Using Technology to Solve Labour Shortage

81% of SMEs have a hard time recruiting employees, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). In Quebec alone, there are 140,000 jobs to fill. How can we attract and retain employees? This is a major challenge for entrepreneurs, especially since the labour shortage is not about to run out of steam.

During his conference at Montreal Convention Centre, Sebastiaan Van Ineveld, Nethris Marketing Manager, mentioned to the several executives attending his conference that “business owners should look to technology to deal with the lack of workers”. The conference was organized as part of the annual Stratégies PME event held at the end of November, which hosts over 450 experts and 130 guest speakers.

Tools to Attract Employees
To stand out in this current job market crisis, employers should nowadays provide jobseekers with the best experience. They must not only offer a stimulating place to work, diverse learning opportunities, and interesting benefits and activities, but also (and more importantly!) web and mobile tools to facilitate tasks and interactions. Sebastiaan emphasized that “Workplace tech solutions are a way to increase employee and manager satisfaction”.

Imagine that a film production company hires you. Upon signing your contract, you are provided login credentials for your employee portal. Within the portal, you find everything you need for your integration: a list of documents to complete, an explanation of company values, training videos, a welcome message, etc. As soon as you start, you have access to work essential applications for internal communications, project management, real-time feedback, timesheets, pay stubs, etc. With a myriad of platforms to simplify daily tasks, your job is always pleasant. Why would you want to work anywhere else?

A needle in a haystack
There are hundreds of available solutions on the market. “Your objective is to find the one that suits you best and meets your needs”, Sebastiaan mentioned during his conference. He also presented a buying guide for employee management solutions and gave the advice to “not just focus on dollars and cents. According to Capterra, an American web site that documents and evaluates useful software for businesses, 62% of SMEs will end up changing their HR tools because they chose the cheapest vendor, without considering their proper needs”.

At the end of the presentation, business owners were invited to visit the Nethris booth to continue the conversation of this hot topic and learn more about the employee management and payroll solutions Nethris offers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVRvoU1fJCs&t=5s

About our speaker
Passionate about technology trends, Sebastiaan Van Ineveld helps Canadian businesses discover solutions to facilitate employee and payroll management. Sebastiaan has over 12 years of experience in human resources, marketing, and communications management for technological and chemical industries, professional and recruitment services. His research, dedicated to branding and sustainability, was conducted as part of a Master’s in International Marketing Communications at The Hague University (Netherlands). It earned him the prize for best Master’s thesis and allowed him to develop a thorough understanding of the business reality.