Money matters when it comes to hiring and retaining staff, particularly in light of predictions of a significant Alberta-wide labour crunch in the coming years.
That’s according to a new labour market review, prepared by the Bow Valley’s Job Resource Centre, which concludes one way businesses can help mitigate staff turnover and improve competitiveness for qualified workers is to adopt a few compensation best practices.
Officials say compensation refers to all kinds of pay and rewards, including direct wages, bonuses and commissions, and indirect benefits such as health and dental benefits, transit passes, ski passes and other perks.
By being strategic in the mix of pay elements offered, Resource Centre staff say employers have the ability to create a work environment in which employees feel satisfied with their jobs and motivated towards the goals of the business.
“When we’re talking about people at entry level, money matters. You’re starting in life at $12 and $14 an hour and it matters. Our employers understand that here,” said Michel Dufresne, director of The Job Resource Centre.
“It’s also very important the employer create a positive work environment, where staff feel good about their job, are having fun, and have some level of satisfaction.”
A newly released Alberta wage and salary survey, which includes information for Banff, showed the median starting wage for a hotel front desk agent and a cook is $12, an administrative assistant is $18, a retail store manager is $22.15 and a carpenter is $27.
On the Job Resource Centre’s job board, the average wage posted for jobs was $15.72 per hour, up 5.6 per cent from $14.89 for the same period last year.
While wages for jobs in trades and labour decreased, this sector offered some of the highest hourly rates at $18.24 per hour on average. Lowest wages were in food and beverage front line at $12.08 an hour, before tips.
The Job Resource Centre’s labour market review concluded that employers that lag the market rates of pay, intentionally or not, run the risk of failing to attract and keep workers. Periodic monitoring of going rates of pay can keep a business competitive.
The review indicated that just as employee compensation can be a strong motivator, it can quickly become a strong disincentive if not administered effectively.
Best practices include following through on promised pay increases and ensuring compensation is internally fair, meaning that two employees should be able to see the logic in terms of experience and level of responsibility, of why one is paid more than the other.
Dufresne said the Job Resource Centre hosted a recruitment and retention workshop for employers on March 26, which was attended by about a dozen employers, to help employers known what employees are looking for.
“It’s basic. It’s 101 – pay and benefits and health and dental benefits, transit passes, ski passes and other perks beyond wages,” he said.
“Some were not thinking of those little things, but those are the things that make the worker feel appreciated and for some reason those are things that are having an affect on retention rates.”
Appropriate and affordable housing is a key factor, too.
The review, which looked at listings in local media, found average base rents in Banff have increased 25 per cent compared to the same time last year, while in Canmore they were 13 per cent higher than the previous years.
The review noted the cost to rent a two-bedroom unit rose 63 per cent in Banff, while average rents for a studio-bachelor unit declined by 21 per cent. In Canmore, the greatest increase was for a three-bedroom unit, for which the average rents climbed by 18 per cent.
There were a total of 715 rental listings in the local media between August 2013 and January 2014. There were more twice as many listings for Canmore (492) as Banff (223).
Dufresne said larger employers would struggle to retain staff if they don’t provide an accommodation package.
“You don’t come to Banff and make $14 an hour and go buy a condo, so housing is very important and if you are a large employer you will be struggling if you don’t provide a nice accommodation package,” he said.
“As far as the market outside of that accommodation package, it’s very tough, not just in Banff, but in Canmore and Calgary.”
Between August 1, 2013 and Jan 31, 2014, the Job Resource Centre received 1,748 job orders from 289 Bow Valley employers for a total of 3,114 positions. Total job orders increased by 41 per cent compared to one year ago. The food and beverage kitchen sector saw the biggest demand, but there were also lots of jobs in trades and labour.
The Bow Valley’s Job Resource Centre is hosting its annual spring hiring fair at Banff’s Cascade Plaza Thursday, May 8, from 2 -4 p.m. and many of the Bow Valley’s top employers will be there to recruit summer, part-time and career positions.
Officials say there is already a labour shortage in the region, but it gets even more difficult for employers in the Bow Valley to retain staff past the end of July and into early August.
“That’s when the tourist season kicks into high gear in numbers in terms of tourism, and then you have a lot of younger workers either going back to school or have itchy feet and want to travel,” said Dufresne. “In August, we don’t have a wave of job seekers like we do in May and June, all coming from universities and colleges, and international travellers.”
