Mid-February highlights for Talent Acquisition Leaders

Hi there,

I can’t believe it’s already February 15th. I hope everyone is having a good start to the month and I welcome you to another edition of The Hourly Minute.

It’s only been a few weeks since our last edition but there’s been a ton of news. I’ll keep this one short and sweet with the most relevant ones and what it means for hourly and high volume hiring in Canada.

🗞️ Headlines 

• 37,000 jobs added to Canada’s economy in January with the majority being part-time roles in wholesale and retail trade. Unemployment rate declines to 5.7%—the first decline since December 2022. Will keep an eye out as Q1 continues.

• It’s Leap Year and that means ensuring your business has documentation in place that accounts for hours worked and hours paid to the employee. Hourly employees should be compensated for all actual hours worked. Salaried employees–check with your employer. 

• Canada updates its own digital nomad program joining over 30 countries that have introduced similar programs. The update? Allow digital freelance work. The goal? Grow the economy and let skilled workers test drive Canada. It’s worth a test. 0.7% of Canada’s population leave to the U.S. every year for higher paying jobs.

• Bank of Canada (BOC) still unsure about rate cuts. The message? Wait and see how the market will respond to its current 5% interest rate. And, give the economy more time to reach its 2% inflation target. Business as usual for hourly and high volume hiring.

✅ TA Tips 

I recently sat down with The Recruitment Flex Podcast to share what we’ve learned at Mindfield from filling over 12,000 hourly and high volume positions last year. They’re a lovely pair who discusses all things recruitment from various recruitment pros. 

It’s always good to step out of our day-to-day and have an energizing chat, and it was a great discussion to hear what they’ve learned as well from speaking to so many HR professionals. 

Here’s some tips we discussed: 

• Keep up to date with provincial and federal compliance and regulation

Everyone in the recruitment industry has been in “go-go-go” mode for the last few years but it’s important for us to take a step back and make sure we’re up to date on all things legal. Labor laws, compliance with regulations, employment standards, and industry-specific regulations are constantly changing in Canada and it’s increasingly important to proactively stay up to date. 

• Be transparent with common workforce concerns 

I’m hearing more candidate anxieties and fears from hourly and high volume workers. Issues such as: wage disparities, job security, and access to benefits are common. Some things you can do to address these fears: be transparent from the get-go on pay, performance expectations, and benefits. Consider investing in employee development and advancement opportunities to foster a positive work culture. Imagine the positive business impact if we have a loyal base of hourly workers for every high-demand season. 

• Adapting to remote and gig work trends 

Remote and gig work trends aren’t exclusive to salaried employees. Even hourly and high volume workers are increasingly seeking flexible work arrangements and oftentimes, this can be the difference between a competitor hiring the candidate or you. Start setting processes so your team can stay agile and adapt either in the recruiting process (like virtual interviews) or on the job.

We’ll wrap it here for today! Feel free to message me if there’s specific topics you want us to dive into. Happy to also get feedback on what you like or don’t like about these updates. With so much going on in our industry, we’re going to try to run these every two weeks and see how it goes. Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin!