A labour shortage has hit many industries in Richmond — from sales and the trades to engineering and hospitality.
The result has been slower economic grow and rising labour costs.
“More and more members have come to us and said they can’t find enough employees, there just are not enough applicants,” said Rob Akimow, chair of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and sales director at Richmond News.
“The News is also looking for sales people but resumes are few and far between,” he added.
Companies such as the Ashton Service Group are always under-staffed because new talent is hard to find, said the company’s founder Brian Williams.
“Our human resource situation is stretched and it is halting our business growth,” said Williams.
“We are maintaining the scale of the company, but we’re not growing because we can’t find enough talent.”
A lack of employees has also hit the restaurant sector in Richmond.
According to the B.C. Asian Restaurant Cafe Owners Association, there is a shortage of more than 500 employees in their members’ restaurants, many of which are located in Richmond.
“Some restaurant owners have to work themselves because they can’t find employees,” said Sunny Ho, vice president of the association, in an interview with the News last month.
High cost of living drives workers away
The high cost of living in Richmond and the lack of transportation support for employees are key factors contributing to the shortage, according to Akimow.
“The high price of housing in Richmond is driving people away, and it’s hard to persuade someone living in Langley to come and work in Richmond, if they can find a job locally.”
He added, many companies offer high-paying jobs in trades and sales, but still fail to attract enough candidates.
“And the transportation system is focused on the Richmond downtown area, making it hard for young people who don’t have cars to commute to workplaces outside of downtown on a daily basis.”
Grant Bryan, operator of O’Hare’s Pub in Steveston, agrees. He is also struggling to find new employees.
“We are at the corner of an island so we can only catch people from two sides. But the lack of bus shifts, especially late at night, really makes it difficult for employees.”
In addition, Williams noted that the mismatch of education and workforce needs have led to a gap where students can’t find jobs and workers can’t find employees.
“People who were born after the 1990s don’t like to do blue-collar work anymore even though it’s decently paid,” said Williams.
“And there are not enough programs and training available for those who are interested.”
He said his firm “could easily find skilled workers from abroad” until 2014, when the government put more restrictions on hiring foreign workers.
“But we don’t have enough applicants from Canada. I hope the country can open up a little bit for immigrants who have the skills and are willing to work in Canada.”
Employers go creative to attract talents
To attract and develop new talent, employers are trying a variety of strategies.
“You have to get creative,” said Williams.
“We constantly brainstorm on recruiting, such as making hiring videos, having job fairs, and hosting open houses for students from Grade 11 to 12.”
The company also invests in more training and apprenticeship programs for potential young workers, which was rare in the industry before.
The Business Association of Richmond will demonstrate its creativity Saturday night by hosting a free dinner for local restaurant owners and Syrian refugees. The goal is to see if some of the refugees could be employed by Richmond restaurants.
Restaurant owners need to work hard to maintain the employees they’ve already got, noted Bryan.
“You have to be strategic and create good working conditions for them to make sure they will stay.”
Richmond’s economy is still strong, according to the City of Richmond, but Julien Picault, a labour expert at UBC Okanagan, said the labour shortage will eventually undermine the local economy.
“Companies have to pay more to attract labour, which is not easy, especially for those who already have very low margins,” said Picault.
“Without enough labour, sales are not being made, it takes longer to get meals or service, and companies won’t make enough money. We all lose value in the end.”
He urged the government to tackle the affordability problems as well as provide more direct training for the labour market.
“And we want to tell people that we have a lot of good-paying jobs in Richmond. We welcome people to apply,” said Akimow.
