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3 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,January 30,2020 w aterloochronicle.ca YOUR CITY Visit waterloochronicle.ca for more coverage When Patrick Desaul- niers hears employers in Waterloo Region and Wel- lington County are having a tough time finding the right employees, he gets a little annoyed. The 37-year-old Guelph resident worked in con- struction for six years and graduated from the con- struction and maintenance electrician program at Herzing College, but he's still had trouble landing a full-time, permanent job in the trades. "It's honestly depressing and frustrating to be in this situation," he said after reading a story in the Water- loo Region Record earlier this month about a Work- force Planning Board of Wa- terloo Wellington Dufferin survey that found the ma- jority of employers are hav- ing a hard time filling va- cancies. "The most difficult part is finding a sincere employ- er that is willing to take a chance on a new person and potentially sign them." The planning board sur- vey found about 65 per cent of 542 employers surveyed last year had positions that were difficult to fill during the previous 12 months. The top five barriers cit- ed were: not enough appli- cants, lack of qualifications, lack of motivation/attitude, lack of work experience and lack of technical skills. But Desaulniers said based on his experience working in the trades there seems to be a reluctance to train new or inexperienced apprentices, and the wages being offered don't align with the years of desired ex- perience. He's currently working part time at a friend's pro- motions and trophy shop in Etobicoke for $16 an hour to help make ends meet. "I'm hoping I'll have more luck soon," he said. Charlene Hofbauer, the planning board's chief exec- utive officer, said she's heard similar complaints from other job seekers. "We try to give job seek- ers an idea that those (fac- tors) aren't the rule," she said. "Some industries have a lot of options and yes, may not pay what you're looking for ... because they know they can fill the job." In a separate planning board survey of workers in the region from 2019, the 177 respondents said some of the top factors for not find- ing a job were: a lack of job postings in their chosen field or geographic area, a need to improve their own education or training, and a lack of jobs with a desirable rate of pay. The number of hours available can also vary de- pending on the job. Retail work tends to offer more part-time shifts, Hofbauer said, while jobs such as con- struction have more full- time hours but usually only seasonally. Of the 14,249 workers hired in 2018, about 5,300 were for full-time, perma- nent positions, according to the employer survey. Hofbauer said the per- ception that many employ- ers are unwilling to train is untrue for the 542 local em- ployers surveyed - 88 per cent said they provided training to employees, but a third of those willing to train also admitted there were barriers in providing that training, mainly cost and time. One of those companies willing to train is Arcadian Projects, a multi-trade con- tractor that specializes in renewable energy projects in Baden. President Luke Shantz said one of the best ways for local companies to grow and succeed is by finding talent- ed local employees, training them, paying a competitive wage and offering a pension and benefits. "Every year we take on new, young people and put them into the construction scene and move them from trade to trade," he said. "You make sure it's a fit for them and we give them a year to feel it out, and after a year we offer them any appren- ticeship they want." Yet younger workers are also very different from ear- lier generations, according to David Towler, and em- ployers need to adjust. Towler is president of Waterloo-based Creative Or- ganizational Design, which provides customized em- ployee training services for corporations around the world, including Kellogg's, Fuji Film, Electrohome, Ma- ple Leaf and more. His clients all say they're having the same problems finding and retaining em- ployees. "I feel for these appli- cants, I was there once too," Towler said. "I'm hearing the same thing from people in Vancouver, Texas, Los Angeles and New York. It seems to be an international issue." He said the relationship employees have with their jobs has changed over the past decade or two, particu- larly among workers in their 20s and 30s that en- tered the workforce in the years leading up to - or di- rectly following - the eco- nomic crash in 2008. "Part of the issue is you've got a group of people who don't expect to have a long-term career," he said. Benefits and pensions are often no longer enough mo- tivation, especially if work- ers think they won't be there long enough to enjoy those perks due to layoffs or find- ing a better job down the line. "The plus side is they're workaholics, and they're loyal, and there are all kinds of great things they bring to the workforce," Towler said. "You'd better hire them ef- fectively. JOB SEEKERS CAN'T RELATE WITH EMPLOYER HIRING WOES Patrick Desaulniers stands outside his Guelph apartment Monday. The trained electrician hasn't been able to find work. JAMES JACKSON jjackson@therecord.com Mathew McCarthy/Waterloo Region Record Catch a Great Deal! Browse our inventory of vehicles by Body Style, popular Makes and Models, Province, popular Cities or by Price. Whatever path you choose, you will find the right car, in the right location, for the right price! 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