Post-Pandemic Scenario-Based Action Plan for Windsor-Essex
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic and social disruption throughout the world. This report looks at the effects of the pandemic locally and provides the community with a strategic framework to proactively plan ahead despite high uncertainty.
The report describes how the supply and demand of the labour market may shift in the next 12-24 months as a result of COVID-19 and identifies specific actions and initiatives that employment and training services, government, secondary and post-secondary education, and community leaders can implement in the near future to mitigate impacts or bridge skills gaps that emerge in each of the future scenarios.
The Windsor-Essex report considered four probable futures relating to the severity of public health, how it has impacted the regional unemployment crisis, and how it has restructured society. Some notable findings from the Windsor-Essex report found:
- Resolving the unemployment crisis requires an investment in work-based learning and industry-based curriculum to adapt to the post-pandemic labour market.
- Industries must consider an agility-based framework in their business plans to respond to quickly changing events.
- Structural changes in the workforce will impact how we connect, create, and communicate.
VIEW THE REPORT
The report is accompanied by an interactive online dashboard of key scenario indicators that determine the scenario-based labour market outcomes.
VIEW THE INTERACTIVE DASHBOARD
About Scenario-Based Planning
Scenario-based planning is a collaborative systems and design-thinking framework for facilitating strategic planning by identifying and managing the possible outcomes of a set of future scenarios affecting a focal issue. Applying this framework in workforce planning in Southwestern Ontario is an innovative strategy that ensures regional partners are prepared to act proactively in probable local and regional post-pandemic labour market scenarios.
Through the participation and collaboration of partners and various local partners, this report equips Windsor-Essex with the foresight to promote proactive adaptation of the labour market to pandemic and post-pandemic conditions including social distancing, the normalization of working from home, reduced travel, changes to consumer demand, changes to global supply chains, and more.
“Challenging times are still ahead as we enter year two of the pandemic. But local employers remain diligent in building new bridges for employment opportunities. Workforce WindsorEssex is pleased to have come together with local industry leaders to demonstrate the importance of a sustainable labour market, amid and after the global pandemic.”
– Samantha Dalo, Research Associate and Project Lead for Local Scenario Planning, Workforce WindsorEssex
Learn more about the Post Pandemic Scenario Planning Project, and read the Workforce Planning West Regional Report – a coalition of nine workforce planning boards in Southwestern Ontario, as well as eight other local scenario planning reports, by visiting the PROJECT LANDING PAGE.
Questions or Comments? Please contact: info@workforcewindsoressex.com
