Perth County partners with investStratford to release employer toolkit

To help local employers attract and retain employees amid the ongoing labor shortage, Perth County’s economic development department has partnered with investStratford to release an employer toolkit with best practices and success stories from businesses across the country.

The Workforce Attraction and Retention Employer Toolkit is an interactive, online portal for tools, templates, instructional guides, best practices and other resources that have been tried and tested by other employers from across a variety of sectors.

“Perth County and investStratford work quite closely together. Obviously, what benefits Perth benefits Stratford,” Perth County economic development and tourism manager Meredith Forget said. “Our employers are all struggling to find and retain labour, and we’re facing a housing crisis across the country. … We keep hearing about these different success stories when we’re at different sessions and seminars and, in speaking with other businesses, we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a repository where we could just put that all in one spot?’

“We wanted to find out from those businesses what works. Often, they want to share their story. They want their neighbors to be successful. They want to retain employees and grow our communities.”

With that in mind, the local economic development agencies hired a human resources consulting firm to collect information, resources and success stories from other human resources organizations across the country and put it all together on a webpage that can easily be accessed by local employers.

“It’s really a living document, so employers who want to share their success stories can share their information with us and we can upload that as well,” Forget said. “Everything from best practices on job postings and recruitment to employers who are offering housing initiatives. It’s not just about telling (success) stories, it’s also about how to implement those best practices.

“It really is an employer’s opportunity to choose their own adventure and what program works best for them.”

Forget said the county has been working to help local businesses attract and retain workers for years. By putting the knowledge and resources necessary for success directly in the hands of local employers, they can work proactively on their own, and with the guidance of the county and invest Stratford , to attract the employees they need and help keep them here for the long term , she added.

By highlighting success stories, local employers can have the confidence they need to invest in attraction and retention programs that have been proven to work elsewhere.

“Our employers are stretched thin. … Everyone is just trying to keep their head above water and keep moving forward,” Forget said. “Hopefully this tool will help assist employers who are looking to hire, retain or find creative ways to address their labor issues within their workspace.”

Employers can register for access to the toolkit by completing the online form at www.perthcounty.ca/employerregistration.

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