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Tracy Broad: Welcome to Beyond the Mold, a podcast about the breakthrough innovations and the experts who are pushing the boundaries of traditional injection molding, packaging design, and sustainability. I'm Tracy Broad of Husky Technologies.

Tracy Broad: In the last several months, many industries have seen an increase in resignations as a result of the significant shift in the job market. What can employers do to combat the great resignation? On today's episode, we'll be discussing what factors have shaped our current hiring landscape, and what's the best way for organizations to attract and retain the best talent. To help drive this discussion and provide insights, I'd like to welcome Tina Rodgers, Director of Talent and Acquisition here, at Husky, and Megan Diamond, Managing Director at Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company. Welcome to the show, ladies.

Tina Rodgers: Thanks for having me.

Megan Diamond: Thanks, Tracy. It's great to be here.

Tracy Broad: As we kick off 2022, we're continuing to see the job market evolve into what people are calling a candidate's market. So let's dive in with some questions and talk about this issue. How would you define the current manufacturing hiring landscape? Megan, we'll start with you.

Megan Diamond: Well, Tracy, I would say that in manufacturing, it's similar to other industries in that it's quite a challenging market right now. Even fickle, some might say, so whether we call it the great resignation, the big quit, the tsunami turnover, we do know that attrition is high across the world right now, in every industry. Some industries and sectors are impacted more than others. Some geographies are impacted more than others. And manufacturing, actually, has been really influenced by this retail and hospitality more than other sectors, right now. So it's challenging, it's ambiguous, but at the same time, it's also full of potential.

Tracy Broad: What about you, Tina?

Tina Rodgers: I agree with Megan. We have seen a lot of challenges in all areas of the business, not just in our manufacturing area. But specifically, in manufacturing, with COVID, it brought exceptional challenges to us around to the fact that people still need to be in the office. They still need to be so that things get done in a nice, safe environment. And that's been a real challenge. The other thing that we are seeing is that it really is a candidate market, and candidates are really able to ask for the world and hope to get it. And it's something that we are faced with, right now, at looking at those challenges and figuring out how to combat them in the right way,

Tracy Broad: What factors contribute to, and shape, the current landscape, and what do you think are some industry specific factors and challenges?

Megan Diamond: From my point of view or from what I'm seeing out there and what I'm hearing, that different consulting firms are sharing with us is the fact that, well, first of all, we have an aging population. We have people with different ideals of what it's like to go to work, what it's like to be at work, what it's like to get from work and the landscape is changing. And so organizations need to change, as well, to ensure that we are keeping up with what is competitive in the market.

Megan Diamond: The other thing, I think, specifically in the manufacturing area, is the skill trades have fallen off. And with the young people coming out of school, high school, colleges, wherever it may be, they're not choosing the skill trades nearly as much. It hasn't been seen as appealing of a job to take on and or a challenge for them to learn and grow into the skilled traits. So we are finding that it's more and more difficult to find young people that want to come in and grow in our organization.

Tracy Broad: Those are some interesting trends that seem to be emerging. So what percentage of the workforce needs to be replaced, in your opinion, generally speaking, and how do you see that relevant to Husky?

Megan Diamond: I would say if only we had a crystal ball that would be helpful, right? It's a very hard thing to forecast. I don't know that anyone can answer that question with certainty. But we do know, as Tina mentioned with the aging workforce, if we look at our baby boomer population, as an example, by 2030, all baby boomers will be of age 65. And we have, traditionally, used that as our measure as a retirement prediction. Now we know people are working longer than ever before, and that's when I mentioned it's not as easy to forecast. Looking at numbers globally, again, it's not an easy measure, but we do know, in looking at the U.S. alone, that 25% of today's workforce are baby boomers who are likely to consider retirement in the next few years. Canada's population is aging more quickly than others. There's plenty of white papers out there to confirm that.

Megan Diamond: But less about broader global stats, I think many organizations are looking at their own internal population. So measuring their own demographics to say, 'okay, what retirements are imminent and likely in the next few years' and really creating strategic workforce plans to make sure they retain that knowledge and transfer it from generation to generation.

Tracy Broad: Thanks, Megan. So talk to us about the current talent shortage and how that's impacting the manufacturing industry.

Tina Rodgers: Well, Megan really said it well at the very beginning, it really is dependent on the region. It's very different globally, depending on where plants are located, what the types of problems that are being seen. However, I would say that the U.S. has been very, very, a very hard market for the last, I would say two years, maybe even longer, but we are seeing Canada start to become equally as tough and reading a lot of white papers, to Meagan's point. And it is true that Canada hasn't seen as much of the great resignation as everybody's hearing. However, we are faced with the talent shortage in our Canadian location; Husky, itself, and we are seeing some of the trends that we saw in our American plants are now coming here, to Canada.

Tina Rodgers: In Europe, we're seeing different things altogether. In our Luxemburg location, for example, we're still able to find good trades folks in our manufacturing area. Some of our engineering roles tend to be a little bit harder in Luxemburg area, but for the most part, it hasn't caught up to where Canada and the U.S. are, at the moment.

Tracy Broad: Interesting.So how do the preferences of top talent candidates differ from candidates of previous generations, for example, Megan?

Megan Diamond: Yes, what I would say you can have top talent across every generation, right? So in young people coming in, they can be the best and the brightest of their university, classmates and such. Some young engineers have patents pending at a very early age, but I do think when you look at generations and their preferences, they're different and they're unique. So if we look at baby boomers more generally speaking, of course, we know that it's a generation that prefers organizational structure and more apprehensive, where change is concerned. And if we look at the younger generation in the workplace right now, being Gen Z, they are very agile, love change, almost count on it and consider it something that's normal. So that plays a role because, I think, gone are the days when employees stayed with one employer for their entire career. I think that will be more and more unlikely with new generations coming in and Gen Z and those that follow. Likely, 3, 5, 10 years with an organization will be great tenure.

Tracy Broad: And Tina, how do you see this in terms of, talent attraction at Husky? I think if you look at, to Megan's point, gone are the days where, for example, I would say retirement packages or people's primary motivation, for example, when looking at a compensation package or total compensation, what are you seeing today, in terms of these candidates?

Tina Rodgers: First of all, to build off the demographics conversation, Husky has a history of long tenured employees. So that the foundation of our talent management and our talent retention and attraction programs have been built around retaining team members long into the future. So we have some really phenomenal programs for that reason. To build off of what new people, the younger generation what they're wanting is more around what's in it for me. What am I going to get out of this? Where am I going? What is my growth? What can you do for me? How can you develop me? It's not just about getting a big paycheck. It's about where can I go and how can I expand my knowledge? How can I learn from what your organization is going to give to me? So I think as we look at this and as we move forward, it's going to be very important that we consider our value propositions and ensure that we're not just looking at it from the lens of either where we have come from and or our past lens, but we're also looking at what the future lens brings and what is important to that age group.

Megan Diamond: I just want to add to that. I think it's a great point. And when you look at the newer generation in Gen Z, they are very much focused on development and learning and career pathways within an organization, but also around purpose. Social impact. What are they connected to? How do they contribute to the organization's mission, vision, values. Things are very important to new generations coming in. And something, I think that Husky can really connect with newer talent on.

Tina Rodgers: So that's a very good point and our sustainability and environmental awareness and driving that we need to harness that. And that and our customers and vendors that we work with, there's so much potential there for us to harness that. And other organizations in the world, looking at that social purpose and responsibility, is a really good point.

Tracy Broad: So you mentioned the long tenured base of employees, Tina, when talking about Husky. So I guess we're a great example of a company that successfully attracted, hired, and retained, I would say, skilled workers. So if you fast forward to today, in terms of benefits or perks, what are top talent really looking for these days?

Tina Rodgers: Yeah. Flexibility in their choices. A traditional benefits plan, which - whereas it's awesome and that it gives us what we think we need - new employees, the younger generation, are looking for the ability to say, 'Well, I may not need this, but I may choose something else. Is that available to me? What kind of choices do I have?' That's one thing.

Tina Rodgers: Also, you mentioned Tracy about retirements, retirement savings, pension plans. Whereas we, as an organization, have a wonderful plan that will set people up very well for retirement. However, the younger folks coming into an organization are, perhaps, looking at something different. They have student loans, they want to buy a house, and in many of the markets, actually, not just in Canada, but many of the markets that our plants are located and where we hire people, are not the easiest place to purchase a home or to move forward in that way.

Tina Rodgers: So we do need to be creative and rethink what else we can offer, what kind of value proposition we can give from, from a benefit standpoint. But I think flexibility is really important. And the other thing, too, I think, is recognizing diversity; diversity in the family structure, diversity in how their family is formulated. It's not always a mom and dad and kids. There are different family units and we need to be aware of that and conscious of that, so ensuring that our benefits will meet those needs, as well.

Megan Diamond: So one other point that I would make on that is wellbeing, right? A focus on wellness and wellbeing overall, and many organizations are starting to implement wellness programs, in some capacity. I think that Husky and Husky's employees are very fortunate to have wellness centers on site, where you have access to gyms and physiotherapy, naturopathy, whatever the case might be, but recognizing those supports. Both physical and mental health are really important at the moment, as well.

Tina Rodgers: And Megan, if I can just build off of the mental health piece, because we spend a lot of time speaking to our consultants that help us form our benefit programs and ensure that we have the right things in place for our team members. Mental health is one of the largest components to requirements for employee health and wellness. And it's always been a very difficult one because it's so nebulous and something that people don't often want to speak about. But making sure that we have employee assistance programs in place and having avenues for our employees to get the help they need, and training are our leaders in how to properly deal with situations with people that are having issues with mental health, especially in the world that we're currently faced with right now. It's more than just the stress of work that we bring all that baggage from home, and what we're hearing in the news and media, and our drive into work, or however we're getting to work, and you're listening to the news. It's very distracting, and mental health has reached an all time epidemic high, in terms of people needing an outlet to deal with that.

Megan Diamond: So I just wanted to mention, Tracy, because I think your question is a very good one. In terms of what people need to stay, the benefits that they're looking for, I think the organizations, right now, that are really wrapping their arms around attrition and that have strategies in place to really retain their employees, they're focusing inward. So they're doing employee surveys or pulse checks, and they're asking how they're doing, what it is that's working well for them, where there are gaps, what they need to see. So they're getting feedback and input, but then they're taking action on that feedback and input. And I think every employee and organization are different, in that regard. It's really important to look at your internal team members and ask them and develop benefits and strategies that make sense.

Tracy Broad: So you both bring up an interesting point. And if we look at sort of benefits or experiences that we want employees to have, looking inward, how do you also develop programs for your current and future leaders to be able to sort of bring these promises to life when an employee actually comes within inside your organization? How do you prepare your current leadership to deal with the new wave of talent?

Tina Rodgers: Yes, that's a good question, Tracy, because investing in development of our leaders is a very important component to ensuring that employees are getting what they need. I'm a very strong believer in strong leadership development programs. Interesting, I sat on a session with a group of like-minded colleagues, probably two or three weeks ago, and I heard a very interesting comment that made me really think about our organization and something that we could, potentially, focus in on; they started to do training for their team leaders on, they call it, 'Stay Training.' Driving the accountability of turnover and engagement and, basically, keeping people happy to be wanting to come into work every day. It's not an HR issue. We can help create the programs and we can help get them out there. But at the end of the day, it's up to leadership to ensure that people are wanting to engage and stay. And so having stay interviews with people is a really interesting idea. So teaching our team members how to do that, I'm not here as your leader to create an environment that is perfect for you every day, but I am here to develop you and to make sure you're growing and you're getting the most out of your situation while we're together.

Tina Rodgers: I’m a big believer in talent management and talent development, and I think that's something our team members should be open to; our leaders to be saying, 'You know what? This isn't working for me, and this is why it's not working for me.' So developing a strong, trusted relationship with our team members is very, very important. So you bring up a great point. We're continuing to invest in our leadership development programs and we'll continue to grow them. And I do think that's an interesting component; that whole engagement and stay. How do we keep you? What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? What can we do better?

Tracy Broad: It almost feels like a lot of this is dovetailing into culture shift, or what might be coming in the future for us to see culture shifts, within organizations in order to adapt to a new wave of talent, and also to, basically, to uphold your promises as you hire new talent and attract new talent to actually live and breathe, what perhaps, culture of the past to a culture of the future. So to me, it feels like we're almost just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of kind of what happens next.

Tracy Broad: So as we get to the end of our episode, I just wanted to ask for your final thoughts on, in terms of an organization being able to remain competitive and profitable in this type of environment, what are your parting thoughts, in terms of what they can do to be competitive in the talent game, attracting. And it's less about retention, but really, right now, obviously, the key is to get candidates in the door and be able to engage them in conversations. Your parting thoughts on what companies can do to be at the front of the list, or top of the top of the pile for the candidate, because it's almost like things have also been flipped where candidates are interviewing us more than we're interviewing them, now.

Tina Rodgers: As an organization, we're growing and trying to find people at a pace that I've never seen before, in the history of working in human resources. What I think is really important, a couple things that Megan mentioned, the whole social responsibility piece is how do we harness that and see where we fit. What our values are and how can we leverage that? And what I mean by that is a couple things; one, yes, let's find out what it is and let's talk about it. Let's get it out there so that it's understood. But also, is there an opportunity for us to leverage that?

Tina Rodgers: And for example, we do give back to the community. Well, should we be looking at that differently and saying, 'Not only do we give back to the community, but we're also going to start giving back to the community in a way that is going to drive the development of talent in our communities.' So giving money to schools that are investing in the skilled traits or engineering schools or whatever it is that we're focusing our intention on. I think that is one piece, and so something that we need to take a look at, and organizations need to take a look at.

Tina Rodgers: And the second piece is, at least from our point of view right now, how are we going to grow our talent from within? How can we bring in fresh talent that, perhaps, didn't even know that they wanted to be working in the manufacturing field? Introduce them to what these jobs look like and show them that there's a career path for them. Pay for talent or pay for skill is a word that we use. So as you grow, your pay increases along the way, and show that future opportunity. Because I do believe that the current generation, they are looking to move around a lot. They are looking to grow, but maybe we can make it a culture where they want to stay here a little bit longer, and grow into roles that are more meaningful for them. 

Tina Rodgers: Really at the end of the day, we need to consider, and we need to look at, bringing in fresh new talent that, perhaps, haven't thought about the manufacturing field and show them what it's all about. Show how exciting it can be. Show them what the career path looks like. Make sure that there's development in place. Make sure that we communicate the pay for skills. So the more you grow, the more money you can make, and the more exciting that the roles can become.

Tina Rodgers: So those are some things just off the top of my head that I think are really important for us to do, going forward. We can no longer just be looking for people that come with all the skills and can start and hit the ground running. In most of our markets, that's just impossible. It's just not available. So we have to think differently.

Tracy Broad: Has to be a willingness to train and retain

Tina Rodgers: Exactly.

Megan Diamond: I think those are excellent points, Tina. Just three additional thoughts from me. I think the first thing is to prioritize experience. So wrap your arms around your current employees, make sure they feel recognized and valued, and that you understand, first and foremost, what's most important to them, going forward. Secondly, with new hires coming in, be swift in your hiring process. They have lots of options and opportunities out there, right now. So the quicker you can move people through the process and provide them an experience that feels great, the better the outcome. And finally, when people have been hired into your organization, anecdotally, we're seeing that new higher attrition is quite high in organizations right now, too. So make sure that you have strong on integration plan so that they can be successful and truly have long term careers with Husky.

Megan Diamond: Secondly, like Tina said, I think you need to get really creative about your hiring. Look where others aren't going. Hire for potential for attitude and upskill, in those areas. Upskilling is going to be the way of the future for everyone, so you'll be ahead of the game, in that regard. Build community partnerships, get people excited about careers and manufacturing, again. I don't think that I truly understood how high performing and innovative the manufacturing sector is, until I worked in it, myself. So give people that inside view and an opportunity to get a feel for a career at Husky.

Megan Diamond: And third, make strategic workforce planning a priority, always. So it's not something you can do once a year. It's something that needs to be done regularly. Discussed at meetings, at every opportunity, really, to make sure that you have a plan to replenish your talent, always.

Tracy Broad: Wow. What a discussion, ladies, thanks so much to both of you for contributing to what, I think, is one of the most important topics, sort of today, when looking at how do manufacturing companies move forward, especially in terms of growth for the company itself, but also in terms of growth of talent. So thanks for your insights and inputs, and I appreciate you joining me on today's episode.

Megan Diamond: Thanks, Tracy.

Tina Rodgers: Thank you.

Tracy: Thanks for joining us. Check out our show notes for resources discussed in today’s episode. And if you like what you heard, rate and review us on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll see you next time as we venture Beyond the Mold.