New Obligations Arriving for Ontario Employers: Is Your Company Ready?

Bill 18, the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act, 2014, will amend five different labour and employment-related statutes in Ontario, including the Employment Standards Act, 2000.

Employers Must Contribute To The Solution of Youth Unemployment

For almost a decade the youth unemployment has been stubbornly high. The biggest complaint I have heard from recent graduates who cannot find a job is that they are in a catch 22 situation. The problem being that:Employers require experience on entry-level jobs and of course they don’t have the experience.

These grads have tried either volunteering or unpaid internships to get the necessary job experience and all have had varied results. We know for a fact that in many of the internship situations recently, exploitation may have taken place.

In my view, employers that receive all kinds of tax breaks with the goal of creating employment opportunities have a responsibility to ease the transition for recent graduates into the workforce.

I’ve identified three ways they could achieve this objective:

1. If a position is entry-level, don’t ask for experience. Entry-level implies that it is the start and if you ask for experience than it is not a true entry-level position
2. For fresh recruits, employers should create realistic simulations so that the recruits can quickly gain the necessary experience to swiftly become effective in the workplace. Post secondary institutions use simulation for students to acquire valuable knowledge and skills; there is no reason that I can think of that this approach will not work. This should be part of an extended orientation period.
3. Create training programs designed specifically for new workers who have acquired credentials but have no experience.

I am sure HR professionals can think of all kinds of other methods to fill the knowledge and skill gap in the workplace. In my experience, this is a win/win situation:

            For the Employer: The training is specific to its organization and it can be a great retention tool.

            For the Employee: Opportunity to develop the necessary experience and practical knowledge to launch their careers

With Governments currently unable to satisfactorily resolve the skill shortages with the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, while failing to consistently to resolve youth unemployment, employers should take responsibility for these areas and develop their own. They have successfully done it in the past and there is no reason that that they cannot do the same now.

Angelo M Pesce

Partner & Principle Consultant