, being on time for work
• None, have skills that are looking for
• Basic work ethic, don't to work everyday
• Desire to work
• Being trained for the type of work.
• Not doing what told
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• don't hire in that office
• Work Ethic, self supervision, self motivation.
• tile setter skills
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Desire to work
• Desire to work
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Desire to work
• Basic work ethic
• Basic work ethic
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• No sea training
• Just wanting to work
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Basic work ethic, being on time for work
• Desire to work
• doesn't know
• Customer service
• sales skills
• Work Ethic, no training, not finishing Grade 12.
• Thinks it is more of an individual problem, in general he has no problems.
• Poor work habits, Work Ethic, Always need to be trained.
• Work Ethic, Come out of school with no job skills and experience, No use of basic
equipment, No experience
• Poor Education System
• Work ethic
• Ability to handle cash, book keeping and accounting.
• Work ethic
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• work ethic and lack of motivation. Meeting expectations.
• Work ethic
• Office skills, Insurance courses
• Accounting skills
• Motivation
• Not enough maintenance persons, No one is qualified
• There are not enough trained trades people.
• Qualified applicants, work ethic
• Qualified
• Not enough qualified
• Not qualified/licensed
• Desire to work
• Basic work ethic
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Being trained for the type of work.
• Being trained for the type of work.
• Being trained for the type of work.
• Just having the right skills
• people skills
• Basic work ethic, don't to work everyday
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Desire to work on weekends
• Desire to work
• Desire to work
• Desire to work
• Basic work ethic
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Has no clue
• Attitude to work isn't there
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Basic work ethic
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• No experience, they don't know how to work, no money skills and need to stop using
calculators at school.
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• Work Ethic, don't know how to work.
• smaller business.
• Not a good work ethic.
• Work ethic and experience
• Specific experience in this industry.
• hire people
• showing up for work, poor work ethic, lots have criminal records
• graphic art in printing area- printing press, more in press operation and finishing area
• Work Ethic
• Younger applicants always have to leave.
• Very small business.
• No qualifications
• qualifications
• Not qualified to be the positions.
• Mechanical skills, Younger generation aren't as good at using skills, Younger applicants
are looking down at trades positions, Younger people are lazy.
• Basic work ethic
• Mechanical
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• train all the applicants
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• Responsibility and respect
• Qualified applicants
• Experience, basic skills
• Ability/desire to come into this industry.
• Not qualified, need heavy duty mechanics.
• Being skilled at the job they are doing
• one man show
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• doesn't know
• Desire to work
• Being licensed for the type of work.
• Desire to work
• people skill, poor work ethic
• reliability
• young people don't have the proper fire safety training
• hydraulics /mechanic skills are a must, and young people have a poor work ethic
• one person operation
• drivers license all classes, poor work ethic
• poor work ethic, no cook experience
• company has not done any hiring in last 10 years, retains employees well
• proper training(apprenticeships
• transportation, poor work ethic, not hard worker
• hearing aid training for testing and cleaning
• young people need training
• hotel experience, poor work ethic until 21 years old
• common sense, general knowledge of the trade, poor work ethic
• work ethic
• poor work ethic
• don't know
• class one concrete drivers
• ECE- and infant development workers, especially in aboriginal community
• experienced lock smith(2 year tech experience)
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• don't hire a lot of extra employees
• most meet all skill expectations- doesn't like generalizing
• don't know
• quality of work, poor work ethic
• bridge construction superintendents
• experience, poor work ethic
• punch press operator, burning operator, tech operators, machinists, all trades, lots have
poor work ethic
• poor work ethic, bad common sense
• Not enough young people that are qualified for the skills that this employer is looking for.
• poor work ethic, bad common sense, lock smith trade training
• engineers
• designers
• people have not taken the time to properly train them for the work force, he believes they
are able, they just need better instruction
• willingness to flexibility- young people are not willing to work with schedules that they are
given
• company doesn't hire young people
• initiative to find something to do, poor work ethic
• no training in BC
• out going, work well with the public
• Being good at the job
• Skills that can very all asset
• provincial requirement for security course- Basic security training 1 and 2
• Licensing
• doesn't know what skills applicants don't have
• Not doing what told
• experience in wine making/beer making industry.
• Skills that can very all asset
• No qualifications
Responses to “What impacts do skill shortages have on your company?”
• Quality of work
• hard to find right person. Once they do they keep them.
• don't know
• Don't have skill shortages
• hard to find right person. Once they do they keep them.
• Can pay the aging workforce what they need to support a family
• can't find drivers
• Unable to hire permanent employees.
• Stress
• No impacts as this is a very small business.
• Not something they have to deal with
• none at all
• don't deal with it
• not applicable.
• shortages
• Hard to train people.
• Incompletion of tasks
• Stress on staff.
• don't deal with skill shortages
• one person operation
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• don't know
• don't have them
• does not currently have a problem in this area
• none at all
• on site training
• don't know, hasn't been a huge problem
• hard to fill positions
• high turn over of unqualified staff, leads to high cost
• high turn over rate in certain position
Responses to “What impacts does an aging workforce have on your company?”
• Good because more Experience, retraining
• Good because more Experience
• Have not clue
• would be hard for an aging workforce to teach this type of work
• Not fit anymore
• Aging workforce has not affect on the company
• Good because more Experience
• Good because more Experience
• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• Have not clue
• Aging workforce has not affect on the company
• very valuable members of the team
• hard to replace them
• hard to replace them, with same skills
• Good because more Experience, better business opportunities
• Good because more Experience
• hard to replace them
• Smaller business, as people retire we don't have any replacements.
• Good because more Experience
• don't have older people work for us
• don't think questions apply to her company
• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• Have not clue
• Good because more Experience, retraining
• Not being able to replace them with same skilled people
• Good because more Experience
• Good because more Experience
• Good because more Experience, better business opportunities
• Positive impact, mature and experienced.
• Higher benefit cost
• not to much
• nice to have younger people, work faster
• Nothing really, hire all types of age people
• All under the age of 24
• Company has younger employees
• They demand a larger pay check.
• In replacement for aging workers, they must hire inexperienced.
• Lack of employees
• Not as physically strong as younger employees.
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• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• Lack of employees
• No qualified trades people coming up.
• Older people are more skilled and experienced.
• There are no young employees, only hire older employees.
• No suggestions, one man operation.
• Qualified=Qualified
• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• Aging workforce has not affect on the company
• Have not clue
• not alot of older people work for his company
• don't have older people work for us
• hard to replace them, with same skills
• hard to replace them, with same skills
• Aging workforce has not affect on the company
• Aging workforce has not affect on the company
• not to much
• Depends on the individual.
• Positive impact, more experienced, better customer service
• Good because more Experience, retraining
• Would rather have older employees, more experience and work ethic
• smaller business.
• very valuable members of the team
• Dealers prefer younger employees for road service
• Positive impact, bring experience.
• Not significant at all.
• No enough experienced applicants after they leave.
• Positive impact, more experience, more job oriented.
• As they retire, there is limited numbers of employees to take their place.
• hard to replace them
• Have not clue
• They are better because they are more experienced.
• Older is better, more experience.
• Positive Impact, they bring experience.
• don't have a aging workforce
• Higher benefit cost
• Don't have a lot of work for people
• Good because more Experience, better business opportunities
• don't have a aging workforce
• aging workforce better for the company, work harder
• don't have an impact
• don't have an impact
• older workers can't work in the heat, some can't work full days
• hire a lot young people, less you people are working, therefore hire older people, more
reliable
• hard to replace older workers
• doesn't really have a problem
• they don't have a huge impact on the company, but they are found to be valuable
employees
• older worker are very valuable
• succession planning- company 30 years old, many of the workers are senior worker and
are looking to retire soon. Company having to move junior worker much faster into senior
position to ensure that there is not a huge problem in the next 5 years
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• lower energy in the kitchen
• hard to find replacement, older workers are the best members of the team
• no enough contractors and experienced workers
• high turn over with retirement coming up soon
• better to have older employees
• none
• do not get older workers-low pay
• older worker have more valuable experience
• only the fact that the owner is getting older
• diversify the age of the workers
• some workers are going to retiring in the next 5 years, there will be a big gap in
employees
• experience of older worker is an asset
• don't know
• older worker produce a higher quality of work but ask for more wages, younger workers
are faster but do things cheaper
• valuable member of the team
• image of the agency- improves with older workers, looks to have more experience, more
knowledgeable, can deal with both young and old clients, more knowledge of destinations
• workers must be physically fit
• lots of people retiring soon- being careful with hiring young people
• worker not in the age group, not very applicable
• valuable member of the team
• can't keep them awake
• benefit the company-older worker are a valuable part of the team
• shortages of worker
• lots of people retiring soon
Responses to “What would help your company address the challenges of
recruiting employees?”
• Can not think of an answer
• If company had more money
• Really don't know
• Trained in the trade
• don't know
• knowing a lot about the company
• bringing people from didn't Countries
• No qualified staff available
• because no one wants to work
• Better people to pick from
• don't have trouble recruiting
• Can not think of an answer
• don't know
• recruit from within their own company and retrain, or recruit from across Canada and train
through apprenticeships
• most 'employees' are contract- hard to attract people to contract
• One man show, hard to find someone with good skills to take over
• Don't seem to have skills
• Having the skills for the job
• having more to pick from
• don't need to recruit
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• can't answer, don't know
• not to sure
• more government grants
• being able to get more info
• Better people to pick from, with the skills
• Better people to pick from
• because no one wants to work
• because no one wants to work
• Only been in business about a year, family business.
• Can not think of an answer
• more training
• not much that can help
• Really don't know
• There is no challenge in Kamloops Job Market.
• More training programs
• Better people to pick from, with the skills
• Because the positions are seasonal and part time, referral services would help.
• There are no challenges, she puts an add in the paper and gets at least 40 applicants.
• More training programs to be available.
• Can not think of an answer
• Can not think of an answer, something he thinks he can't control
• Better people to pick from, with the skills
• Better people to pick from, with the skills
• Having the skills for the job
• Really don't know
• There are no challenges.
• Better people to pick from
• not to sure, Family company
• because no one wants to work
• Feels there is not a lot of help in recruiting.
• smaller business.
• more low cost training- one afternoon a week for a few weeks
• They don't have any problems finding employees.
• very small business.
• pool of people that really want to work
• Not a high turnover, no challenges in recruiting.
• being able to get more info
• higher wages
• Better people to pick from
• Better people to pick from
• Can not think of an answer, something he thinks he can't control
• Having the skills for the job
• basic skill sets- young people don't have those skill set, ex. show up late, are lazy worker,
can't read or write well
• don't know
• general labour workers
• wage subsidization in training
• more local training programs, it's also hard to attract people to that area
• assistance in developing a program for prescreening future applicants- a more proactive
approach to hiring
• don't know
• more local training programs
• one person operation
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• local training and more accommodating training
• more industry in the area, bring more people in
• government funding for tow truck operators training courses in Canada
• don't know
• local programs, more access to apprenticeship programs for young people
• does not have problem in this area
• Only two people work there
• get a better understanding of the position, better instructors
• co-op programs
• more local training- manager was willing to become a teacher if needed
• funding for off season training
• labour shortage stop
• more youth
• don't know
• more trade entry programs, show kids at a young age what 'work’ is all about-
development of work ethic
• don't know
• more local training
• grants for wages and training
• more training and better programs
• get the trade more exposure- locksmithing
• don't know
• haven't hired in long time- don't know
• government assistance for training
• more local training for horticulture- foreman’s
• local programs in structure training programs for construction
• keep cost of fuel down
• don't know
• good training programs
• don't know
• getting younger people in cook program, more local training programs
• new training school in BC
Responses to “What would help your company to address the challenges of
retaining skilled employees?”
• Try to treat people will, pay them as good as they can
• If company had more money
• The wage, to be able to pay
• Better wages
• The wage, to be able to pay
• larger office space
• Be able to pay workers
• Try to treat people will, pay them as good as they can
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Better wage, team work
• The wage, to be able to pay
• Better people to pick from
• Better wage
• Better training programs
• don't know
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• Having barbeques and special events for employees
• contract based employment- pushes people to look to other opportunities for permanent
employment
• Be able to pay workers
• Growth in the Industry
• being able to offer long term work
• getting more people to pick from
• Be able to pay workers better,
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Be able to pay workers more money
• having more to pick from
• Better training programs
• more money and time off
• The wage, to be able to pay
• Be able to pay workers more money
• Be able to pay workers better,
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Better wage
• Be able to pay workers more money
• Better wage
• Better training programs
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Higher wages, still very soon to tell if they will retain employees.
• Better wage
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Hard to get people to work seasonal
• Customer Service skills training.
• Very slow turn around, young people go back to school is the only problem.
• Ability to offer them more programs
• Very small business.
• More interest in farm labour.
• Smaller businesses can't complete with the wages that larger companies pay.
• The availability of more courses that would assist in training.
• being able to offer long term work
• making the company bigger
• Better wage
• More pay.
• Lack of Unions in BC.
• No problems in keeping employees, they pay higher then normal.
• Higher wages
• Wage scale increase.
• Hard to find them but once they are hired it is not hard to keep them.
• Government subsidies
• They have a very slow turn over, they don't have any challenges in retaining skilled
employees.
• Higher wages, benefits, better communications.
• No suggestions, one man operation.
• Higher Wages.
• being able to offer long term work
• Be able to pay workers better
• to be able to have long term work
• Be able to pay workers better
• Be able to pay workers better,
SURVEY OF SKILLS & TRAINING NEEDS AMONG SMALL BUSINESSES IN SOUTHERN RURAL BC 120
BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
• Be able to pay workers better,
• Be able to pay workers better
• Non taxable credits
• Better training programs
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Be able to pay workers better
• Be able to pay workers better
• Be able to pay workers better
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Better training programs
• Not really sure
• Benefits
• We have no problems.
• Employee satisfaction, better treatment.
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• not to sure, Family company
• Not really sure
• being able to offer long term work
• Better training programs
• Not really sure
• more people to pick from
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• not a problem
• Higher wages, employee satisfaction
• Higher wages.
• Knowing that employees would be long term and permanent once they were trained.
• Wage subsidy program
• specialize in areas- training a few hours a weeks for a few weeks
• don't know
• Higher Wages and more work,
• Higher wages
• Very small business.
• Higher Wages.
• Location of shops.
• Higher Wages.
• flexible schedule and good training, good pay
• Be able to pay workers
• Growth in the Industry
• Higher Wages
• Not really sure
• Benefits
• Better training programs
• Benefits
• Not really sure
• being able to offer long term work, better wages
• Not really sure
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• Be able to pay workers better
• Hard to get people to work seasonal
• Be able to pay workers better
• seasonal operation, would like year round employment
• don't know
SURVEY OF SKILLS & TRAINING NEEDS AMONG SMALL BUSINESSES IN SOUTHERN RURAL BC 121
BC SKILLS FORCE INITIATIVE TELEPHONE/WEB SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• more variety in job positions
• don't know
• one person operation
• better wages
• better working conditions, better wages
• Benefits
• if they could give full time work
• Be able to pay workers better
• more local training programs and more frequent training programs
• once they are well trained, retaining the employee is easy
• does not have a problem in this area
• Only two people work there
• job sharing
• assistance in creating affordable benefits plans
• Not hard to retain. Hard to find
• don't know
• more trade entry programs
• don't know
• more full time positions
• grants for wages
• seasonal operation of sales-keep them coming back
• trained workers may stay longer
• more local training
• funding for training, support for young people to go on to training programs, more
exposure of what the industry entails
• chamber group benefits help a lot
• offer benefits
• being able to pay them more
• higher door rate, then they could be paid more and would be more excited about working
• seasonal workers- some how get them to come back summer after summer
• seasonal operation, would like year round employment or subsidization on off season
• general data base where employer could select certain skills for a specific job
• keep fuel cost down so that he can pay his employee more
• seasonal workers- some how get them to come back summer after summer
• don't know
• more pre employment training programs so that the company does not have to do it
• better wages and education, additional training for present employees in a trade school
SURVEY OF SKILLS & TRAINING NEEDS AMONG SMALL BUSINESSES IN SOUTHERN RURAL BC 122
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