British Columbia’s association of human resources management professionals is applauding the “Canada Starts Here” jobs plan unveiled by Premier Christy Clark over the last three days. The British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA) says the plan recognizes British Columbia’s looming skills shortage and outlines steps to create a trained workforce, keep British Columbia companies hiring and the province’s economy moving forward.

“As the association representing the people management aspects of business, we are glad to see this focus on skills training and job creation,” said Ian Cook, CHRP, director, Research and Learning, BC HRMA. “The Premier’s plan addresses several key areas we’ve identified as crucial to helping create a hiring climate in this province.”

Key response from BC HRMA to the Jobs Plan:

• Support for skills training is particularly welcome. On average, BC companies spend less than US companies when it comes to employee development (1.5% of payroll as opposed to 2.2%). Offering support and incentives in this area will help enhance organizational productivity over the medium term.
• There is a current mismatch between the skills required to fill current job positions and the skills possessed by candidates. We believe this plan will help fill those vacancies over the short term.
• We support an approach that is targeted towards specific sectors as the needs of our member employers vary widely based on the labour market dynamics of their industry.
• We look forward to hearing more detail on how government will support employers to hire by reducing red-tape. For many businesses some of the flexibilities and options that Government has afforded them in legislation and the resulting application or reporting requirements are cumbersome. Any reduction in this burden balanced against ensuring all the necessary safeguards are in place for employees is welcome.

For more information, please visit bcjobsplan.ca.