Diego Syz
Omineca Express
There has been an increase in turnover of new employees over the past seven years, according to Alan Fitzpatrick, General Manager of Nechako Lumber located west of Vanderhoof.
“It’s the entry-level operators where we find more turnover here,” says Fitzpatrick.
“(However) we are very fortunate in having a stable workforce who have been here a long time,” he says.
This means if an employee has been with Nechako Lumber for over 10 years they are more than likely to stay with the company, opposed to someone starting in an entry-level position, Fitzpatrick says.
Fitzpatrick attributes his long-time employee loyalty to a program training people in stages through various levels of trade apprenticeships.
“We train them here and then they move up through the system.”
“We used to have almost zero turnover,” says Fitzpatrick.
Today, some people start with the company and move on to other lines of work, according to Fitzpatrick.
Some of the various trade apprenticeships offered by the company include: carpentry, mobile/heavy mechanic, millwright, welder, electrician and saw filers according to Fitzpatrick.
The revelation from the Nechako Lumber is hand-in-hand with the March 2014 findings from StatsCanada of a fewer number of people working in the region now than the same period in 2013 according to B.C. Local News.
Nechako Lumber is just one of the companies affected by the recent decline in the labour force in the area from the North Shore to West of Vanderhoof, reported by StatsCanada
rick attributes his long-time employee loyalty to a program training people in stages through various levels of trade apprenticeships.
“We train them here and then they move up through the system.”
“We used to have almost zero turnover,” says Fitzpatrick.
Today, people are beginning an apprenticeship program and moving on to another job or line of work, according to Fitzpatrick.
Some of the various trade apprenticeships offered by the company include: carpentry, mobile/heavy mechanic, millwright, welder, electrician and saw filers according to Fitzpatrick.
The revelation from the Nechako Green Energy Ltd. is hand-in-hand with the March 2014 findings from Stats Canada of a fewer number of people working in the region now than the same period in 2013 according to B.C. Local News
Notes from B.C. Local News
Information for March 2014 states 36,600 people in March 2013 in March 2013 for the area from the North Coast to just west of Vanderhoof.
Accordingly, the labour force, which is defined as the number of people who consider themselves as part of the labour force whether working or not has also dropped- from 42,900 in March 2013 to 39, 800 in March 2014.
At the same time, the number of people whoa are unemployed has also declined, from M3,500 in March 2013 to 3,200 in March 2014.
The result is a March 2014 jobless rate of eight per cent compared to 8.2 per cent in March 2013.