Why You Should Consider Staffing from Your Local Labour Pool First

You’ve likely heard that it’s cheaper to keep an existing customer than to sign another one. Well, it’s also cheaper to retrain a current employee than to hire and train a new one.

Over the next five years, however, as the Baby Boomer generation retires, there’s going to be a labour shortage, meaning you’ll have to do a lot of hiring. So, if you have to hire instead of retrain, what are your cheapest options when it comes to onboarding in manufacturing?

Recruit First From the Local Labour Pool

Location, location, location. Although this might be the first rule of real estate, it’s also a key consideration when it comes to hiring. You’re cheapest option will be to hire from the local labour pool if you cannot retrain current employees.

According to a report by the Workforce Development Board (WDB) titled “Technology and Labour in the Local Manufacturing Sector”, hiring outside of the local labour pool costs more time and money for businesses. If there isn’t enough supply locally, then human resources will have to hire based on relocation costs, global wages, and worker location preferences.

You might consider hiring from the local labour pool because it helps the local economy, boosting employment. If there is high employment in your region, it could encourage investment in your facility.

The WDB report also discussed technologies that were most likely to affect current workplaces, the largest of which were improvements to software and upgraded CNC machines. The changes were not monumental, meaning they were unlikely to put anyone out of work. With such incremental changes, the current workforce could be considered for retraining in these new technologies. Rather than looking to hire or recruit from outside the local labour pool, there could be locally skilled workers in these new technologies as well.

EOMWDP Working to Promote Manufacturing

The Eastern Ontario Manufacturing Workforce Development Project (EOMWPD) is managed by the Ontario East Economic Development Commission (OEEDC), which is a collection of local economic development offices and workforce development boards working to promote manufacturing in the region.

Colleges and universities in eastern Ontario are preparing the future workforce for careers in high tech industries, and the EOMWPD is poised to help connect that highly skilled local labour pool with manufacturing plants that need an increased workforce. It’s the EOMWPD’s mandate to identify current and future challenges in recruitment and retention within the eastern Ontario manufacturing sector.

Attracting the Local Labour Pool to Manufacturing

With the help of the EOMWPD, local training programs, and increased awareness of the exciting local careers in manufacturing, it will be much easier to attract local talent to you business. Always consider investing first in your current workforce and searching within the region, before looking outside the local labour pool in order to save yourself time and money.

To understand why it’s difficult to hire young people in manufacturing, start with this Ebook: