'Call it a modernization and a recognition that lots of employers are using best practices'
Many Canadian employers were no doubt happy to hear Ottawa’s recent announcement about a Recognized Employer Pilot (REP).
Part of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, the three-year initiative is meant to address labour shortages and reduce the administrative burden for repeat employers “who demonstrate a history of complying with program requirements.”
It's a change that Restaurants Canada has been lobbying for for quite a while, says Richard Alexander, executive vice president of government relations and public affairs.
“Canada is experiencing a structural labour shortage in about 37 occupations out of 293 — the bodies are not there [and] these industries are going to suffer So this program brings the laboriousness of the whole Temporary Foreign Worker Program down a bit so that it makes it easier for businesses to access them.”
Plus this program focuses on best practices, he says, so “that's going to be a great incentive for everybody — not just employers in the restaurant industry.”
How does the REP work?
First announced in Budget 2022 as the “trusted employer model,” the REP will give eligible employers access to Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) that are valid for up to 36 months.
To participate, employers must have at least three positive LMIAs for the same occupation over the past five years from a list of occupations that have been designated as in-shortage based on Canadian Occupational Projection System data.
“These employers will be subject to a more rigorous upfront assessment process based on their history and track record with the program, ensuring that REP targets employers with the best recruitment practices,” says the government.
In addition, the application process should be simplified if they need to hire additional workers during the pilot program.
Recognized employers will also benefit from a Job Bank designation that shows their recognized status to prospective workers.
REP will be rolled out in two phases: first, primary agriculture employers will be able to apply starting in September 2023, while all other employers will be eligible to apply in January 2024. Employer applications for REP will close in September 2024.
Labour shortages addressed with REP
It makes sense for the pilot to focus on the agricultural sector because they're the highest users of the TFWP “by far,” says Jack Kim, partner at Fragomen in Toronto.
“Being able to get repeat users of this program in and having them be able to process the labour needs that they need, quite quickly, will help,” he says.
“And then, starting in January, there's a huge list of in-demand occupations, which go from engineering managers and architects to food service supervisors, all the way down to labourers and efficiency, food processing. So it's pretty extensive.”
It’s likely the government will change that list depending on the labour market data that they have, says Kim.
“That should also help in at least addressing the most in-demand occupations in Canada and employers who are looking for those people too.”
But Alexander says it would have been great if they could start the pilot with the restaurant industry too because it’s been particularly hard-hit.
“We're the fourth-largest private sector employer in Canada. And before the pandemic, there were about 60,000 job vacancies in our industry — since the pandemic, we're up to about 100,000. There’s lots of job vacancies, so this [REP] is quite important for our industry.”
During the pandemic, with the shutdowns, many restaurant workers decided to look for different opportunities, he says. Plus, demographics are getting older and restaurants are the biggest employers of first jobs for youth in Canada.
“There's going to be some transition from the labour market and in order to smooth that transition, a lot of restaurants in Canada are relying on immigration,” says Alexander.
Less cumbersome process for LMIAs
In the past couple of years, there have been “huge backlogs” when it came to processing these applications, he says, partly due to challenges such as an influx of refugees from places like the Ukraine and Afghanistan.
“But since then, the federal government has put [tens of millions of dollars] into the processing of claims. So, anecdotally, we've seen that start to come down and the processing of applications has improved dramatically. There were stories about people waiting for two years to get their applications processed — those stories are becoming less frequent now.”
With many employers doing the LMIA process over and over, “bureaucratic red tape slows down the process,” says Alexander, so the REP is a welcome change.
“Call it a modernization and a recognition that lots of employers that are using best practices to access temporary foreign workers are doing all the things that they should, [so] why require them to continue to jump through the hoop of the LMIA every time that they're going through the process?”
There is a more rigorous screening process upfront for employers that want to take part in the REP, he says, citing the requirements around three positive LMIAs, proof they’re paying their taxes and they don't have any complaints against them for employment standards violations.
“Once the employer goes through that initial process, this should speed up and lower costs for employers that are trying to access this pool of labour for their operations.”
With some exceptions, the process around the TFWP is “fairly cumbersome,” says Kim, citing the requirements to advertise a job for weeks, to fill out an application and provide extensive corporate documents that show that your business is in good standing, and that you’re legitimate, along with showing that you can pay this worker and take care of them.
“There are a lot of requirements, the forms are 12, 13 pages long, could be longer, depending on how many people you want to hire. And so the government has gotten some feedback that yes, it is cumbersome, especially for people who are high users of this program: ‘Is there anything you can do about it?’ And I think that [the REP] is the response to that feedback.”
Sometimes, it can take three, four or five months to fulfill an application, though for high-wage individuals it’s around two months, says Kim.
“For companies that need a lighter touch, this could be a program where you don't have to go through the same rigmarole every time — there are simplified forms, there's a simplified process, and the government has promised some a faster processing time.”
Attracting candidates through REP
While expressing some skepticism about the benefit of a Job Bank designation with the REP, Kim says it should help Canada better compete with other countries.
“If they're trying to get a job in one country and it's going to take them a month to get in, and the comparable job in Canada takes four months, then guess where they're going to go — they're going to go to the other country. And so [the REP will] help definitely help Canadian businesses.”
Those employers that are not following the rules when it comes to the TFWP are “few and far between,” says Alexander, recalling the Stephen Harper days when a few “bad apples” spoiled the bunch.
“This program — if you can access labour and be preapproved as a trusted employer — that's going to make it not only easier to access labour from the employer side, but any folks that want to come to Canada to work, that's a brownie point or a gold star: ‘OK, this employer is a trusted employer.’ So it gives that assurance there.”
