Labour market mismatch driving talent strategies, says HR panel

Companies across Canada are grappling with an apparent contradiction: unemployment is rising, yet employers continue to cite talent shortages as a top concern.

The solution, HR experts suggest, isn’t just more applicants — it’s a better match between company values, job design and the evolving expectations of workers.

There’s been a shift in priorities, according to Natalya Demberg, head of talent acquisition and enablement at BMO.

“Purpose, company culture [and] values continue to be —  especially for younger workers — key drivers of what makes them choose and stay with an employer,” she said, citing recent stats from Mercer showing these are the number one reason why people thrive at work “and it was number nine last year.”

“That speaks to, obviously, the external, very fluid environment we're in, but also… the turbulence that the workforce has been through, and where people are looking for safety, but also to be connected to something bigger.”

Demberg’s comments came during a June 20 event in Toronto hosted by the Globe & Mail, featuring two other Canadian HR leaders — from Nokia and the Canadian Olympic Committee — along with a Canadian academic and an economist.

Values, purpose, authenticity

As Linda Krebs, global head of talent acquisition at Nokia, explained, the decision to join — or stay with — an employer comes down to the employee experience, purpose and psychological safety.

“That’s really what an employer of choice is. It’s not a billboard that says, ‘Come work for us.’ It’s really about the employees speaking on behalf of their experience in the workforce.”

Demberg echoed this sentiment, stressing that employer branding must be rooted in authenticity. A flashy value proposition will fall flat if it doesn’t reflect employees’ lived experiences.

“The brand is really there to bring the product and the experience to life. And so… having a value proposition that resonates with what people are looking for, having points of differentiation and really leaning into those in the way the brand comes to life with storytelling — and that needs to reflect the lived experience of the people in the company — so that authenticity… unlocks, in my view, a great employer brand.”

Candice Maxis, chief people and culture officer at the Canadian Olympic Committee, emphasized at the event that different generations expect different things, and clarity is key “because sometimes there may be a disconnect between what your brand [conveys] and what is the actual experience.”

She added that while candidates may be drawn to a company’s external image, they need to understand the full reality.

“Sometimes people join our organization thinking, ‘Wow, I’m going to go to the Olympics...’ and they have a super rewarding experience but it’s a really tough job when the time comes to serve our Olympians.”

Money not the end-all-be-all for job candidates

All panelists agreed that compensation is important, and should be competitive, but it’s not always key to talent attraction, according to Maxis.

“Every time I would have exit interviews or conversations with people that are leaving... I always take a moment to ask, ‘What if I can match exactly what you got? Will it change your decision?’ And it’s not always yes.”

Maxis noted a significant shift in how offers and salary reviews are received these days.

“The amount of counter [offers] or declines of offers has significantly increased... people negotiate more, women negotiate more, which I’m happy about,” she said.

“A couple years ago, you would see, ‘Here's your salary increase, thank you for your great year, good job,’ and so on. Now you see more of [employees responding] ‘Thank you, but I was expecting more, and here's why.’”

Krebs agreed that for early-career professionals, money is a factor, but not the only one.

“It could be... whether or not the company values sustainability, whether or not there is inclusion and diversity and whether there’s professional growth,” she said.

“We can't necessarily always compete against some of these other companies that pay an exorbitant amount more than the market, for example. And so companies have to reflect on what other offerings do they have in the organization — whether it's professional development, whether it's culture, whether it's amazing bosses, for example.”

Customizing the employer value proposition

What makes a job a good job reflects a whole different set of factors, from benefits and career growth opportunities to company culture and flexibility, according to panellist Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed Canada.

“That's all part of the compensation package, thinking holistically. And so that's the first question that I think people need to think about when finding… a unicorn candidate is difficult: Am I competitive? Is what we're offering enough to get this person in the door?”

However, a single message doesn’t resonate across all employee demographics, according to the panellists. For global companies like Nokia, that means leaders tailoring value propositions at the team level, said Krebs.

“I empower our hiring managers and our talent acquisition partners, every time they’re recruiting... to ask the question: ‘What is a value proposition for a candidate coming into your particular team?’”

In an era of scrutiny, authenticity and values are under the spotlight. Maxis said candidates are directly asking about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

“It is still very top of mind for Canadian job seekers in trying to understand ‘What are you about? What do you value?’”

She shared that the Canadian Olympic Committee reaffirmed its DEI commitments and is “staying the course” even as some external voices questioned such priorities.

Training for adaptability

The event panelists also agreed that employers need to pivot from a “perfect candidate” mindset to one that values potential and adaptability. Bernard explained that companies must be prepared to invest in development when the perfect candidates are hard to find.

“If you're looking for someone who is ready, [who] checks every box and is ready to hit the ground running, that candidate might not be just ready to walk in the door.”

Demberg gave a concrete example from BMO’s hiring strategy for customer service representative roles.

“We're going to be investing in training those people up... and they actually stay in the organization, become future bankers at BMO.”

She also pointed out that hiring for future growth means identifying attributes like learning agility and resilience at the outset.

“It's looking for those softer attributes, what's important for that job: customer centricity, empathy, advisory [skills]... and then also thinking about the future, recognizing that the skills are going to change... so, hiring for things like learning agility, resiliency, comfort with ambiguity.”

Those softer skills are going to enable people thrive not only today but in the future as AI comes into play, said Demberg.

“If you’re a hiring manager for an AI professional, you might get 80% of what you're looking for or have to pay more or be comfortable with [providing] more flexibility. And so, at the end of the day, hiring people that will fit into your company culture and… have that learning agility to thrive as all of these things are happening is going to be the right call.”

AI, demographics and long-term planning

As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, employers are being urged to prepare not just for current hiring needs, but for future workforce requirements. Bernard observed that mentions of AI in job postings—once rare—are becoming more common, even outside tech roles.

“We've gone from like less than 1.5 percent of job postings mentioning some form of AI to now 2.5 percent... over a relatively short period of time.”

Longer term, demographic shifts will also reshape hiring. Canada’s population is aging, and workforce participation rates among older workers may no longer be rising, he noted at the Globe & Mail event.

“Immigration is set to slow. We're going to see a dramatically slower growth in the Canadian labour force going forward, and in businesses especially where the workforce is a bit older, it's going to be a major change to the hiring situation.”

At BMO, Demberg acknowledged the demographic challenge — particularly with six generations in the workforce — and said they’re exploring how to facilitate knowledge transfer between generations, though formal strategies remain a work in progress.

“I don't know if any organization has really cracked the code on an institutionalized approach to knowledge transfer for an aging workforce.”

Reframing the skills conversation

Demberg pointed to Mercer data suggesting that reskilling and upskilling is an urgent risk that businesses face.

“[It’s about] designing workforce planning and workforce management around that so that we make really smart investment choices about ‘Where do we grow skills from within? Where do we go up to market to acquire? Where do we outsource, or where do we use bots?’”

This shift puts pressure on employers to develop internal pipelines. For BMO, that has meant growing talent from within, she said.

“We hire about 1,000 students a year. We put them through extensive training but also experience programs where they get to learn the company, and we've seen some really strong conversion rates out of that.”

And an abundance of applications for entry-level roles doesn’t always translate to the right fit, with high turnover a costly challenge in some areas, said Demberg at the panel discussion.

“When it comes to our high-volume, entry level roles in the branches and the call centre, we don't have a talent attraction issue — the pool is really diverse and large — and so it's really about getting the right people,” she says. “It's really expensive to churn through that talent.”

Return to office needs intention, not mandates

Finally, there’s the contentious issue of remote work and office mandates. Nokia has not mandated a full return for all of its 75,000 employees, said Kerbs, but leaders must do so with clear rationale.

“If you're going to send them back, send them back with purpose, send them back with a reason... so that it's engaging, and so that way that they do get something out of it.”

Krebs stressed that purpose should drive in-person expectations, “not just the free lunches and the free pizzas.”

And a return to the office of some kind is especially important for the younger generations, she said.

“They're lacking, potentially, the water cooler conversations, where they learn from the baby boomers and the Gen Xs… We're missing that type of engagement and that connection between all the different generations as we're trying to develop the talent and the skills for the next generation of future leaders.”

Scott Schieman, professor and Canada research chair in sociology at the University of Toronto, agreed that remote is not always preferred, especially by younger workers.

“One of the biggest [myths] that really just took off is how everybody wants to work from home... we have to be careful about getting rid of the office, because what will happen if we do?” he said, citing the importance of impromptu conversations with colleagues.

 “Younger people need that socialization, and that’s one of the powerful things that work is for.”