Workforce WindsorEssex Launches Strategies for Talent and Attraction and Retention Toolkit for Windsor-Essex (#STARTYQG)
#STARTyqg focuses on talent strategies that support attracting and retaining regional talent
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2020
Windsor, ON – Today, Workforce WindsorEssex, the region’s Local Employment Planning Council (LEPC), launched the Strategies for Talent Attraction and Retention Toolkit for Windsor-Essex (#STARTyqg) to help community and business leaders drive evidence-based talent strategies that will attract and retain talent in our region.
The #STARTyqg toolkit consists of three resources:
- Attracting and Retaining Talent in Windsor Essex – An Essential Guide: Offering foundational research findings on migration patterns, the type and kind of talent our region needs, best practices from other jurisdictions, survey findings of 921 local respondents, advice on tailoring attraction and retention messages by audience, and what investments and policies will be most effective in attracting and retaining talent.
- WEmap sectors: An online mapping tool that displays job concentration and 4,780 local companies. These datasets can be filtered by up to 6-digit NAICS code, up to 4-digit NOC code, and by time period. The tool will be useful to employers, jobseekers, employment agencies, students, educators, and government, displaying what sectors are hiring, where industry clusters are located, what employers are hiring which occupations, and more.
- WEmap talent: An online mapping tool that assists local employers, recruiting firms, and communities in geo-targeting talent attraction campaigns for hard to fill occupations. WEmap Talent displays occupational census data for Canada, U.S., U.K., Sweden, Australia, and Latvia and can be expanded to other countries with detailed occupational data. Users will be able to pinpoint international regions that are home to the talent they need to recruit.
The toolkit was informed by the results of a Workforce Attraction and Retention Survey that was open from April to October 2019. The survey received a total of 921 responses with an 89.5 per cent completion rate.
Some of the findings from this survey, which are presented in and expanded upon in the Guide, saw that the top factors that most influenced relocation to Windsor-Essex are: cost of living, cost of housing, family-friendliness, weather/climate, commute times, and proximity to Detroit.
The survey results also serve to inform employers as to what people consider an ideal job and workplace, including a good company culture, long-term job security, work-life balance, good job benefits, and the ability to contribute positively to society.
The #STARTyqg toolkit can be accessed at www.workforcewindsoressex.com/startyqg.
QUOTES:
“To help with recruiting and retaining the talent our region needs to grow and prosper, the Local Employment Planning Council has mobilized data and research to create an informative talent strategy guide as well as a sector mapping and talent mapping tool. WEmap sectors will map company and job concentration data by occupation and industry and WEmap talent will find talent clusters nationally and internationally. We’re excited to see how these tools will be used to repeatedly improve our labour market.”
– Michelle Suchiu, Executive Director, Workforce WindsorEssex
“From our survey results and focus groups, we learned that overall, there are promising signs that net migration is on the upswing in our region, but that we were vulnerable to net losses in university-educated workers and younger workers. By using #STARTyqg’s toolkit, we hope employers and changemakers will be able to implement effective strategies to attract and retain talent in Windsor-Essex.”
– Julian Villafuerte, Project Coordinator & Researcher, Workforce WindsorEssex
QUICK FACTS:
- Aggregated data from the Workforce Attraction and Retention Survey is available online via the STARTyqg 2019 Survey Dashboard, and can be filtered to create a custom report using a subset of the data.
- Blogs written based on the findings from the Workforce Attraction and Retention Survey are available online: Who is moving into and out of Windsor-Essex?, The migration of our workforce by age group, and Why talent chooses Windsor-Essex.
- The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s national system for describing occupations.
- The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.
QUICK LINKS:
- Workforce WindsorEssex’s #STARTyqg toolkit, including Attracting and Retaining Talent in Windsor Essex – An Essential Guide, WEmap Sectors, and WEmap Talent, is available at workforcewindsoressex.com/startyqg
- To learn more about the Local Employment Planning Council and view our current and past projects visit workforcewindsoressex.com/lepc.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Justin Falconer
Senior Director
Workforce WindsorEssex
(519) 980-5826
jfalconer@workforcewindsoressex.com
About Workforce WindsorEssex
Workforce WindsorEssex is a workforce and community development board that creates labour market tools, research, guides, and events that benefit jobseekers, employers, students, educators, and the community. Founded 10 years ago by the City of Windsor, County of Essex, WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation, and the Province of Ontario, our mandate is to plan, facilitate, and advocate for regional workforce development, defined as the development, retention, and recruitment of a wide range of skilled workers to meet the current and future economic and social development needs of Windsor-Essex.
Workforce WindsorEssex currently receives funding under four projects: Windsor Essex Local Immigration Partnership, Local Employment Planning Council, WEskills, and WE Value. Learn more at www.workforcewindsoressex.com.
About the Local Employment Planning Council project
The Local Employment Planning Council (LEPC) is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. The LEPC pilot aims to increase the access to accurate, up to date, local labour market information and help pioneer new and innovative approaches to local employment planning.
