As Canadian retailers gear up for the fall and winter shopping season, several macro-level news have recruitment leaders on pause. For talent acquisition teams in but not limited to: Luxury Retail, Automotive, Grocery, Ecommerce, Operations, Contact Centres, and Brick & Mortar; the C-suite is likely reevaluating hiring budgets and resource expansion/constraints. Which macro-level news are we referring to? 

1. Bank of Canada cuts key interest rate to 4.25%. 
2. Federal government to restrict Temporary Foreign Workers 

Bank of Canada cuts key interest rate to 4.25%

We’ve discussed this a lot in The Hourly Minute, as this 3rd straight rate cut has been highly anticipated the past few months. Bank of Canada states the purpose of this latest rate cut is to support weaknesses in the economy; particularly in the labour market. Unemployment in Canada has risen to 6.4% in June and July, with most of Canada’s youth accounting for most of it. 

Don’t wait. Assess your talent pipeline needs proactively

The speculation is discretionary spending may increase for Canadian retailers, as Q4 includes the holiday shopping season. For Canadian retailers, now’s the time to assess your talent pipeline needs, re-engage with past candidates, and keep your employer brand top-of-mind. The worse case scenario is getting news of sudden open roles (we’ve seen this in the past), and have to start sourcing and screening candidates from scratch. The goal is to start creating a responsive talent pool as soon as possible. Do you have an average seasonal turnover rate available? What happened the previous year? If you’re expecting some level of turnover, now’s the time to keep the talent pipeline full. This is especially important for retailers needing to make high-volume hires for the same job categories. 

Increased hiring budgets? You’re in luck. Quickly audit your recruitment process today.

If you’re lucky and your organization is increasing Q4 hiring budgets; now’s the time to complete an audit of your current recruitment process (it doesn’t have to be complicated) and make the business case for increased resources. Why? We don’t know when the next budget increase will be. 

Are your recruiters at capacity or is your recruitment tech stack underwhelming? Do you need help with sourcing, screening, in-depth competency-based assessments, or interviewing? Is your team shortstaffed, but there isn’t enough budget to grow the team? Now’s the time to explore alternative retail recruitment solutions. Several Canadian retail staffing agencies offer inexpensive solutions such as job packs, team augmentation, or even full-service recruitment (RPOs). These retail staffing solutions allow you to pick and choose additional support wherever it is needed in the recruitment process. But, you can’t hire the right help without knowing where your team needs help. 

Federal government to restrict TFW hires

In the past few years, several thousand Canadian organizations have employed Temporary Foreign Workers to make up for the labour shortage, but that could be dwindling down very soon. The federal government announced new restrictions effective Sept. 26 that applications for low-wage TFW in regions with an unemployment rate of six percent or higher will be rejected. We suspect that more restrictions will come, as public sentiment against the program have increased. 

Consider decreasing reliance on TFWs and hire Canadian

This will not only have an impact on the retail recruitment industry, but also construction, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, agriculture, and more-as over 50 sectors currently hire over 200,000 TFWs. For retailers relying on TFW, now’s the time to assess for the future and consider rebuilding your talent pipeline in Canada ahead of the holiday season. Yes, TFW allows for lower wages and stronger margins, but it may not be worth the risk to your employer brand. With the federal government looking to restrict this program, it is recommended that talent acquisition teams slowly transition their hiring strategy from TFW to Canadian. 

Continued Usage of TFW Will Risk Harm On Your Employer Brand 

It’s hard to find public sentiment of TFW on mainstream news website, but a little in-depth research into popular Canadian forums (Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, Slack, etc) will uncover that Canadians are starting to boycott brands that heavily rely on TFW. To be frank, it is often associated with employers hiring TFW to avoid paying Canadian employees living wages. A recent investigative article on Canadian retail powerhouse, Lululemon revealed it will stop its Vancouver expansion if it can’t hire foreign workers. This is a developing situation that has garnered negative press from local customers. For talent acquisition leaders, now may be the time to voice boardroom support of hiring local. After all, only we know the power and impact of a strong and weak employer brand.