Manitoba and Western Canada's HR Trends Reports cover latest industry issues and trends for HR

The 2021 Spring edition of the Manitoba HR Trends Report and Western Canada HR Trends Report have just been released and cover trending workplace issues that HR professionals are facing in Manitoba and throughout Western Canada, human capital challenges, talent retention and the labour market.

The Spring 2021 study was conducted by Insights West on behalf of CPHR British Columbia & Yukon, CPHR Alberta, CPHR Saskatchewan and CPHR Manitoba. The survey was conducted from November 23 to December 17, 2020 and combines selected standard questions that have been tracked over previous waves as well as builds on the most recent survey gauging the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article summarizes a couple areas of the Manitoba and Western Canada HR Trends reports.

Manitoba:

• For Manitoba organizations, improving employee engagement (51%) and improving professional development (44%) are the top HR priorities for 2021.
  • Rounding out the top 5 list are transforming organizational culture (35%), improving ability to attract/retain employees (35%), and safeguarding the health and safety of employees (33%)
• Employee engagement tops the list for human capital challenges in the next 12 months (55%), followed by COVID -19 related concerns:
  • Managing employees’ concerns and fears over COVID -19 (50%), managing a more remote workforce (36%), complying with public health guidelines (31%) and staffing level uncertainty due to self-isolation requirements (29%).
• In the next 3 -5 years, the top 2 human capital challenges are employee engagement (49%) and leadership capacity (42%).
• Close to 3-in-5 Manitoba organizations are worried about the ability to recruit talent in the next 6 months, while just over half are worried about the ability to retain talent

Western Canada:

• The top HR priorities and human capital concerns for 2021 are varied, but the impact of the pandemic can be seen in certain items that have taken priority:
  • Improving employee engagement (45%) and safeguarding the health and safety of employees (40%) are the top two HR priorities, followed by improving ability to attract/retain talent, transforming organizational culture, and improving inclusion and diversity (especially among large organizations).
  • For Western Canadian organizations, employee engagement tops the list for human capital challenges both in the next 12 months (49%) and the next 3 -5 years (42%).
• Over half of Western Canadian organizations are worried about both recruiting and retaining talent in the next 6 months.
  • Organizations in the healthcare/social assistance (59%), manufacturing (59%), and professional/scientific/technical services (57%) sectors are more likely to be worried about retaining talent.

Click here for more information on both the Manitoba HR Trends Report and Western Canada HR Trends Report.