The financial impacts of COVID-19
have had a disproportionately larger
effect on women working in the retail
and hospitality trades.
“We’re working hard to create a series
of four- to six-week Employment Express
programs aligned with recovery projects
across Alberta for women who are ready
to move into a career. We give them
some needed upskilling such as getting
necessary training certifications. That
way, should one of our employment
partners get an infrastructure bid, we
can have women ready to work on that
project quite quickly.”
“In my role at WBF,” said Thomson,
“I work with all our industry partners,
communities and Indigenous and
government relations. My passion
W O R K F O R C E S O L U T I O N S
is helping industries understand how
they can leverage social programs to
support both their organization and
society. We know that diversity and
inclusion reinforce business, and that
diverse teams perform differently and
often better.”
Gary Brooks, divisional manager for
Carmacks Maintenance Services Ltd.,
is currently working with WBF for
the first time and has two candidates
going through training to be ready for
employment in September.
“WBF did an overall assessment of
our expectations and workplace,” he
said. “They decided we were a good
candidate for our Edmonton area and
filled us in on some women in their
program. They told us how they make
sure the communication and training
was far above the normal application.
“They were great at finding the right
fit for what we needed, and that was a
big feature for us. We’re always looking
for good operators and spend a lot of
time training our people. So, when WBF
explained how they make sure they find
the right people for the job, we were
very interested.”
With today’s aging workforce and
the potential of workforce shortages,
employers that are attracting only 50 per
cent of the population risk missing out
on success. Partnering with WBF offers
the opportunity to find good employees,
creates a diverse and respectful
workplace and ensures everyone in their
organization can be successful. n
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