Addressing Recruitment & Retention: Addressing Recruitment & Retention: The Social Services Labour Market Research Project
Over the past few months, The Federation and our partners at the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC) and the Community Social Services Employers’ Association of BC (CSSEA) have been conducting labour market research to address critical information gaps about our broad sector.
The goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of the issues related to organizational capacity in BC’s community social services sector—recruitment and retention of staff, workforce and labour market needs, volunteerism, training, and HR capacities. And we need your help in the next phase of this work.
Creating a Labour Market Strategy
As some of you may know, this project was developed as a direct result of the work members and sector allies did at The Federation’s 2018 Social Policy Forum (which was focused on issues related to the strength and sustainability of our sector).
Recruitment and retention challenges were a central theme that emerged at the forum—participants recognized that these challenges were not new, but that a major roadblock we were facing was a lack of data about the sector. As a result, our members made clear that a priority for The Federation would be to develop a mechanism to understand and address these issues.
A labour market research project was identified as our first focus. And now, thanks to funding from the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement’s Sector Labour Market Partnerships Program (administered by the BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills, and Training), we are entering phase two of this project.
Below are links to two surveys. One is for managers and one is for front-line staff. Collecting this data—the specific information these surveys will gather—is a very important step toward working with the provincial government on creating a labour market strategy for this sector. We have received strong encouragement and support for this work from multiple sector allies and other bodies concerned about the state (and future) of employment in BC’s social care sector.
The survey deadline date is May 31, 2019. I encourage you to take the time to help us collect this important information.
For Front-line Workers: SSLMRP Survey
This survey will only take approximately 10 minutes to complete and your responses will be summarized along with those of others to ensure personal anonymity. With your help, by this time next year, we will have in hand the information we need make our case to the government about why and how the complex challenges of recruitment and retention facing BC’s the social care sector need to be addressed.
Rebecca Ataya Lang
Director of Programs and Services