THE SOCIAL PROCUREMENT PROCESS

The social procurement process is when organizations use their purchasing power of goods and services to further social, economic, and workforce development goals.

EMBERS Staffing Solutions is a social enterprise that operates using a double bottom line that is both social and economic. When construction companies hire through its temporary staffing service, they receive the added value of contributing towards changing peoples’ lives and building healthier communities, since 100 per cent of EMBERS’ profits go back to support the community and help people reintegrate into the workforce.

In Vancouver, EMBERS is part of an ‘ecosystem’ of players that work together to develop social procurement opportunities, particularly through community benefit agreements. Working together with social agencies, construction companies, and government policy makers towards supporting social procurement processes, allows millions of dollars to be directed at creating social value by targeting purchases from social enterprises such as EMBERS.

EMBERS is a workforce solution that provides construction companies with needed labour, from day one to ongoing, while providing workers with support and the opportunity to advance their careers in construction. It is able to place people in construction-related jobs because of the partnerships it has built with companies that share the same social values and that have a need for its temporary staffing service.

but to complement and be a vehicle to help in providing transitional jobs through our temporary staffing model,” said Nozick. “In 2022, after completing our three-year strategic plan, we decided to move ahead.”

Nozick said they will start off with a branch manager and two staffing specialists in the office and grow its operations as the business grows.

Success Stories

EMBERS has been very successful in attracting construction jobs for the people who come through its doors seeking employment. Annually, it has placed more than 1,400 individuals in primarily construction-related jobs, including hoist operators, skilled and general labourers, carpenters, apprentice plumbers, health and safety officers, traffic controllers, heavy equipment operators, among other positions.

Nozick cites the examples of Michael and Hamad, just two of the thousands of individuals EMBERS has helped:

Michael had been struggling for months without any success to find a job. He was six months clean and sober after having fallen into drug addiction and ending up in the back alleys of the Downtown Eastside. After completing rehab, he was clean and ready to work, but no employer would hire him. He couldn’t explain why he hadn’t worked in eight years. His counselor told him go to EMBERS.

SOUTH

Specializing in commercial roofing & waterproofing for over 37 years him after tragedy struck, which took the lives of all his family. Hamad suffered from high anxiety, but felt he was ready to take baby steps back into work. At first, he could only work a few days a week, but he kept coming back. Gradually, he built up to where he was able to work full-time steady hours. EMBERS helped Hamad to take courses and move up the career ladder.

EMBERS found him a job pushing a broom to start. He was steady, had a great attitude, and soon we helped him to advance with certified skills training as a hoist operator, and later as a health and safety officer. Today, six years later, Michael is an assistant site superintendent with a major construction company. He reconnected with his family, is now remarried, has a two-bedroom apartment, and owns a big Ford truck.

The company he was working with decided to hire him on directly and today, five years later, he is head of health and safety for that company. Today, it is Hamad who calls the EMBERS office to order workers for his site. He told us that EMBERS saved his life. We were his family and work was his therapy.

The Near Future

As for EMBERS’ plan over the next few years, Nozick said they are planning to implement a national expansion strategy for their social enterprise.

“Edmonton is our first location outside of B.C. and, if all goes well, we will be looking at opening a second branch in Calgary,” said Nozick. “From there, we can’t be sure. We are thinking about Toronto, but for now, our focus is on Edmonton and building a very successful social enterprise to meet the demands for labour by customers and helping thousands of people improve their lives through the power of work.” u