Why You Should Connect With a Workforce Development Board

As an Ontario East employer, have you ever wanted to: use labour market information (LMI) to help you make hiring decisions; understand the market trends that affect hiring; find funding to help you train or hire employees; get help with recruitment; connect with a local employment service agency; find better ways to support employees who need workplace accommodations or have special needs? 

Have you ever needed help with: succession planning; mental health support in the workplace; health and safety and labour relations resources; implementing DEI policies at work; connecting with educational institutions; career pathway planning?

We’ve got an organization for that!

Enter: your local workforce development board. 

So, What Is a Workforce Development Board, Again?

A workforce development board (WDB) is an organization within a network of federal, provincial, and local government offices that aims to support the economic expansion of a community. The person who works there, a workforce development specialist, will help you do all of the things we’ve listed above. While focusing on the economic growth of the community as a whole, a workforce development board does that by helping local employers succeed. 

Guess What! There’s a Workforce Development Board Near You

• Centre for Workforce Development (Hastings, Prince Edward, and Lennox and Addington Counties)
• Workforce Development Board (Northumberland, Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, and Haliburton)
• Eastern Workforce Innovation Board (Leeds and Grenville, and Frontenac Counties; Township of Loyalist; and the Kingston, Brockville, Gananoque, Prescott, Kemptville, Bath, Cardinal, and Sharbot Lake Communities)
• The Labour Market Group of Renfrew and Lanark (Lanark and Renfrew Counties)

These WDBs will help Ontario East employers:

• access, analyze, and understand labour market information
• implement career pathways for employees, job seekers, and youth
• connect with work placement programs
• upskill their employees
• hire new Canadians and international students
• implement DEI policies and gain access to other inclusion and accommodation workforce resources

To further the impact of workforce development boards in the region, Ontario East created 3 workforce development committees to help employers and stakeholders share their ideas, resources, and solutions for common workforce problems in the region:

1. Join the Skilled Trades Committee
2. Talk talent attraction with the Immigration Committee
3. Share solutions with the Advisory Committee

Essentially, your local workforce development board can do it all and help you and the region succeed. 

Wait? You Still Haven’t Found What You Need?!

If all of the resources and information provided above is still not quite what you need, check out these hiring help resources instead.