To provide accurate and timely employment forecasts for business leaders, Express Employment Professionals International Headquarters commissions an ongoing Job Insights survey to track employment and hiring trends across a wide range of industries.
Hiring Growth Remains Optimistic in 2023
Canadian hiring decision-makers report feeling positive about the future of the workforce, with the most common feelings attributed to hiring in 2023 being optimistic (35%), hopeful (32%), and confident (29%). According to hiring decision-makers, in the first half of 2023:
- 49% plan to increase the number of employees at their company
- 42% expect no change to the number of employees/that it will stay the same
- 7% anticipate a decrease in employee count
Finding Qualified Candidates and Increased Turnover Among Challenges in 2023
As positions remain unfilled and turnover is expected to increase, remaining employees are likely to incur greater demands and heavier workloads. Companies must seek to alleviate the burnout of those who remain or risk the fallout of even greater turnover.
Despite the positive outlook of Canadian hiring decision-makers regarding the future of hiring, 91% expect to face challenges, including:
- Finding qualified candidates (51%)
- Increased competition in the job market (28%)
- Available talent pool not matching the company’s needs (26%)
- Their pay not being competitive (23%)
While there may be challenges for hiring in the future, 37% of decision-makers say they currently have open positions they can’t fill, on par with the first half of 2022. For those who have open positions still unfilled, they say it is commonly due to a lack of applicants who possess the following qualifications:
- Hard skills (43%)
- Relevant experience (42%)
- Applicants with soft skills (30%)
Another challenge companies face is turnover. Nearly 3 in 10 Canadian hiring decision-makers (29%) expect employee turnover at their company will increase this year—on par with levels seen in the second half of 2020.
Flexible Hours Are in High Demand, Yet Companies Hesitant to Offer
Flexibility appears a key component in the ideal workplace for many Canadian workers. When given the option of working an 8-hour workday (but flexible start time), traditional 9-5, or a compressed schedule such as four 10-hour days, more than a third prefer an 8-hour day with a flexible start time (36%).
Nine in 10 Canadian hiring decision-makers (90%) report that employees at their company are currently productive – with nearly 2 in 5 (37%) saying they are very productive. And, if given the ability to design their own schedules, the majority of hiring decision-makers feel employees would have about the same level of productivity (59%) or be more productive (27%).
Still, there appears to be some hesitation in companies offering this amount of flexibility.
Nearly 7 in 10 Canadian hiring decision-makers (69%) report concerns in their company offering flexible work hours – including:
- Decreased productivity (28%)
- Delayed communications (26%)
- Difficulty meeting deadlines (24%)
- Increased distractions (23%)
- An inability of employees to collaborate (23%)
- Difficulty scheduling meetings (23%)
The survey was conducted online within Canada by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express between Dec. 1 and 15, 2022, among 506 Canadian hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in Canada who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than one employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 4.6 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.
An omnibus survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from Dec. 13, 2022, among 1,050 adults in Canada ages 18 and older, of which 638 are employed and 508 identify as jobseekers. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, race, region, education, marital status, household size, and language, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 3.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.
No comments yet.