Having an employee’s home life settled and happy means that person will come to work happy, actually enjoy being there and therefore be more productive.
For the growing numbers of foreign workers being recruited to come to Canada, HR departments will have to work to facilitate this productivity by offering special assistance to help newcomers get adjusted to new workplaces and the Canadian way of life.
Recruiting and retaining good high-skilled workers has become one of the biggest HR challenges of the moment.
The new global economy and a highly mobile international skilled work force is making this an even greater HR challenge for the Canadian high-tech industry, especially with respect to attracting to and keeping skilled foreign workers in Canada.
With the recent increase in H-1B Visas being issued in the United States over the next three years (the required visa for high-tech workers to get into the U.S.), and with Canada’s current high-tech skilled worker shortage estimated at 40,000, Canadian high-tech companies have realized that they simply cannot afford to treat their temporary workers as only “temporary” or as merely numbers.
Instead they must begin treating these workers as valued employees (and potential permanent employees) in order to remain competitive in today’s global high-tech market.
So what are some of the things that Canadian high-tech companies are doing or should be doing to treat their foreign workers in a way that will make them want to stay?
In addition to the general compensation packages — flexible benefits, increased parental leave and flexible work arrangements — that are now becoming commonplace in the high-tech industry, companies are also offering unique “cultural relocation” packages tailored to the specific needs of each foreign worker. These include added perks like cross cultural sensitivity training, business communication training, “culture shock” stress counselling, English or French as a second language instruction and prayer rooms.
In addition, many companies are offering packages described as “destination services” to newly arrived workers that cover topics like where to shop, how to find an apartment, buy a house or a car, how to manage and invest money, where to locate community resources and how to register children for school, among other things. Companies are also paying for any legal fees associated with the immigration process and offering ongoing assistance with relocation issues where employees request it in order to retain skilled foreign workers.
Ironically, until fairly recently, Canadian high-tech companies viewed these relocation issues and cross cultural training issues as being issues faced by Canadian employees being sent to work outside Canada. Then, with the huge influx of skilled foreign workers into Canada these relocation packages were introduced as a response to the unique relocation needs faced by the foreign workers and has resulted in a much happier and productive foreign worker workforce in Canada.
Of course, there are other things that Canadian high tech companies could do in order to attract skilled foreign workers to and to keep them in Canada. For example, they could emphasize the “quality of life” advantage Canada has to offer compared to that of the U.S. and emphasize the changing Canadian immigration system (Bill C-31 - Proposed Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) that attempts to make Canada more competitive in attracting both skilled temporary workers and skilled workers as Canadian permanent residents.
Silvia Valdman is an immigration lawyer practicing in Ottawa. She can be reached at (613) 244-6096 or by e-mail at [email protected].
