DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED RESEARCH, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

August 31, 2018

Co-Authored by: Scott McDowell and Amy McKillip

Employer Collaboration to

Enhance Employee Retention

Labour Market Research and Innovation

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Table of Contents

PREAMBLE ............................................................................................................................. 2

PROJECT TEAM ...................................................................................................................... 3

INDICATORS ........................................................................................................................... 4

METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 6

RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................ 6

RESEARCH PARTNERS .......................................................................................................... 6

PROJECT GOAL ................................................................................................................. 7

PHASE ONE........................................................................................................................ 7

THE FIRST DRAFT. ............................................................................................................. 7

FROM EXCEL TO URL – THE BETA VERSION. ....................................................................... 7

OUTCOMES .................................................................................................................... 8

PHASE 2........................................................................................................................... 13

MARKETING ................................................................................................................. 13

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR MANUAL MATCHING ....................................... 14

REFINING THE PITCH ...................................................................................................... 15

SUCCESS STORIES & FEEDBACK ...................................................................................... 16

PHASE 3........................................................................................................................... 19

THE PILOT PROJECT INVENTORY ............................................................................................. 20

RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................ 21

CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................... 22

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 23

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Employer Collaboration to Enhance

Employee Retention Labour Market Research and Innovation

Preamble

In Timmins and the surrounding Far North East Training Board catchment area (herein

FNETB), there was a growing demand for qualified non-full-time employees and a

strategy to retain these employees in Northern Ontario. A constant challenge for

Northern Ontario, specifically Timmins, was matching employees to existing seasonal or

part-time positions (and employers of the like), and retaining those employees in those

positions, rather than losing them to full-time positions available elsewhere. There was

no apparent solution, yet industry demand for non-full-time employment continued to

grow.

The first step in cultivating an innovative approach for retention of non-full-time

personnel was to build a framework for an inventory of non-full-time positions. Further

brainstorming lead to the concept of creating an Employer Database that would

attempt to break barriers that counteractively work against retention, specifically the

underworking of non-full-time personnel and their desire to obtain additional hours.

By working with industry professionals, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and not-

for-profit organizations in the Timmins community, the pilot project yielded a framework

built to enhance community-based labour market information, stimulate employer

collaboration, and re-invent industry-specific attraction, training and retention

strategies. Information collected from local employers could be used to help develop

employer partnerships in the sharing of skill sets or human capital. On the level of the

employee, these partnerships could lead to non-full-time individuals potentially having

the opportunity to attain full-time hours through two or more partnered enterprises in

which their skills are transferable.

This pilot project was executed using a three-phased approach. Phase one established

the framework to build the Employer Database. Phase two populated the database,

created an inventory identifying industry need for non-full-time positions, and paired

employers with a demand for, or supply of, similar skill sets. These first two phases have

been completed, and this report details the project team’s findings. The final phase will

see the implementation of an automated relational database system capable of

matching these skill-compatible businesses to share employees.

The Employer Database developed during this pilot project will be controlled by the

FNETB, and will deliver an innovative method of engaging local businesses by

encouraging them to collaborate with and support one another. This project has set

the stage for increasing employer engagement and collaboration in the Northern

Ontario labour market.

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Project Team

Amy McKillip (Project Manager and Lead Researcher) is the

Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation at

Northern College with an extensive background in project

management and research. She has demonstrated a high level of

leadership by identifying opportunities, mentoring project leaders,

educating the workforce, and working with teams and different

cultures on various scales. She is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt,

which qualifies her as a business, project, research and change

management professional.

Scott McDowell (Labour Market Research Assistant) is a Laurentian

University Co-operative Education Student completing his fourth

year of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program

specializing in Entrepreneurship. Scott boasts many diverse small

business management skills cultivated through his experience in the

workforce and is pursuing his Certified Associate in Project

Management (CAPM) designation.

Keitha Robson (Industry Professional) is the Chief Administrative

Officer of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce. A connector, Ms.

Robson looks for projects that will bring her members together to

live the mantra of the Chamber: ‘Making good business better.’

Keitha is also the Board Chair of the Seizure & Brain Injury Centre

and a highly decorated Chamber executive in the country,

chairing both provincially and nationally at different points in her

career. Ms. Robson holds a BA in Psychology, an MBA in Marketing,

a diploma in Adult Education, and a diploma in Municipal

Management. She is also a certified OTEC customer service trainer.

North Eastern Ontario Communications Network Inc. is a not-

for-profit information and communication technology (ICT)

champion organization proudly supported by FedNor. They

have a mandate to 1) encourage and facilitate private and

public partnerships that result in better telecommunications

infrastructure and related ICT services; 2) increase

awareness and adoption of information technology, thereby

increasing demand for services and fostering a more

competitive ICT environment; 3) promote the development

and innovative application of technology, especially as it

pertains to the economic, cultural, and social development

of northeastern Ontario. Pictured left to right: Josh Veilleux,

Marie-Josée Lapierre, Laura Imhoff, Sharon Jones, Phil

Barton, Paul Ouimette, Kait-Lynn Gooch (front).

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Indicators

The 2016 EmployerOne survey facilitated by the FNETB provided key indicators that

Northern Ontario, and particularly Timmins, was in need of a framework that will

acknowledge issues relating to non-full-time employee demand, supply and retention.

As a baseline statistic, 53% of hires in the year 2016 were for

non-full-time positions (FNETB, 2016). Sixty-seven per cent of

employers responding to the survey in 2016 stated that in

2017 they plan to hire non-full-time personnel, a 14% increase

(FNETB, 2016). Levelling off to the baseline statistic, 55% of

employers stated they plan to hire for non-full-time positions

in 2018 (FNETB, 2017). It is important to note that the intention

to hire is representative of what an employer planning to hire

believes the workload of the position is to be, without the

influence of other factors come time to hire. If an employer

states they plan to hire a non-full-time employee and the

actual hiring result since the time of the survey is for full-time

hours, it is commonly attributable to budgetary surplus or the

inclusion of additional tasks. In addition, it is stated that the

employers answering the survey in 2016 (251) are not

necessarily the identical group responding in 2017, especially

seeing as the sample size is close to double in 2017 (427). For

this reason, the statistics above are representative of the

sample at the time of the survey, and the intention to hire will be analyzed accordingly

as a reliable statistic for the development of this pilot project. In 2016, community

labour market surveys and the Timmins Chamber of Commerce Workforce Committee

concluded that the North is facing growth in the number of non-full-time positions

available and determined that to retain personnel, employment opportunities must be

visible and accessible, therefore online. This determination stimulated the development

of an innovative approach for the retention of non-full-time personnel.

In 2016, the greatest number of projected hires included general labourers,

receptionists and salespeople (FNETB, 2016). The skillsets of these employees are easily

transferable to other non-full-time positions where perhaps the job title or even industry

is different. If two businesses collaborated to share, for example, a part-time

salesperson with transferable skills, this employee would then have obtained additional

hours, thus feeling his/her source of income is secure, and this employee’s talent will

potentially be retained in the North.

The largest percentage of separations is found

to be temporary layoffs of seasonal staff,

accounting for a quarter of total separations

(23%) in 2016 (FNETB, 2016). If the employers of

these seasonal staff found themselves to be laying-off an employee just as another

employer is planning to hire to keep up with their seasonal demand, these employers

could reach a mutually beneficial agreement to share said employee. A general

Actual in

2016

Planned for 2017

Planned for 2018

Of Separations = Temporary Lay-Offs

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labourer working for a business that operates at full capacity during the summer months

has skills that could be useful in another similarly skilled position during the winter

months.

A vast majority of non-full-time occupations employ personnel with transferable skills.

This creates a unique opportunity for employers wherein employees can move across

different industries and acquire additional skills sets through job-specific training. In

matching employers to share seasonal personnel, a partnership eliminates the time and

money consumed to re-hire a previous employee or train a new one. In the case

described above, being a summer and winter sharing arrangement, the employers

would receive the human capital desired for their time of high demand when a full

complement of employees is required.

When one employer is offering an employee (excess supply), and one employer is in

need of an employee (increased demand), there is no need for the uncertainty that is

common when selecting, interviewing and hiring a new employee. The employer

providing the employee is vouching for his/her competence with no doubt that this

employee will perform up to the standards of the employer receiving. The skills and

educational requirements, being the basis of the employer match, are met and

possibly exceeded. In this specific case, the employer offering an employee may not

be able to provide this person with their desired full-time hours, and they are seeking a

matched employer that can provide the time to supplement the remaining portion of

full-time hours. The fact that the current employer wants to match the employee with

another employer, in order to retain that talent, is evidence of the employee’s value to

that employer.

Also note, Ontario’s Liberal government recently increased the minimum wage being

paid to employees by 23%. Internal solutions include combating decreasing profit

margins by laying-off or reducing hours of part-time employees, planning to hire less

seasonal staff or cutting contract positions and re-allocating those workloads. A sharing

arrangement between two employers could divide the full-time hours desired by the

employee between two or more employers, thereby reducing pressure on each

individual employer to provide full-time hours to their employees.

Number of Timmins Businesses by Size in 2016

(Statistics Canada Business Register)

The vast majority of businesses within the Timmins area are small businesses (0-50

employees), thus these are the most likely businesses to develop sharing arrangements.

There are two major organizations with whom small businesses register: the Chamber of

Commerce and Downtown Timmins Business Improvement Association (BIA). With 51%

of Timmins having obtained a high school diploma as the highest level of education or

having obtained no formal education at all, the ideal occupations for creating sharing

arrangements would be those involving general labour (FNETB, 2016). This labour can

be defined as physical labour, but further labelled for the purpose of this report as

Small 1139

Medium 51

Large 16

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employees in service occupations, clerical support, or reception, as examples, where

the highest level of required education is that of a high school diploma.

Prior to the start of this pilot project, the Timmins Chamber of Commerce received

multiple comments from local employers in 2016-2017 stating that non-full-time

employees were difficult to retain due to the nature of the work. These employers

experienced their loss of a non-full-time employee when a desirable full-time

opportunity presented itself elsewhere, often outside the North. The Chamber initiated

a Workforce Committee to tackle the issues that they were hearing from the local

businesses. From this committee came the concept of employers sharing employees.

The Timmins Chamber of Commerce also received one comment from an employee

who encouraged employers to coordinate the logistics of any sharing arrangement,

rather than expecting employees to make the arrangements. The employee stated

that there is significant difficulty in juggling multiple jobs as the issue of being double-

booked is common. With an obligation to both employers, the employee is left with the

difficult choice of which employer to favour, resulting in stress for the employee.

Employer collaboration, it was noted, could reduce or eliminate this stressor.

An Employer Database could be a key asset in the retaining of experienced, seasoned

and competent employees, combining word of mouth, referrals, and online job

postings (the three most frequently reported methods of recruitment) to deliver a

comprehensive solution to individual employer labour demands (FNETB, 2016) where

two employers in need of a part-time employee can hire together and devise an

amicable time sharing solution.

Methodology

Research Quest ions

The overarching research question surrounding this project is:

1. What is the framework for establishing the Employer Database?

Sub-questions include:

a) What criteria are required to draw relation ties between data entries?

b) How can these positions be categorized?

c) What web-based interface will satisfy the need for visibility and accessibility?

d) How is this program to be marketed to the business community?

Research Partners

The pilot project is delivered in partnership between Northern College (Department of

Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation), the Timmins Chamber of

Commerce and North Eastern Ontario Communications Network Inc. (NEOnet).

Northern College provided the research design, management, analysis expertise,

reporting and framework for the project. The Chamber of Commerce contributed their

marketing expertise within the business community and NEOnet provided their

information technology expertise to support the implementation of the final phase. The

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funding received by NEOnet allowed for the development of a relational database

management system/reporting engine for the Employer Database framework. The

FNETB will sustain the database, and this new method of pairing employers of non-full-

time employees and compiling labour market data will be adapted to other

communities.

Project Goal

The goal of this pilot project was to create an Employer Database to facilitate the

sharing of an employee between two (or more) employers requiring a similar skill set.

The database would aim to provide non-full-time personnel with the opportunity to

attain full-time hours through the partnership of enterprises in which their skills are

transferable. By helping to potentially secure full-time hours for these individuals, this

program aims to help retain transient talent in Northern Ontario.

The project includes three phases. Phase one produced a framework to enhance

community-based local labour market information by understanding non-full-time

employment trends. Phase two saw the development of a working Employer Database.

Phase three is not yet complete, but its goal is to engage an experienced technology

firm to develop a more comprehensive relational database program using framework

of the Employer Database developed in phases one and two.

Phase One

The First Draft. A focus group was established by soliciting volunteer businesses

through the Chamber of Commerce member directory. At this initial brainstorming

meeting, the research questions were examined by industry professionals using a

qualitative approach. Each business in attendance provided their industry-specific

input on the different avenues and barriers of the project while contributing

determining criteria to be used in the formation of the database. The knowledge

gained from the focus group was reviewed and arranged in Microsoft Excel to create

the first draft of the database. This draft was then sent to the focus group where their

fictional data entries were gathered as well as feedback on survey criteria.

From Excel to URL – The Beta Version. The suggested changes were

implemented, and a beta version was finalized with criteria as outlined in “The

Framework” below. It was determined that the simplest yet most effective avenue for

publishing the beta version online was by utilizing Zoho Creator, a form creator

available through the Zoho Corporation. The database framework was transferred to a

functional web interface where a web link was created to give employers online

access. To validate development to date, the finalized online database was sent to

the focus group where their feedback and data entries were collected. Minor changes

prevailed, and the database went live to community employers in Timmins on February

20th, 2018 using the reach of the Chamber of Commerce business member directory.

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Outcomes

The Framework. The purpose of the focus group was to establish questions that would

be asked of employers utilizing the Employer Database, within the capabilities of the

program. The project team began with a list of suggested criterion, which included:

Each criterion was analyzed from the standpoint of an employer using the database as

well as the perspective of a computer programmer responsible for building the

relational matching program.

The first Excel draft of the database relied on typing responses, something that is prone

to human error, including spelling mistakes. For this reason, in the beta version on Zoho

Creator, the queries were changed to either a drop down or multi-select option where

the next query was determined based on the response of the previous field. Some

queries were unanimously agreed upon to be too specific as to warrant a match and

others were believed to be too vague in that there would be no real grounds for a

match to prevail; these criteria were reviewed and debated until solutions prevailed.

On a macro level, it had to be determined how a developer will program an algorithm

to make a match that any human being in charge of the process would immediately

acknowledge exists. The finalized queries are outlined below:

Type Needed or Offering

Is this employer seeking an employee to fill a

non-full-time position within their

establishment or does this employer have a

non-full-time employee and is looking to

share their time with another employer.

Category National Occupational Classification

Using formulated categorical drop-down

menus, employers can select the

appropriate industry to be used as a

variable in the relational process of

matchmaking.

Languages Required

Physical Restrictions

Benefits Available

Location of Employment

Workload

o Seasonal

o Part-time Days

o Part-time Hours

o As Required

Time Frame for Availability

o Hours of Operation

Wage Scale

o $14/hr – 20$/hr

o $20/hr - $40/hr, etc.

Skills

o Licenses ( + Class Licenses)

o Trades

o Role

o Certification

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Job Title Enter Specific Title

This piece of information serves only one

purpose: to ease frustration of employers

who do not find their specific job title in the

previous categorical drop-down menus. An

employer may wish to specify that their

general labourer is a tire technician or tree-

planter. However, the database only sees a

general labourer with transferable skills.

Languages

English, French, Cree, Ojibwe, Other

As the first query with emphasis on

personnel skills, employers can select that,

for example, they require a prospectively

matched receptionist to speak certain

languages or conversely, an employer can

select languages in which their offered

employee is fluent.

Education

None, High School, College, University

What level of education does the employer

require the prospectively matched

employee to have obtained or similarly

what level of education has this employee

completed?

Driver’s Licenses Select All that Apply

Employers must select the licenses they

require a prospectively matched employee

to possess or conversely, the driver’s licenses

their employee currently possesses.

Certification/Trade Ticket Yes or No

For the selected position, it must be

determined whether the prospectively

matched employee will need to be certified

(ex. a plumber has their certificate of

qualification) or similarly an employer will

select whether an offered employee has

certification or not.

Timeframe

Part-time Hours, Seasonal, As Required

A match is made when there is an

employer seeking labour for the period that

supplements the missing share in full-time

employment.

Workload

Part-time Hours: Scaled 0-25hrs/week in

increments of 5 hours

Seasonal: Select all seasons that apply

As Required: Specify in the comments

Comments or Special Requirements

Explain any extenuating circumstances

regarding the position currently sought or

the position held.

Options

Two matched employers can hire an employee together and create an

arrangement to share their time

An employer who already has an employee can share this employee’s time

with another matched employer

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Using data collected from the focus group, the project team dismantled the framework

and implemented changes to criteria as described below.

Languages Required

In the beta version of the database, this field was entitled “Bilingualism” and could be

answered with yes or no. Later realizing that some positions in the community required

other languages, the field was changed to “Languages” and offered a multi-select

option including English, French, Cree, Ojibwe and Other (to be specified).

Benefits Available

The availability of employer benefits had no weighting on the development of a match

and was removed for a variety of reasons. The relational database developed in the

final phase of the project will make a match determined by various ranking and

relational attributes that were determined throughout the pilot project. With this future

automated database, a match will be made, those involved will be notified, provided

with all necessary information and at that point, the database has fulfilled its

responsibilities. It was determined that a discussion between the two employers

regarding whether benefits are available and who is to pay what portion of benefits is a

discussion to be had following the match and that information is something employers

should not be privy to before this discussion. For this reason, and for simplicity’s sake,

the benefits field was removed as a determining criterion.

Workload (including proposed timeframe for availability)

Part-Time

Days

Originally combined with part-time hours in the Excel draft, part-time days was

to be specified by typing in a field the days and hours an employee was

needed or being offered. In the future relational database, these entries must

be definitive statements for the automated database to determine if there is a

match for the period that supplements the missing share of full-time hours. For

this reason, part-time days was adapted to offer a selection of 1-4 days per

week and a follow-up question asking if this number of days selected includes

weekends. When the database was sent to the focus group for feedback,

there was confusion surrounding the variable nature of the number of days

including or not including Saturday or Sunday. The option of part-time days

was eliminated and replaced with strictly part-time hours where matched

employers can determine between themselves which days in a week they will

receive the individual.

Part-Time

Hours

As mentioned above, part-time days and hours were originally combined.

When typing in the field was determined to be ineffective for a computer

programmer in the final phase of the project, it was entertained to allow the

selection of days and selection of working hours, for example, Monday 8:30am-

12:30pm. This selection process was too definitive, and matches would have to

align exactly with working hours, reducing the likelihood of successful matches.

Part-time hours transitioned into a selection of morning, afternoon, evening and

night shift where it was later changed to hourly selections due to varying

definitions of morning, afternoon, and so on. Part-time days was joined with

part-time hours once again to offer a selection scaled 0-25hrs/week in

increments of 5 hours.

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Seasonal In the beta version of the database, a seasonal selection could be specified by

needing or offering an individual for the Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer. For

some period, it went unacknowledged that employers may need or offer an

employee for both the Fall and Winter or any other combination of the four

seasons. This field was quickly adapted to allow a multi-selection of seasons,

however varying definitions of the months included within these seasons

changed the selection process to a new monthly multi-select option.

As Required As required was reserved for special circumstances regarding the nature of

scheduling and is to be explained using a textbox. This field has remained

unchanged throughout the pilot project.

Skills

In the Excel draft, the specification of licenses, trade tickets and certifications were

combined into one column listing these skills and providing a text box beside each to

explain. Populating lists for each of these above-mentioned criteria proved to be

cumbersome, and for this reason, the queries were sub-divided as follows:

Physical Restrictions

This criteria suggestion from the focus group was named “Comments or Special

Requirements” and is reserved for explaining special circumstances.

Location of Employment

For the pilot study, participants were limited to only the Timmins area. However, the

location field now includes all eight communities within the FNETB region.

Education Certification in the Excel draft was mentally defined as “what certifies an

individual to be in this role.” This certification could have been a university

degree, a trade certificate or a college diploma. The education field was

developed to give employers the opportunity to indicate the highest level of

education required in the position, or conversely, obtained by their employee

being offered. Employers had the option of choosing no education, a high

school diploma, college diploma or university degree. The list of possible

degrees or diplomas is too long, and matched employers can extrapolate the

degree or diploma associated with the job title and industry.

Driver’s

Licenses

This field was originally divided into two fields entitled “Driver’s Licenses” and

“Other Class Licenses” without the realization that the Ontario licensing classes

build upon each other to some degree and for a large majority of these

classes, an individual cannot have one without the other. For example, an

individual with an AZ/DZ license must have first obtained their G class driver’s

license. This field is a multi-select that includes all Ontario drivers’ licenses.

Certification/

Trade Ticket

This field now clearly asks employers whether the prospectively matched

employee will need to be certified (ex. a plumber has their certificate of

qualification) or similarly an employer will select whether their employee being

offered has certification or not. Listing all certifications/qualifications is too

lengthy, so the certification field is a selection of yes or no, and the type of

certification can be either specified in the special requirements field or inferred

by the matched employer by looking at the job title.

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Wage Scale

The wage scale was set by those involved in the focus group with the intention of

ensuring matched employers were within the same wage range for the specified

position. It was later determined that the wage being paid to the individual is

something to be discussed after a match has been made, and for this reason, the field

was removed entirely.

Job Title

The job title field served the purpose of typing the exact title of the position. For

example, a general labourer in the forestry field may be called a tree planter, however

the database only sees a general labourer with transferable skills. It was entertained to

populate a list of job titles that could be narrowed alphabetically based on the

characters entered (ex. l-a-b would show labourer or lab technician). However, this list

would be too large and would discourage employers from using the database.

Job Title Categories

The Excel draft of the database was lacking a systematic process of choosing a job title

based on categories. This process eliminates the occurrence of human error or misspelt

words. The future database developer can draw relational ties between industries and

positions. For example, a tree planter and a tire technician can be a match because

those positions are termed as general labour and individuals in those positions have

transferable skills. Using the National Occupational Classification (herein NOC), a tree

or network diagram can be drawn, and a developer can use this visual to connect

certain jobs that are deemed to have transferable skills. As another example, the NOC

separates a barista and a cashier. However, an individual can be trained to perform

tasks for both occupations. Furthermore, a payroll clerk in one branch of this network

diagram and a general office receptionist in another have transferable skills: a

receptionist can be trained to do requisitions or submit payroll. In the final database

housed on the Zoho Creator platform, employers must select their most relevant NOC

industry category. If the full NOC categorical drop-down menus were utilized, an

employer would have to select the job title through four categorical drop-down menus

at most, a process that is too cumbersome.

Employer Information and Confidentiality

Employers were asked to provide their company name, contact name, email and

phone number, address of employment, postal code and city. All information, both for

the position and the employer, remained confidential and was only shared with a

matched employer once permission was granted.

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Phase 2

Marketing

Following the development of the framework for the Employer Database and

receiving validation from members of the focus group, the database was

launched with the Chamber of Commerce in the form of an email on

February 20th, 2018. On this day, an article was written on MyTimminsNow,

and the database found a temporary home through a link on the Chamber

of Commerce website.

The Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) was contacted on

February 28th, 2018 and a link to the database was placed on their website’s

rotating dashboard where it remained for the duration of the pilot project.

On March 12th, 2018, the Downtown Timmins Business Improvement

Association (BIA) launched the database to their members, reaching 340

people at 257 businesses through email and 256 people on Facebook. After

a short period, the BIA sent a reminder email (March 19th, 2018).

The FNETB distribution list consisting of 124 Timmins businesses was also used in

an attempt to attract employers with an email sent on March 14th, 2018.

Following each differentiated marketing campaign, a surge in the number of

entries entered into the database was witnessed, with no one campaign

proving to create a substantial surge in comparison to another.

Assisting in efforts to attract employers, a Timmins Press brief was released by

the Chamber of Commerce on March 29th, 2018 introducing readers to the

concept of the database.

In partnership with the Cochrane District Social Planning Council (CDSPC), on

May 2nd, 2018, an information session was held for service providers wishing to

utilize the employee sharing capabilities of the database. Marketing for the

event reached 850 people within the Cochrane district, and 14 people

representing different local not-for-profits attended.

At the FNETB Working Together Conference on March 24th, 2018, the tool and

concept were presented to community service providers, and their use or

referral of the service was encouraged.

On May 30th, 2018, the Chamber of Commerce performed a second

marketing push to their business member directory, and the TEDC also

assisted in the sharing of information throughout their network.

February

March

May

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On June 14th, 2018, Employer Database researchers were invited to present

the concept to local business owners at the Chamber of Commerce

Quarterly Member Meeting.

Following this presentation, radio stations 92.1 Rock and Kiss 99.3, Timmins

Today and MyTimminsNow wrote detailed news articles explaining the

concept of the database and provided an update on the pilot project

progress to date. CTV News also interviewed project partners and delivered

a comprehensive story about the database pitching its benefits to local

employers.

On July 12th, the project team had the opportunity to present the Employer

Database to approximately 120 local business owners at the Chamber of

Commerce annual golf tournament. Throughout this event, the team also

spoke one-on-one with individual businesses as they waited to tee-off at the

refreshment stand. This event overall provided employers with an update as

to successes thus far throughout the duration of the pilot project and also

provided indication as to the future direction and new home of the retention

tool post-pilot.

Standard Operating Procedure for Manual Matching

The project team developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Manual

Matching to facilitate smooth partnerships between employers and their matched

employees. The developed SOP steps include:

Step 1

Once a match is confirmed, both employers are contacted separately through email,

congratulated on being matched, and asked if they would like to move to the next

step in the process.

Step 2

If both employers wish to move to the next step in the matching process, they are

contacted individually over the phone, and the process is described in detail. At this

time, researchers also explain the concept of the database and its benefit to employers

and employees. The employer on the line has the opportunity to ask any questions

relating to the matching process, and researchers can further analyze the situation to

determine whether a match is indeed plausible. Note: during this conversation,

employers may state they already filled the non-full-time position in question or

clarification on the concept of the database has led them to retract their entry

because they believed this database was a hiring tool for full-time positions.

Step 3

After speaking individually with each employer, the project team arranges a

conference call with both employers involved to confirm the employee skill match and

work towards crafting a potential sharing arrangement. Each employer presents how

they would like to proceed, and through negotiation, an amicable solution will

July

June

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hopefully present itself with the structuring of a timeshare schedule emerging. Various

courses of action for implementation of this arrangement are to be discussed, and

employers leave the conference call with action items, a working business relationship

and each other’s contact details.

Step 4

Following the creation of an employee sharing arrangement, researchers schedule a

follow-up conversation with each employer to determine if action items have been

executed and to provide any further required assistance.

Refining the Pitch

The development of specific terminology used to describe the concept of the

database was crucial in ensuring those utilizing the tool understood the process,

outcome and underlying impact of a sharing arrangement. The largest barrier in

successfully attracting employers wishing to utilize the tool lied in the language used to

pitch the concept to the employer. Outlined below is a table of vocabulary, which

throughout the pilot project, was deemed ineffective in both labelling and explaining

this concept.

Original

Terminology Why not?

Suitable

Terminology

Community Co-op

Employment

Inventory

As the original project title developed in

response to the FNETB call-for-proposal, this title

may be interpreted as an initiative with ties to

cooperative education placements or

consumer cooperatives, two completely

unrelated topics to the research theme.

Employer

Database

Part-time, seasonal

and contract

positions

Rather than indicating separately the positions

to which this tool is tailored, part-time and

seasonal positions were referred to as non-full-

time positions. It was recognized that the tool

did not cater to pairing employers seeking or

offering contract employees as there are

multiple private and public sector entities for

which their main operational activity is to

arrange the hiring of contract personnel for

local companies. Also, non-full-time stressed to

employers considering the tool that this

database is not for the posting of full-time

positions like a typical online recruitment portal.

Non-full-time

positions

Custody

arrangement

This term “custody” was originally used to

describe the sharing of employees in a nature

similar to that of legally bound parental

responsibility arrangements. Due to differing

perceptions of the term “custody,” researchers

refrained from using this word.

Sharing

agreement or

arrangement

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Marriage of

employers

In the infancy of this pilot project, the term

“marriage” was used to explain the concept as

a relationship matchmaking service for

employers. For similar reasons as above, we

moved away from this terminology.

Partnership of

employers

Contractually-

bound

When explaining, for example, a seasonal

employee sharing arrangement, it was stated

both verbally and in text that employers would

be “contractually-bound” to receive the

human capital desired during their high-season.

This term struck employers as overly legal and

implied further difficulty in the process of being

matched and eventually sharing an employee.

Agreed upon

or sharing

agreement/

arrangement

Full-time

employment

There are differing opinions as to the definition

of “full-time employment” and employers can

accidentally form the impression that the tool

will guarantee full-time employment and its

benefits. When used verbally or in a sentence,

one is to say “the potential to secure full-time

hours,” as a match does not guarantee full-time

hours but simply offers additional hours.

Additional

hours or

include

“potential”

Worker

When stating worker rather than employee, it

was common for employers to associate worker

with more labour-intensive occupations,

whereas an employee is generalized to all

occupations and industries.

Employee

Success Stories & Feedback

In one sharing arrangement, a hotel and cleaning company collaborated to provide

an individual with additional hours above and beyond what either business could

respectively provide alone. The hotel was in need of a customer service person on an

as required basis and the cleaning company required a residential cleaner for 5-10

hours/week. Both local small businesses were ready to hire and agreed to share

resumes received for each job posting as well as offer to interviewed employees the

opportunity to obtain additional hours with their matched employer.

In another arrangement, a forestry company and outdoor recreation company were

partnered to share multiple employees to provide these individuals with year-round

employment. The forestry company requires six full-time employees during the summer

months, and the outdoor recreation company requires six full-time employees during

the winter months. Rather than laying-off during respective low seasons and re-

hiring/hiring new employees before their high-demand seasons, these employers will

collaborate to share their seasonal employees.

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“Our employment consultants are very excited about this newly developed

program! We refer employers seeking part-time and seasonal personnel to the

database as well as encourage part-time employed clientele to speak to their

employers about being shared with another local business should they wish for

additional hours. We help job seekers find sustainable employment and

employers find suitable employees - this database can certainly help us in

accomplishing those goals.

~ Jessica Lafreniere

Employment Options Emploi

“I was particularly interested in this project from the very beginning as it provides

a unique solution to employee retention issues facing local employers across all

industries. I was actually a member of the original focus group and answered

the Chamber’s call to provide input as a local business owner.

My only main concern: say for example, we have a great employee, but we

cannot offer them full-time hours during the winter so we offer this employee to

Employer X so they can work full-time during our slower season influenced by

weather. With this sharing arrangement, we would then get our employee back

at the beginning of our high-season, being the summer, but my concern lies

here: what if Employer X realizes our employee is the best, they make our

employee an offer they cannot refuse and we lose our great employee that we

kindly offered to fill their need. What protects us as employers offering our

employees? Is the solution an honour code? Certainly if this was to happen,

myself as an employer, I would not be sharing with this matched employer

again and would have hesitation in being paired with another employer when

offering another one of my great employees.

I can also see the possibility of issues arising involving the offering of benefits

between two seasonal employers. For example, if we offered eye coverage,

my matched employer offered dental and the employee we hired together

was in need of eye coverage while working his/her season with the matched

employer. Unfortunately, due to the timing of this need, that coverage could

be something that perhaps we could not offer this employee, and likewise the

opposite scenario. Is there a solution to provide the same benefits to this

employee year-round and not have different offerings depending on his/her

seasonal employment?”

~ Stéphane Côté

Timmins Building Supplied Home Hardware

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“The database provides a great opportunity for employers that can benefit

from sharing part-time personnel, however unfortunately sharing employees is

something that we can’t exactly do, just due to the level of expertise required

in our sales and service departments. Our employees, whether full-time or

part-time must attend unique training tailored to our industry and tailored to

our specific products we sell and service as well. There aren’t necessarily

many individuals that would have these transferable skills required in our job

descriptions. Down the road, perhaps we would look at hiring part-time

labourers on a job-by-job basis or look into a sharing arrangement for

reception as we pride ourselves on personable service rather than

automated telephone and we ensure someone always greets customers

when they walk into the store.”

~ Larry Gubbels

Wyatt Image Solutions

“We have to get our local employers thinking outside the box, this program is not

status-quo. This sharing of employees is against-the-grain of what employers have

typically done in the past so it is important that they think differently and be

receptive to new ideas, especially ones with such great potential benefits.

Matches also aren’t necessarily made within an employer’s industry, matches are

made looking at personnel skills and I think this must be explained to employers as

some may have the misconceived notion that they are sharing with their

competition, something they may not want to do and therefore they decide they

do not want to use the tool. Matches are formed when it becomes apparent that

skills in one position can be easily transferred or adapted to another: a skill match,

not a match based on a job title as some employers may believe. I think it is

important that we understand this is changing the mind-set of employers, and it is

going to take some time where it is really the success of one that will make the

difference in that growth of adoption by employers. People like to copy, they

don’t like to be the first person to try something new. This is why I am going to say it

is important to market the tool through success stories in order to establish that

track record which will encourage use. ‘If it worked for them maybe it will work for

me’ – I think it is important that this message is delivered employer-to-employer.”

~ Noella Rinaldo

Downtown Timmins Business Improvement Association (BIA)

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Phase 3

The third and final phase of the pilot project will see the integration of a web interface

with an automated relational database system and reporting engine capable of

creating matches through the use of algorithms. NEOnet is responsible for this portion of

the project and has successfully obtained a Venture Centre Development grant to

support the implementation of the relational database tool. Clark Communications

was hired and tasked with programming the database and developing the web portal

with assistance from NEOnet and project team. Clark, of North Bay, Ontario recently

developed the FNETB’s Explore Your Options job portal so their familiarity with FNETB

delivery platforms will be of benefit to future recommended integration of the two

employment portals. The implementation of the automated database is set to be

completed by August 31st, 2018.

“The Employer Database offers our community employers a huge opportunity to

increase their efficiency through collaboration and the formation of partnerships.

Innovative, new ideas often require extra propulsion, time and effort to be

successful. In bringing planning to action, I believe the Employer Database

encountered what is common with abstract ideas, this being hesitancy and

reluctance from desired users in utilizing the service. The database must build

momentum and become embedded in an organization as an asset in recruitment

and retention in order to be considered sustainable. The controller of the

database must allot the required capacity, this being an enthusiastic individual

tasked with engaging employers using a personable approach and marketing the

tool based on benefits to the employer rather than features of the tool. An

individual in this position for a lengthy period of time would be responsible for

transmitting benefits of adoption, holding the hands of employers when

implementing a sharing arrangement and checking-up post-partnership

formation. This will exhibit to employers the ease and advantage of sharing

employees. During the pilot phase of the database, this individual did exist but

was limited in proving the sustainability of the database as the time required to do

so more than supersedes the length of the pilot. Should an individual in this

position cease to exist in the future, there is potential for the database to mature

and dissolve. Perhaps these responsibilities can be allocated to the workload of

an individual within the controlling organization?”

~ Anne Vincent

Project Coordinator, Youth Wellness Hub

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The Pilot Project Inventory

English,

50%

English &

French,

44%

English, French

& Cree, 6%

Languages Required/Spoken

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Part-time Seasonal As

Required

Timeframes

Required/Availible

Number of Entries

None, 28%

High School

Diploma,

39%

College

Diploma,

22%

University

Degree,

11%

Highest Level of Education

Required/Attained

None

Required,

56%

G License,

39%

AZ License, 5%

Drivers Licenses

Required/Held

17 Needed

1Offering

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Business, Finance, Administrative

Natural and Applied Sciences

Education, Law, Social and Government Services

Art, Culture, Recreation, and Sport

Sales and Service

Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators

Natural Resources and Agriculture

Number of Entries by NOC Category

Number of Entries by NOC Category

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Yes

No

Certification Required/Obtained

Certification

Required/Obtained

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Recommendations

Upon completing the scope of the pilot project, recommendations for future use of the

Employer Database tool are outlined below.

i. The project team recommends that The Far Northeast Training Board (FNETB)

continues to offer the functional Employer Database as an employee retention

tool to local Timmins employers, as well as open access to all other communities

within their region.

ii. As the controller of the tool post-pilot, the FNETB is advised against using the

original terminology referenced in “Refining the Pitch” as these terms were

proven to negatively affect the response rate of employers as well as their

comprehension of the concept.

iii. To drastically increase the number of employers utilizing the tool’s capabilities,

the controller of the tool should focus marketing efforts on campaigns depicting

a successful match of local employers. Let the sense of complacency created

through observation of others’ success drive adoption of the tool.

iv. If post-pilot adoption lags, appoint an enthusiastic individual to perform face-to-

face marketing at an employer’s establishment. As proven, through

conversation, the employer will fully understand the process, outcome and

underlying impact of a sharing arrangement created by the Employer

Database. An employer becoming a frequent user of the database is directly

contingent on their first introduction to the concept where all benefits are

evident, concerns addressed and hesitation by nature in response to new,

eliminated. This first introduction to the concept is most effective using direct

marketing.

v. Marketing should focus on perceived benefits to employers rather than features

of the tool. As an attractant, content modelling the database as a business

improvement tool would bode well in stimulating interest with an attached call-

to-action. Once benefits are demonstrated and employers navigate to the

online database, the features, or concept can be stated and understood.

vi. It is recommended that the FNETB integrate the Employer Database as an

offering on their JobsIn websites. With this integration, ~650 employers will have

access to sharing non-full-time employees, and conversely, the database will

receive this exposure. When posting for a job, if an employer selects part-time or

casual (as required in database), a pop-up should be queued asking the

employer if he/she would also like to enter the information into the Employer

Database. At this point, the automated relational database will seek a match

for the entered position. If no match is to prevail immediately, the data entry will

stay within the database awaiting a partnership.

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Conclusions

The Employer Database answers the call from the Timmins Workforce Committee and

delivers a comprehensive solution to non-full-time employee retention issues faced by

local employers. With every seasonal employer match successfully made, there is a

higher potential to reduce the largest percentage of separations, being temporary lay-

offs of seasonal staff accounting for 23% of all separations. With planned non-full-time

employee hires averaging greater than 50% over a three-year span, this innovative

approach for the retention of non-full-time employees is necessary, and its concept

now demonstrated and proven to be successful. This pilot project has established a

collaborative, engaging and co-supportive employer relationship model that should be

adapted to all Northern Ontario labour markets.

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References

Far Northeast Training Board 2016 EmployerOne Report. Accessible at:

https://fnetb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Final-FNETB-2016-employerone-

report.pdf

Far Northeast Training Board 2017 Employer Survey Results. Accessible at:

https://fnetb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/FNETB-2017-Employer-Survey-

Results.pdf

Statistics Canada Business Register - Custom Data Set generated in May 2018. Service

Canada.