The Atlantic Building Supply Dealers Association held its second annual HR Conference earlier this month, bringing together experts on hiring and recruitment with a room full of dealers looking for ways to cope with the ongoing shortage of available workers. More than 100 people from across Atlantic Canada were in attendance.
“Its a perfect storm of aging demographics and a new generation coming up,” said ABSDA president Denis Melanson in his opening remarks. He added that 34 percent of the population in Atlantic Canada is now 62 years or older, “and we expect to have to hire 4,000 people in the coming years.”
The realities of today’s labour market require employers to consider new Canadians in their hiring. Jordan Remedios, program co-ordinator for the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, talked to the delegates about how to make your workplace more welcoming to new hires, regardless of where they come from. But with new Canadians especially, he said, cultural differences can create confusion in the workplace.
Overcoming that confusion and fostering an environment that enables all workers to share ideas goes a long way to ensuring one’s workplace will reap the benefits of inter-cultural competency, he noted.
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