Labor shortage: even construction must adapt to changes

Construction companies will have to change to survive the workforce crisis. Toiture Québec did just that, headed by a young woman who wasn’t afraid to speak up about “company culture” and “employer branding,” terms that were once a thousand miles away from construction sites.

Melissa Martinova does not have the image we have of the typical building contractor.

A young professional from the legal world, she took the reins of Tweeter Quebec five years ago.

And if changes have been linked at a crazy pace since then, forecasts of a long-term crisis suggest that this is what will allow the company to perform well.

“When I arrived, there were two managers, a project manager and an assistant and me in management. Today, we are 23, which is not much,” says the leader who meets Newspaper in 36^NS A week of pregnancy, I’m still in the office, a sign of a workload.

big boom

If there is a lot of effort, it is because the needs are great. Toiture Québec has seen its turnover rise 65% over the past two years, in the midst of a pandemic, we must remember.

As the government intends to pass the stimulus through construction, the whirlwind is likely to continue.

“Currently, we do not have [d’autre] Option [que] to reject contracts, which are generalized,” explains M^I Martinova, stressing that in order to continue to grow, it will be necessary to find a workforce.

“Our management committee meets every week to see what needs and initiatives to take,” she explains, adding, however, that we cannot work miracles in the current context.

“There is not enough new generation to enroll in vocational training. We do not have [d’autre] Option [que] To rely on continuous training within the company when hiring. […] And in the office, as soon as an order is placed, we call back within a minute so as not to lose it,” says the manager.

profitable advantages

In this context, concepts such as “employer branding” and “human resource marketing”, which were not part of the construction preoccupations, are now necessary.

warns m^I Martinova.

“Will there be a limit to creativity? It should not. In fact, we simply will not be able ”, adds the director, realizing like everyone else the fact that the crisis will swallow up some companies.

“That’s why we invest and create a package of benefits,” insists Melissa Martinova.

“These are things that may seem trivial and difficult to develop, but it is not a burden when you see the investment returns. […] He’s breathless, but we have to take care of our world.”

A platform to make the right “match”

If employers do not want their efforts to be drowned out in a sea of ​​job offers, they will need to better target the hiring process. This is what the Boomrank platform now offers, which only offers jobs that offer internships.

Boomrank, founded in 2015, initially intended to be an aggregator of continuing education and internship programs, but this new “employer-trainer” component has been added in recent months.

For many experts, this method of internship will be one of the ways to solve the deficiency.

“We’re seeing more and more companies with this concern, some of which have even developed in-house academies or ‘universities.'” It’s a real gold nugget, says Marie-Yves Herkins, founder of Boomrank.

Find the right person

For print Solisco, which operates in an area where training programs are now almost non-existent, Boomrank’s offering is perfect. Allows him to quickly connect with job seekers who are with them match Maybe.

“We used to say before that we will not look for employees in their living room, but there is no longer a choice. And even there it does not work. We have reached 27,500 families in the area through leaflets and got 10-12 returns”, according to François-Nicolas Carrier. .

The company’s director of culture and organization adds that he has no other choice but to be an “employer-trainer” to fill the current 30 vacancies. This number represents 10% of Solisco’s total workforce.

“We should no longer wonder what it would cost to do this, we should ask ourselves what it would cost to do nothing,” Carrier says.

go further

The new Boomrank platform has been launched in recent weeks, and it hopes to reach a large number of companies to find a wide network. The company hopes to hire about twenty companies looking for employees by the end of the year and has already registered more than a hundred job seekers.

All that’s left is to “put them on their X,” explains M^I Hermkins.

“Companies think that there are no workers, but there are people who find it difficult to locate them. It is about supporting them,” believes the founder.

Specifies that the service can help retirees wanting a new job or newcomers who struggle to have their skills recognized, but can’t go back to school.