OutreachtoBusinessesintheBathurstFinchNeighbourhood

SurveyFindings March2011 BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership Introduction The City of Toronto comprises some 140 neighbourhoods which range in socio economic scope. The community of WestminsterBranson, also known as Bathurst Finch,hasbeenidentifiedasaPriorityNeighbourhoodinToronto.ThroughtheCityof TorontosStrongNeighbourhoodsTaskforceandbuildingonresearchconductedbythe United Way of Greater Toronto, Priority Neighbourhoods are areas of Toronto earmarked for increased investment and support in an effort to build safer streets, engaged,activeresidents,andultimately,amoreprosperouseconomy. 1 BathurstFinch is a major immigrantreceiving corridor in Toronto where 70% of the populationareimmigrants.Theneighbourhoodfacessocioeconomicchallengeswhere some41%ofhouseholdsearnlessthan$30,000perannum,thereisahighrateofun andunderemployment,andtherearefewcommunityresourcesavailableinthispocket of the City that serve the denselypopulated area of 24,403 2 . The five most popular languagesspokeninthecommunityareRussian(32%),Tagalog(6%),Korean(4%). The Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) is a community planning exercise focused on understanding the needs and challenges faced by newcomers and the receiving communityinBathurstFinch.Theprojectisfocusedonidentifyingsolutionsinsideand outside the community that will support enhanced newcomer settlement and integration. Local businesses are important stakeholders in the task of building welcoming communities. They play an integral role as they attract industry, infrastructure, and servethosewhowork,playandliveintheneighbourhood. Assuch,theBathurstFinchLIPconductedanoutreacheffortwithlocalbusinessesinthe BathurstFinchneighbourhoodwith3keygoals:

learningabouttheexperiences,needs,andchallengesoftheforprofitsectorin BathurstFinchintheareasofbusinessoperationsandgrowth,humanresource managementandcorporatecitizenship;

1 2

Strong Neighbourhoods: A Call to Action, 2005. United Way of Greater Toronto and the City of Toronto. 2006 Census Data. Statistics Canada.

establishingarapportwithbusinessesinanefforttobringthemintotheprocess ofcollaborativecommunitybuilding; identifying ways in which the forprofit sector might become involved in supportingthesuccessfulsettlementandintegrationofnewcomers.

Method Throughthisengagement,28businesseswereconsultedthroughinperson,onlineand telephone surveys. For the purposes of this activity, a recent immigrant describes someonewhowasbornoutsideofCanadaandhaslivedintheCountryforfiveyearsor less. Mostorganizationscontactedwerereceptivetotheconceptoffosteringwelcomingand inclusivecommunityinitiativesintheBathurstFinchneighbourhood.Beyondasimple deploymentofabulletedsurvey,staffandvolunteerswhoconductedthesurveyswere trained to use the survey tool as a discussion guide rather than a measured telemarketers survey. The tool served as a template into which responses could be inserted, allowing for a conversational approach and the insertion of further dialogue abouttheproject,furtherneedsandexperiencesoftheemployer,etc.Thisapproach was vital to the successful engagement of conversation, and to fostering interest in furtherdiscussionandinsomeinstances,allianceandpartnership. Theresearchwasintendedtoexploresevenkeyissues: 1.Identifylocalbusinessdemographic 2.Recruitmentandhiringdecisionmaking. 3.ThepremiumemployersplaceonCanadianqualificationsandcredentials inhiringdecisions 4.Attitudestowardsyouthhiring 5.Awarenessofdiversityandinclusionchallengesandopportunities 6.Awarenessof/participationinbusinessnetworksandassociations 7.Awarenessof/participationincorporatecitizenshipprogramsandinitiatives To identify respondents, a list of businesses was generated from the Scotts Business DirectoryandYellowPages.ca. Itisimportanttonotethat,whiletheoutreachapproachwasrandom,itistoosmalla sample to be representative of the overall views and opinions of businesses in the BathurstFincharea. www.bflip.ca 2 BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership

Findings Demographics Information about respondents was gathered to gain a picture of who was consulted. Figure 1 shows that the majority of respondents have a local consumer base (48%), followedbythosewithaninternationalconsumerbase(30%)andthoseservingaCity widepopulation(26%). Figure1:CustomerBase The majority of those consulted identified as corporations (56%), followed by sole proprietors(22%)andfamilybusinesses(19%).SeeFigure2. Anoverwhelmingnumberofrespondentswerenotcomfortablesharinginformation abouttheirannualrevenue. Thespreadofemployeeswithinorganizationswasquitebroad: Soleproprietor(4%) Lessthan5(19%) 6to10(22%) 11to25(22%) 26to50(11%) 51to100(4%) Morethan100(19%) BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership
www.bflip.ca

Figure2:BusinessType

Eightypercent(80%)ofrespondentsreportedthattheydidnothaveaunionizedlabour force. Sixtyfour percent (64%) of respondents indicated that they did not have a HumanResourcesoffice. Approximately46%ofrespondentsindicatedthattheirlabourforceismadeupmostly ofskilledlabourers.Thisincludedawiderangeofoccupations,fromPersonalSupport Workers to Laboratory Technicians. Salespeople (27%) and Information/Technology ProgrammersandEngineersfactoredinat15.4%. The variety of industries represented among respondents was staggering. Eleven different industries were represented, ranging from Retail Trade to Healthcare, to Information, Telecommunications, and Cultural Industries (See Figure 3). The most represented industry was Retail Trade (26%), followed by Health Care and Social Assistance (19%), Information, Telecommunications and Cultural Industries (15%) and FinanceandInsurance(15%)ofrespondents.

BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership

www.bflip.ca

Figure3:Industrytypes

BusinessOperations Veryfewrespondentsidentifiedasbelongingtobusinessassociations.Outofthe30% whodid,however,only4%belongedtoanethnicChamberofCommerce,and4%tothe Toronto Board of Trade. Many respondents, upon further questioning, admitted that theylettheirassociationmembershiplapsebecausetheywerenotgettingmuchvalue from them. Interestingly, each respondent that belonged to a business association namedanIndustryAssociationorSectorCouncil.Theseinclude:KoreanAssociationof DryCleanersandtheOntarioSafetyLeague. Fully 87% reported never having taken advantage of government or industrylead programstohelpdevelopthebusinessorbuildtheworkforce.Ofthe20respondents who identified never having accessed these kinds of resources, 7 indicated that they wouldbeinterestedinmoreinformationaboutsuchresources,while10abstainedfrom answering. Of those, 13% of respondents who identified as having accessed government and industrysponsored resources before, indicated that they would be interested in continuingtoreceivesuchinformation. BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership
www.bflip.ca

Whenaskedwhatkindofinformationwouldhelptogrowtheirbusiness,respondents had a variety of responses. The most popular response was industryspecific information (54.2% of respondents), statistics about the local population (45.8% of respondents), social networking and using the web (25% of respondents), announcements about workshops and events for businesses (21% of respondents), businesstobusiness purchasing (13% of respondents) and information about business taxes(12.5%ofrespondents).

CommunityRelations ThenumberofrespondentswithCommunityRelationsorCorporateCitizenshippolicies wasalmostsplitinhalfwithexactlyhalfofthosewithsuchpoliciesidentifyingthemto becentredonsafety,andtheotherhalffocusedonenvironmentalresponsibility.One large financial institution identified a community giving strategy as a part of their corporatecitizenship. With respect to diversity, one respondent suggested that pursuing programs that supportstorefrontoperationssothattheyreflectthecommunityintheirstaffingwould beanimportantroleforbusinessestoplayinbuildingcommunities.Itisameasurethat could serve to foster greater communityeconomic integration. This suggestion was particularly directed towards larger companies like banks and hospitals with the capacitytoreviewandadjusttheirpractices. In gauging the interest of respondents to become more involved in community initiatives, respondents were asked to indicate their interest in 5 different types of community initiatives on a 5point Likert scale. The initiatives were: providing mentorship opportunities; providing industryspecific informational exchange for job seekers;providinginternshipopportunities;partneringwithcommunityagenciestoput oncommunityevents;makingcorporatedonations. Overwhelmingly,theoverallresponseratewaspositive,withanaverageinterestrating of3outof5acrossallinitiatives.Themostpopularinitiativewasprovidingmentorship opportunities, with 22.7% of respondents being very interested. Next was the initiativeofprovidinginternshipopportunitiesandpartneringwithcommunityagencies toputoneventsintheneighbourhood.

BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership

www.bflip.ca

Figure4:InterestinBuildingCorporateCitizenship

When respondents were asked about their interest in attending a Local Business Roundtabletomeetandnetworkwithotherbusinesses,halfindicatedthattheywere interested. The topic of most interest was receiving information about supports, resources,workshopsandprogramstoassistemployers.Forumsaboutrecruitmentand retentionmethodswerealsoinhighdemand,aswasinformationaboutdiversityinthe workplaceandlocalbusinesstrends.

EmploymentNeedsandTrends While 93% of respondents reported having hired or attempted to hire in the past 5 years,almost50%reportedhavingencountereddifficultyinbuildingalabourforce.The majorityofthedifficultywasattributedtoaskillsshortage(i.e.alackofcandidateswith the requisite education, experience and/or skills) where 92% of responses identified a lackoftechnicalskills,credentialsandeducation.Respondentsalsoincludedalackof languageskillsandsoftskillsintheircharacterizationofskillsshortage.Inthecaseofa transportationcompanyoperatingtouringcoachesandschoolbuses,thepositionofthe hiring authority is that the combination of certification and soft skills is difficult to acquire. BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership
www.bflip.ca

 In the current economic climate of high unemployment, it is not surprising that only 20%ofresponsescitedlabourshortageasabarriertoworkforcegrowth. Some of the workers that respondents employ include: Pharmacy Assistant, Machine Operator/ Programmer; Driver/ Warehouse Worker; Food and Beverage Retail Salesperson; Radiologist; Financial Product Sales; Reception limited hours; Graphic Designers;ITSpecialists/Programmers;LabTechnicians;PersonalSupportWorkers. The most common responses to the hiring and retention problems identified by respondentsincluded: Businessfunctionedwithfeweremployees(27%); Haveotheremployeesworkovertime/longershifts(18%); Hiredtemporaryhelp(18%); Recruitedfromoutsidetheprovince(14%); Recruitedfromoutsidethecountry(14%) Recruitment methods among respondents varied greatly. The majority (71%) sought referrals from friends, family, andother employees; 42%relied on job advertisements on their own website, 42% relied on advertisements on external websites and, to a lesser degree, respondents also relied on internship and coop programs (25%) and governmentemploymentcentres(21%). Yet,despitethesedifficulties,respondentshadanoptimisticoutlookforhiringoverthe next5years.Thevastmajorityexpectedittobecomeeasier(42%),but33%expected thehiringclimatetobecomemoredifficult. NewcomerHiring When it came to hiring newcomers, 73% of those who responded indicated that they hadhirednewcomersinthepast5years,while23%hadnot.Whenaskedwhetherthey haveencounteredproblemswhenhiringnewcomers,50%describedchallengesinhiring andretainingnewcomers. Someofthechallengesreportedbyrespondentsincluded: Languagebarriers(30%); Lackofcommunity/governmentservicestosupportrecentimmigrants intheworkplace(25%); BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership
www.bflip.ca

Difficultverifyingforeigneducationandtraining(20%); Culturalmisunderstandings(20%). 8

 A common experience among respondents was that newcomer employees often requiredadditionaltraining.Howthistrendmightbodefornewcomerhiringisunclear fromthissurvey,butsupporttobettertrainandintegratenewcomerswasidentifiedby many respondents (58% see below) as an incentive that would help them hire more newcomers. Some respondents offered information about how they are meeting some of the challenges listed above. One employer described a rigorous hiring program which employsapreinterviewelectronictestingthatsetsastandardforallcandidates.This example, however, is drawn from a multinational conglomerate and the experience citedhereishardlytransferrableacrossawiderangeofhiringcapacity. The acceptance of foreign work experience and credentials was an overwhelmingly common practice among those surveyed (80% of respondents). This is not to say, however, that respondents found this task simple. In fact, despite the inclination of employerstoacceptcredentials,therewasasignificantportionthatfounditdifficultto verify credentials (20%). The methods and tools used by respondents to verify credentials,however,isunknown. Certainindustriessuchasthehealthcaresectorrequiretheirownassessmentprocess, which can actually cause hiring delays. Many aspects of the assessment criteria are legislated for public protection, and require registration with a regulatory body to ensureeducationandexperiencerequirementsaremet.Forthisreason,recruitmentis often through internships. It was stated that there is a need within the nursing profession for more transparency to the public about working requirements and opportunities. One respondent suggested that there is a need to provide more awarenessbuilding for newcomers about professional requirements to better equip themtoaccesstheprofessions. For those who did not recognize credentials, respondents explained that it was often duetopriorexperiences.Intheinstancesrecounted,thecredentialsdemonstratedby newcomercandidateshadnotmetCanadianstandards. Whenrespondentswereaskedwhethertherewereincentivesthatwouldhelpthemto hirenewcomers,60%respondedyes.Severalsupportswereidentifiedasparticularly useful,including: Financialsupporttotrainandorientrecentimmigrants(58%); WageSubsidyPrograms(47%); Inhouselanguagetraining(37%); Helpverifyingforeigneducation,trainingandworkexperience(21%)
www.bflip.ca

BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership

For those respondents from larger corporations that have wellresourced human resourcedepartments,inhouselanguagetrainingwasalreadyareality,whereasothers saw potential for this intervention to grow. Further development of diversity and inclusionpolicieswascitedasanotherareathatcouldsupportnewcomerhiring. For others, educating employer service providers about the needs of their particular business, rather than about the industry as a whole would be a step in the right direction. For example, a local bakery describes a need for bakers who can make dough by hand the oldfashioned way. This is a difficult skill to communicate in a posting,thereforebuildingrelationshipswithwellconnectedsourcesofcandidateslike employmentserviceprovidersisseenasarealopportunity. Conclusion Thissamplingofabroadcrosssectionofbusinesstypesandsizesisonlyasmallwindow into the daily operations, hiring and corporate citizenship activities of the forprofit sector in BathurstFinch. It is part of a conversation that is unfolding between businesses and other stakeholders seeking collaboration to meet the demands of a globalized society and economy. In BathurstFinch, the Local Immigration Partnership willcontinuetosupporttheseconversationsandconnectengagedstakeholderstothe potentialforgrowththatliesjustoutsidetheirdoorstep.

BathurstFinchLocalImmigrationPartnership

www.bflip.ca

10