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HR Fact Skill Gaps in Grocery Retail / Wholesale

Demographics and the Supply of Skills

Overall, the Canadian labour force is facing a number of structural challenges. They are:

An aging workforce - A large part of Canada’s labour force is closer to retirement than at the beginning of their careers. In fact, Canada’s population is barely replacing itself. This results in a shrinking pool of labour that is affecting all industries not just grocery retailers.

The skill gaps - All grocery retail operators throughout Canada, large chains and independent stores, are having the greatest problems in filling technical positions requiring more intense training, such as meat cutter, baker, cake decorator and horticultural/floral department worker.

The training gaps -  Colleges, over the years, cut programs in these areas and the few that do offer such courses, tend to only offer exhaustive programs (slaughter to sausage making in butchery, for example) which graduates people who have higher immediate employment expectations than what exists in the grocery retail or wholesale industry.

The consequences to the industry are grave.

The Competitive Environment

The situation is further exacerbated by the competitive environment. The issues are outlined below:

Fierce competition -  To compete with the big box merchandisers, Canadian retailers have to offer quality and a variety of choice, both of which are reliant on an ever decreasing supply of skilled workers.

Consumer demands -  To serve increasingly demanding consumers who, in addition to value, also want variety, retailers have to ensure high quality service – again, heavily relying on a diminishing pool of skilled workers.

The service gap - The result is that many stores are often forced to shut down departments when skilled workers are unavailable - even in temporary situations of illness as the volume of skilled store staff is limited.

The consequences -  Some retailers are forced to close departments entirely as skilled managers or supervisors are unavailable.

The latter two situations present serious financial challenges if not outright risks when one considers that, for example, a bakery department which is responsible for some 30 – 40% of a store’s income, is closed indefinitely while the manager frantically searches for or trains replacements.

Background
The Canadian Grocery HR Council (CGHRC) undertook a needs assessment to identify and ultimately develop curriculum to fill those gaps. The needs assessment included surveying its specialist Training and Development Committee, its Board of Directors who are human resources’ vice-presidents or senior executives, union representatives, the Federation of Independent Grocers and the Association des Détaillants en Alimentation du Québec. The CGHRC Board represents about 95% of the industry nation-wide.

 

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