Announcing the Manitoba HR Trends Report

Advancing the human resource profession - driving business excellence 

In the Fall of 2015, HR professionals from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia were invited to participate in the Western Canada HR Trends Survey. This survey has resulted in the production of two reports: the Western Canada HR Trends Report and the Manitoba HR Trends Report.

These reports are tools for HR practitioners and departments in Manitoba to make informed decisions with reliable information on what is occurring in Manitoba’s workplace. Good labour market information can help human resources practitioners make better decisions in giving human resources advice to their stakeholders. HRMAM has commissioned this report to help fill the labour information void for our members and to discover industry benchmarks that can help human resources professionals make better talent management decisions.

You can find full copies of the reports here:

Manitoba HR Trends Report

Western Canada HR Trends Report - Infographic 

Western Canada HR Trends Report 

Highlights:

• Hiring Confidence: The Hiring Confidence Index was created to measure how Manitoba employers feel about hiring over the next six months. The index emphasizes how confident HR professionals are that they can hire the right people to fill open positions; it also incorporates views on growth in the number of positions.
  >   The index is made up of both an expectation of hiring levels over the next six months, but also the confidence respondents have in finding the right people to fill vacancies.
  >   The hiring confidence in Manitoba for the next six months (64.0) is higher than the confidence for Western Canada (62.8).

• 6 Month Outlook: Overall, 34% of organizations expect to see positive employment changes over the next six months, as opposed to the 19% that expect any sort of decrease. Two-thirds of organizations expect to either expand or stay the same (68% overall). This is a positive sign for Manitoba’s labour market. Small organizations are the most likely to be expanding their headcount.
• Over the next six months the most commonly expected reason to lose staff is retirement (34%)(Western Canada: 19%). This is an indicator of a healthy job market in an aging society. That said, termination without cause is at 17%, more than resignation for personal reasons. This indicates that there may be some layoffs anticipated for the next six months as the economy weakens.
• Termination Causes: Over the last six months, the most common reason for leaving was termination without cause. This is a troubling sign as this reason is most common in the less specialized occupations – such as trades and journeypersons, and a very close second among administrative and technical staff.
• Turnover costs: In Manitoba the average cost is nearly $17,000 for processing the turnover of an employee.
• Top 4 Actions taken to reduce turnover for any reason:

1. Better on-boarding (33%)
2. Flexible work arrangements (30%)
3. More team building events (30%)
4. Higher wages (30%)

• Surprisingly, 32% of respondents said they do not take any action to reduce turnover.
• Employment Standards: Respondents were asked to provide written comments on what changes they would like to see to Employment Standards in their province. The answers varied considerably. By far the most common was to make no change, and some provided rationale for this. The rationale fell into two categories – those who think things are satisfactory as they are and those who just want government to stay out of the way.
  >   The other significant number of comments were:
            >   More provincial statutory holidays – like Remembrance Day
            >   Increase flexibility in the standards particularly around hours and overtime
            >   Extend the probation period to longer than the current 30 days.
  >   In comparison, the Western HR Trends Report cited the following as other    significant comments:
            >   Changes to rules around overtime, leave, statutory holidays, and vacation entitlements>
            >   Concern about raising the minimum wage.
            >   Increase flexibility in the standards particularly around hours and overtime.
            >   More clarity both in terms of the employment standards and how they are communicated, but also that employers should be more clear and precise when communicating rules, regulations and policies to employees.
            >   Increase the ease of inter-provincial labour mobility.
            >   Comments both for and against the position and power of unions.