2016 EmployerOne Survey Report

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Collecting Hamilton’s real-time local labour market information Looking for the most up-to-date information on Hamilton’s labour market? The EmployerOne survey provides a snapshot of labour demand in Hamilton. It includes the latest information, based on employer experiences through 2015 on:

RECRUITMENT | SKILLS AND EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK | KEY FINDINGS In 2013, Workforce Planning Hamilton implemented an annual survey to collect information from local employers. It was known as the Hire Learning Survey and in 2015, the survey was renamed the EmployerOne survey to align with the other Workforce Planning Boards across Ontario. Each board asks similar questions which are mostly the same year to year.

This year, the EmployerOne survey was fully completed by 144 employers and their answers help us better understand our local labour market and its specific needs such as current and future hiring needs, skill and educational requirements, recruitment difficulties, and other labour market challenges.

We would like to thank all of the employers who completed the survey as well as our partners: Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, City of Hamilton, employment service providers, and many others. Without all their contributions and support, this report would not be possible.

The survey will be released every January so that we can track emerging trends over time.

WHO COMPLETED THE SURVEY? A total of 144 employers in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) region completed the survey. The region includes municipalities from Hamilton, Burlington, and Grimsby. Through a targeted and systematic approach, the responses represent virtually every sector and employer size in the local economy.

SHARE OF EMPLOYERS BY WORKFORCE SIZE

1 to 4

5 to 9

10 to 19

20 to 49

50 to 99

22%

18%

15%

18%

9%

We had a DIVERSE REPRESENTATION of EMPLOYERS from virtually all sectors and sizes.

INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN (% OF RESPONDENTS)

10%

Construction

6%

Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services

9%

Health Care and Social Assistance

5%

Educational Services

9%

Other Services (except Public Administration)

4%

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing

1%

1%

1%

0%

0%

Utilities

13%

8%

6%

Manufacturing

Retail Trade

3%

Arts, Entertainment and Recreation

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

Accommodation and Food Services

3%

Information and Cultural Industries

4%

IS YOUR ORGANIZATION A START-UP? (started in the last five years)

Slightly greater than ONE in SIX employers are start-ups among the employers surveyed.

9%

500+

5%

17%YES 83%NO

TYPES OF EMPLOYMENT

7% 15% 77%

CONTRACT

PART-TIME

FULL-TIME

3%

Wholesale Trade

15%

100 to 199 200 to 599

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting

Management of Companies and Enterprises

Finance and Insurance

Public Administration

1%

Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction

1%

Transportation and Warehousing

100% TOTAL

Of the 144 employers who completed the survey, the vast majority indicated that they have mostly full-time staff on board. Most industries have a high share of full-time workers; however these sectors have higher shares of part-time/contract workers: Accommodation and Food Services (79%); Educational Services (54%); Healthcare and Social Assistance (31); Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services (30%)

www.workforceplanninghamilton.ca

RECRUITMENT HOW DO YOU RATE THE AVAILABILITY OF QUALIFIED WORKERS IN HAMILTON?

8%

12% EXCELLENT

33%

42% GOOD

38%

30%

HIRING AND SEPARATIONS The 2016 EmployerOne survey revealed that 69% of employers experienced separations in 2015.

‘Separations’ refers to quits, retirements, layoffs and other forms of termination.

55% of all separations were due to people quitting, followed by 16% of separations through retirement. Most separations were seen by production workers (43% of all separations were production workers).

21%

77% of the quits were by production workers, service workers and professionals.

14% 16%

59%

55%

of the retirements were by: trades people, production workers and professionals.

SHARE OF SEPARATIONS l Other l Dismissals l Perm. Layoffs

FAIR

7% 8%

l Temp. Layoffs l Retirements l Quits

16% POOR

l 2015 EmployerOne l 2016 EmployerOne

54% of employers rate the availability of qualified workers in Hamilton as good or excellent. Overall, the ratings have improved year over year.

5

This is the first year that social media recruitment made it to the top 5 recruitment methods.

ALL EMPLOYERS experienced hiring and separations last year.

More people were hired in 2015 than those who left their jobs: Separations: 69% Hires: 83%

TOP RECRUITMENT METHODS Word of mouth/ personal contacts/referrals/ informal networks Online job boards/postings Company’s own internet site Social Media Unsolicited Resumes

73% 61% 44% 35% 35%

As with previous years, WORD OF MOUTH continues to be the most popular recruitment method amongst employers.

66% of all hires in 2015 were for full-time positions.

82% of employers experienced recruitment challenges in 2015; with close to 1/3rd finding recruitment very challenging.

2015

2016

32%

VERY CHALLENGING

31%

58%

SOMEWHAT CHALLENGING

51%

19%

NOT AT ALL CHALLENGING

18%

Construction, Manufacturing, and Healthcare industries were more likely to say they found recruitment VERY CHALLENGING. Retail trade, Educational Services, and Accommodation and Food Services were more likely to say recruitment was NOT AT ALL CHALLENGING.

SKILLS AND EDUCATION TOP 3 Reasons Employers identified for hard-to-fill positions • Not enough applicants • Lack of qualifications (education level/credentials) • Candidates lacked work experience HARD TO FILL POSITIONS 51% of employers indicated that they had one or more hard-to-fill positions. This is lower than last year when 63% said they had a position that was hard-to-fill. l No

Were any positions hard to fill?

37% 63%

51% 49%

2015 EmployerOne

2016 EmployerOne

TOP THREE COMPETENCIES EMPLOYERS SEEK IN HARD-TO-FILL POSITIONS

49%

33%

55% 21%

20% 4%

OVERALL, TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU EXPECT SKILLS REQUIREMENTS TO INCREASE OVER THE NEXT 5 YEARS? l Significant Extent

l Yes

The top three competencies for hard-to-fill positions showed a slightly different picture. Soft skills are still two out of the top three such as work ethic, but technical skills has become the top competency needed. This means for hard-to-fill positions candidates need good technical and soft skills.

44%

The trend to higher skills requirements continues with 76% of employers anticipating increasing skill requirements by a significant or moderate extent. In fact, about one in five expect skills to increase by a significant extent.

l Moderate Extent

l No Extent

l Small Extent

What is the preferred level of education required for new hires in the following occupation categories?

Occupational Group

High school diploma College Diploma or equivalent or Trades Certificate

University Degree or Higher

Managers and Executives

4%

17%

79%

Professionals

2%

24%

75%

Technical

8%

73%

18%

Trades (Journeypersons)

20%

80%

0%

Apprentices

50%

46%

4%

Sales and Marketing

18%

41%

41%

Administrative and Clerical

27%

61%

12%

Production Workers

77%

17%

7%

Service Workers

52%

33%

15%

Note: University Degree or Higher includes people with a University degree and/or other advanced qualifications.

Work ethic, dedication, dependability

Technical

Teamwork/interpersonal

The manufacturing and construction sectors were more likely to report they had hard-to-fill positions.

THE TOP THREE COMPETENCIES EMPLOYERS SEEK The TOP THREE competencies that were selected by employers were in the soft skills category.

42% Work Ethic, Dedication, Dependability

The top one, WORK ETHIC, DEDICATION, AND DEPENDABILITY was selected among the top three by 42% of employers.

36% Customer Service

33% Communication

• 78% of employers surveyed said they were able to provide or support professional development or training opportunities for their employees last year.

• Technical skills training were the most common types of training.

• Employers said they supported most training by offering it in-house.

University and College students were most likely to receive workplace experiences.

WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS OR JOBSEEKERS 14% 58% 28%

HIGHSCHOOL COLLEGE

37%

40%

38%

32%

UNIVERSITY

ALL employers were seeking candidates with strong soft skills.

22%

23%

33%

30% 44%

JOB SEEKER l Paid Co-op or Internship

l Unpaid Co-op or Internship

l Mentoring

EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK SLOWER GROWTH IN THE UPCOMING YEAR Overall, thinking about just your organization, are the number of employees currently growing, declining or staying about the same?

Declining

Growing Staying about the same

PLANNED HIRES

• In 2016, 69% of employers plan on hiring in the upcoming year • The industries most likely to hire were Manufacturing; Construction; Accommodation and Food Services; Administration and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services; and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services • Hires were mostly because of expansions within the company.

5% 45% 50%

The majority of employers stated that their organization size is staying about the same. This is slightly higher than last year, and we are not seeing an increase in the number of employers stating they are growing.

SUCCESSION PLANNING 35% of employers have a succession plan in place to deal with projected growth and/or retirements over the next 3-5 years. The larger the employer the more likely they are to have a succession plan.

5

55% 45% 52% 48%

less than 20 employees l No l Yes

20 to 99 employees

100 and over employees

All employers with a succession plan in place plan to hire 1-5 employees in the next 3-5 years.

Industrial, Electrical and Construction Trades

Labourers in Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities

DO YOU PLAN ON HIRING ANYONE OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS?

In the 2015 survey 87% of employers indicated that they planned to hire one or more people in 2016. Survey responses in 2016 showed that 83% of employers had hired in the past year.

74% 26%

OCCUPATIONS CITED AS MOST IN DEMAND

BY THE 144 EMPLOYERS

13% 87%

31% 69%

2015 EmployerOne

2016 EmployerOne

l No

53%

of projected hires are for full-time positions

42%

Professional Occupations in Education Services

l Yes

Service Support and Other Service Occupations

Planned hires are down from last year

87% (2015) 69% (2016)

Service Representatives and Other Customer and Personal Service Occupations

are for part-time positions

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE LABOUR MARKET IN 2015 1

Fewer employers stated that they are hiring this year. This can be an indication of an economy that is slowing down.

2

Small businesses are more likely to recruit through unsolicited resumes and word of mouth as opposed to online mediums.

3

Social Media is gaining popularity as a recruitment method with 35% of employers using it.

4

Year after year, employers place a strong emphasis for candidates to have strong soft skills (ie: communications skills, work ethic, professionalism) and the need for increased skills.

5

College Diplomas or Trades Certificates are the most desirable educational background for the majority of jobs with the exception of Managerial, Executive, and Professional positions.

INTERPRETING THE RESULTS OF THE EMPLOYERONE SURVEY The results of the 2016 EmployerOne survey can be used to enrich our knowledge of Hamilton’s current labour market conditions. As with any information, one should always interpret results with caution and use a variety of sources to add validity to the information. For more information about Hamilton’s labour market and to obtain this report in a larger print format, please visit www.workforceplanninghamilton.ca