What solutions are available to address staff and facility shortage in Calgary?
Calgary has a significant shortage of staff and facilities.
We have identified Outsourcing, Relocating facilities, and bringing in foreign staff as possible solutions.
Other solutions include helping staff on sick leave return to work sooner and more automation.
I am interested in hearing other potential solutions.
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The Success Stories series provides case studies from people about what it takes to become successful. Each of us is unique in our goals and aspirations, but we have things in common with others. Through the 10,000,000 people in my LinkedIn network we can share ideas and solutions that will help you achieve your goals. While I don’t always agree with all the comments I receive, I include all that are presented coherently and could help at least one of my readers.
The questions have been slightly edited for grammar and presentation. Comments and Kudos, while always appreciated, have been edited out.
Al Pitt (al@pixelscout.com)[LION]toplinked
Owner, PixelScout
A few areas that might be helpful would be addressing retention strategies so you don’t lose who you already have and wellness programs that would reduce the number of sick days taken.
Another solution would be to work with Universities outside of
Programs that would encourage the participation of more women and aboriginal people in engineering would help as well. These programs should be national in scope.
I understand the challenges
In fact, our firm is currently bringing more than 40 HGV Class 1/Class 2 Truck Drivers over from the
What a task to undertake, even for just one family relocating internationally, let alone multiplying that by 40 and coordinating the recruitment aspects as well.
If I can add any value or suggestion to your seminar in May, I would add that bringing in foreign staff becomes exponentially more logical and smooth when a relocation management firm (example: nupad.ca) is outsourced to lead the project.
In our case, having a management firm to who’s core competency is managing all the aspects of the workers relocation, including home search, move of goods, immigration, settling-in, temporary housing, management of foreign recruiting and much more – really makes the seemingly impossible appear natural.
Another solution that you did not mention would be Skills Retraining. This is where the local employment market is analyzed for potential to retrain the existing workers in certain segments (ie. senior/youth/disability/waning industry/other), in case there is potential to better utilize the local employment market.
Senior Telecommunicatie Adviseur at Parisi Consulting
You might consider identifying which functions can be done remotely for a big part of the time (sales, administration ….) and support home working, so that employees only need to go to office once a week, twice a month,…. This will broaden your search area. Of course, automating repetitive tasks is also a solution.
President, CEO at EDL Consulting
Would suggest you emphasize the benefits of moving internal systems to Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, which can greatly minimize need for hardware infrastructure and internal IT staff required for systems. Examples include NetSuite (ERP), Salesforce.com (CRM), etc.
Information Technology
You might try targeting US cities with high unemployment rates.
Consultant in corporate communications, strategic planning and business development, turnarounds and start-ups.
Telecommuting where possible can bring in staff from across
IT Consultant/DB Developer/DB Analyst/BI Analyst/Data Analyst/IT free Thinker/Data Conversion Analyst/IT Mentor
I would suggest remote work, telecommuting or opening small offices outside
Private
In the
Project Manager & Principal, Vinaka Consulting. Information Technology and Management Consultant
Differentiation predicated on strong employee engagement is vital in the
Managing Editor/Owner RetiredPay.COM
I saw several telecommuting suggestions which I’d also second. However, it would be insular to isolate you remote workers to
In my GPS tracking practice I noticed a distinct division in the oil and gas industry between the ‘old way’ and the ‘new way’. New way companies use GPS to track their employees in the field. This brings immediate improvements to the bottom line. However, there are some distinct sideline advantages. Improved worker safety … less disabling accidents. More efficient use of time, more work per worker per shift, and strangely enough, a huge reduction in workman’s comp claims.
A related issue is telemetry. Many oil and gas operations can reduce manpower significantly by multiplying the effectiveness of current employees with technology that limits their trips to the field … less drive time means more production time.
Many companies find they can do much more with what they have if they multiply current worker’s effectiveness.
Have you considered Collaboration and Communication solutions (SharePoint, LiveMeeting, Groove) to network employees / contractors / business into information technology and business intelligence positions who do not live in the Calgary area?
The latest versions of Microsoft’s Office 2007 solutions really help to bring distant workers together to solve problems on virtual teams.
Proposal Manager at Fujitsu Consulting
A friend of mine, who lives in
Here in
As for bringing in foreign staff, there is a huge oil & gas industry in
You could collaborate with
- Energy
- CERBA (
Senior Support Specialist at Route1
How about recruiting the best people from wherever you can find them and using telecommuting products like the Route1 MobiKEY (url below) to allow them to work together. I have a few clients who do this and it works quite well.
Channel Strategist, Distribution Network Architect
There is a well-proven solution to increase workforce utilization/efficiency and bring down sick-leave and turnover and thus potentially resolve some of the issues you mention.
The product is a workforce management/workforce optimization software suite called Time Care and was originally developed for rostering/self-rostering of hospital staff but is now used in many organisations and industries in Europe/Nordic countries.
Principal and Founder of Endeavor Group: LION :TopLinked.com proud w_3595+ connections and growing!
You are making most of the right moves thus far; however might I suggest using some recruiters, or one, with North American experience to aid your firm. That is a high number of executives to recruit. And, you might consider job fairs in other cities as far south as the
I do agree that retention is a big issue to be looked at as well. What is your firm, or client firm, doing or not doing to retain their staff?
(robert.dromgoole@pnl.gov 509-375-2441) Executive Search Consultant at Battelle
I’ve had to recruit talent to rural locations (various national labs) for several years now. In my opinion, you need these key elements:
- You have to have a great story to sell to get the candidates excited to join your organization in the first place. A great reputation goes a long way (ask Google, Valero etc.) If your company treats employees poorly, good luck.
- You need to have a recruiting team who can present your vision, who can find the right people, and get to the candidates you need to sell your story.
- You have to offer competitive compensation. National labs are not anywhere close to top of market, but we are close to market and offer intangibles which are attractive to the candidates. We just have to find the right kind.
- You have to offer a fairly comprehensive relocation program. You need more than a U-haul and bus ticket for great people. I’m not saying you have to buy their house for them (but some do). 6% real estate fees are expensive, moving household goods are expensive etc.
- You have to do a great job at relocating talent.
[ZT - I have a great article with lots more ideas on relocating talent here.]
Private
You haven’t really defined the problem that well. Most on Linked in are not familiar with
What kind of people is
What kind of facilities is
I’m from
The attitude of Canadian employers is always that they want all kinds of experience and skill sets. But they won’t develop them internally. They want another company to take the risk, but they will then receive the reward.
Or, if someone’s skill sets does increase, they won’t then increase their pay, so the person leaves to get a raise at the next company just described.
I once saw an article. 90% of companies thought there was a skill shortage. But most had no training programs. It was so funny that I laughed out loud. Just some thoughts.
For better responses, perhaps try defining your problem better.
Proprietor – Plus Communications Philippines Inc. & Pride Int’l Film Festival & Mktg – International Consultants severinoplanas@yahoo.com
Perhaps the other solution would be to partner up with our company here in
One of our companies handle job placements abroad and we are looking into bringing in dependable and well-qualified individuals to
You can also outsource staffing here in
Entrepreneur, Consultant,
You have probably heard of Dr Edward De Bono of ‘lateral thinking’ fame. The simplest approach to your problem would be to invite Dr Bono to apply his framework for coming up with an amazing set of solutions. If you can’t get him, there are many certified trainers who can do this. I know one such expert – his name is K. R. Ravi and his website is http://www.krravi.com/ and his emails are createravi@vsnl.com and
createravi@hotmail.com
SAP Technical Consultant at MSP Consulting
Do you actively interview the people who leave? Exit interviews might give some extra input into your question. What motivates people to take a position elsewhere?
Information Technology and Services Consultant with an offshore outsourcing bias
While outsourcing, relocating or automation are invariably the obvious answers to such issues, and rightly so, human factor should be given due importance. People should be willing or motivated to change and adapt to new life. People invariably build a comfort zone to hide into and resist change. You have mentioned shortage of staff. Shortage is against the perceived need based on the history. People have built silos around them and maked boundaries around them. You consider motivating current staff to be ready to expand their work profile and initiate the program to upskill, cross-skill and reskill people to improve the productivity which will cut down perceived “shortage” and prepare them to absorb the impact of outsourcing, relocation positively in future. Trust my words “An individual’s capability to deliver is much more than he/she perceive it to be”
Senior Software Engineer at Payerpath a Misys Healthcare Systems Company
There have to be other parts of
Wish this was a problem the
If you are looking at outsourcing or relocating, this is a nice, warm, sunny climate…
Technical Advisor at Green Performance Systems Inc.
I am speaking only about staff shortage in
Furrukh Sohail, PMP (furrukh.sohail@gmail.com)
Manager, Software Development at Techlogix
Which skill set are we talking about and you need to identify if this skill set is not available in
Then you can build your strategy on whether to outsource, relocate facilities, or bring in foreign staff. Depending on which option is more cost effective.
My guess, however the question does seem to be not what are the options available, you have covered almost all of them, it looks more like which option is more viable, less risky and less load on cash flow over years to come.
After this you need to know the variable that impact your cost, you can all them risks, e.g. turn over, specially in case the resources are short already.
This can never be a one medicine one dose situation, one needs executives continuously monitoring this situation and counter measuring using all the options that you have listed above. Instead of hiring these executives, invest with stakes of these executives present. Create a competitive environment around the big players.
Account Manager at SkillSoft
A company I worked for in
The ability to keep their benefits ensured that the staff stayed with the company! It was a very popular option for those who needed to use it.
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Success Stories are part of my Success Through Balance approach to life. I believe that Success comes from living a balanced life. You can read more about being successful and the skills required here.
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Zale:
Perhaps it would be helpful if you could provide a list of specific positions, especially if they happen to be in any hr-xml.org recognized format.
Ed
[ZT - This conference is about how to solve the staffing shortage. There are plenty of openings in Calgary. If you want to work - you can find a job there.]