TORONTO —
Although COVID-19 spread in Canada remains far greater than it was last spring, many Canadian employers seem ready to abandon the hiring freezes and bare-bones workforces that got them through 2020.
A recent survey conducted on behalf of staffing agency Express Employment Professionals (EEP) found that 31 per cent of hiring decision-makers expect their company to increase hiring in 2021, while only 10 per cent expect less hiring this year.
When a similar survey was taken at this time last year, only 16 per cent of hiring managers expected their company to take on new workers.
Of course, 2020 didn’t play out the way anyone was expecting it to last January. Last year’s survey was taken before COVID-19 had even been given that name, much less become a serious concern among Canadians.
Larger companies appear to be most bullish on hiring this year. According to the company’s survey, 42 per cent of employers with 100 or more employees plan to add to their workforces in 2021, versus 17 per cent of companies with fewer than 10 employees.
“The larger companies tend to be more resilient, they’re more diverse, they’ve got a little bit more flexibility from a cash perspective as well,” Jessica Culo, an EEP franchise owner in Edmonton, told CTVNews.ca via telephone.
“The smaller businesses tend to be not so optimistic.”
That lack of optimism is well-earned. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses estimates that 58,000 small businesses became inactive in 2020, and 181,000 – about one in six – are seriously contemplating following their lead.
Every time a business closes, its competitors gain a bit of market share, which may also help explain why larger organizations are in a better position to hire this year, Culo said.
Less clear is when over the next 11 months that hiring will actually happen. Most companies seem to be holding off for now, Culo said, anticipating that vaccinations and reopenings will have life somewhat back to normal before the end of 2021.
The EEP survey was conducted by The Harris Poll between Nov. 16 and Dec. 7, 2020, and involved online surveys of 506 Canadian hiring decision-makers.
WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
If the jobs boom EEP expects does come to pass, it won’t happen right away.
After regaining first-wave job losses for seven straight months, the Canadian economy shed 63,000 positions in December, according to Statistics Canada. Economists expect the January numbers to show further tightening of the job market, due to the restrictions on businesses in most provinces over the holiday season.
But while the losses were felt heavily in the most affected economic sectors – accommodation and food services, hair salons and culture, among others – some industries were gaining jobs even as COVID-19 cases hit record levels.
Topping that list was manufacturing, which picked up 15,000 jobs in December. Culo said manufacturing and supply chain industries, such as transportation, logistics and packaging, are among those that seem to be hiring most in the first weeks of 2021 as well.
Beyond that, though, she is also seeing demand in medical services and supplies, construction, project management, business services and accounting.
Staffing and recruitment agency Randstad Canada sees similar trends. Delivery drivers, procurement and supply chain specialists, and warehouse workers all made the cut for its list of the jobs expected to experience the most growth in Canadian demand in 2021.
“There’s lots of opportunity that’s starting to come back. The economy is starting to recover, regardless of what’s going on with the closures,” Carolyn Levy, Randstad’s president of technologies and chief diversity officer, told CTVNews.ca on Thursday via telephone from Calgary.
Randstad’s list also includes several positions that have direct connections to pandemic life: customer service representatives, essential retail workers, security analysts and architects, IT and support desk specialists, and registered nurses.
Retail workers may seem like an outlier on that list, even narrowed down to the essential stores allowed to stay open in many parts of the country. Levy said the health risk posed by working in retail is making it hard for some companies to fill all of their open positions.
“It’s actually been quite difficult to attract people into that sector and then keep it sustainable, so they feel secure and safe while they’re just trying to stock the shelves or help you check out,” she said.
“That’s not something we associated to groceries before – you are having a higher risk by being present. Not everyone’s up for that.”
Administrative assistants are on Randstad’s list, too. Levy said that these positions were more often being eliminated before the pandemic, but employers now see them as necessary.
“That’s really coming back, because of how many people are remote and the logistics around working with teams,” she said.
THE FUTURE IS REMOTE
Several of the positions on Randstad’s most-hirable list can be done remotely. However, the company sees remote work as such a prominent and permanent fixture of the Canadian business landscape that it released a separate list focusing only on jobs that can be performed from home.
That top 10 includes the IT roles necessary to make remote work feasible, as well as 21st-century positions, such as social media managers and digital marketers, but also some jobs for which not working in an office was once thought impossible, including accountants and human resources administrators.
According to Levy, employers who have surveyed their employees about what sort of workplace they want going forward have found that an overwhelming majority of workers want to be able to continue to work from home at least some of the time.
The shift to remote work is not only affecting how employers interact with their employees, it’s also changing how companies deal with each other.
Culo said workers in sales positions have seen significant changes, as virtual meetings provide for a different sort of relationship-building with clients than the traditional face-to-face approach.
“The men and women that we’re placing in those roles, they’re having to adapt,” she said.
Buoyed by the rise of remote work, some Canadians are already fleeing big cities for quieter and more affordable communities, expecting that they’ll be able to do their jobs from these places even once the pandemic is over. Employers, likewise, are realizing that there are benefits to attracting talented workers who may not want to live near their offices or deal with long commutes.
“Definitely this stuff is going to stick. This has introduced a new way of work, and it’s disrupted a lot of old business norms that used to exist,” Levy said.
“This is what businesses have to pay attention to, if they have not paid attention to it yet.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Nick Saban has a message for Tua Tagovailoa: Listen to experts, then decide what happens next.
Antonio Pierce had another message: It’s time to retire.
Saban, Pierce and countless others within the game were speaking out Friday about Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins quarterback who is now dealing with the third confirmed concussion of his NFL career — all coming within the last 24 months. He was hurt in the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, leaving the game after a scary and all-too-familiar on-field scene.
“This has to be a medical decision,” Saban said on ESPN, where the now-retired coach works as an analyst. “I mean, you have to let medical people who understand the circumstances around these injuries, these concussions — and when you have multiple concussions, that’s not a good sign.
“I think Tua and his family and everyone else should listen to all the medical evidence to make sure you’re not compromising your future health-wise by continuing to play football.”
That process — gathering the medical facts — was getting underway in earnest on Friday, when Tagovailoa was set to be further evaluated at the team’s facility. He was diagnosed with a concussion within minutes of sustaining the injury on Thursday and there is no timetable for his return.
“I’ll be honest: I’d just tell him to retire,” Pierce, the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, said Friday. “It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it to play the game. I haven’t witnessed anything like I’ve seen that’s happened to him three times. Scary. You could see right away, the players’ faces on the field, you could see the sense of urgency from everybody to get Tua help. He’s going to live longer than he’s going to play football. Take care of your family.”
Concern — and opinions — have poured in from all across the football world ever since Tagovailoa got hurt. It is not a surprising topic — the questions of “should he? or shouldn’t he?” continue to play — nor is this the first time they have been asked. Tagovailoa himself said in April 2023 that he and his family weighed their options after he was diagnosed twice with concussions in the 2022 season.
But Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said it’s not his place, nor is it the time, to have discussions about whether Tagovailoa should play again.
“Those types of conversations, when you’re talking about somebody’s career, it probably is only fair that their career should be decided by them,” McDaniel said.
The Dolphins said Friday that they will bring in another quarterback, and for now are entrusting the starting job to Skylar Thompson. McDaniel said the team will not rush to any other judgments, that the only opinions that truly matter right now come from two sides — Tagovailoa and his family, and the medical experts who will monitor his recovery.
“The thing about it is everybody wants to play, and they love this game so much, and they give so much to it that when things like this happen, reality kind of hits a little bit,” Jacksonville coach Doug Pedersen said Friday. “It just shows the human nature, or the human side of our sport.”
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AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS – Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics by capturing Diamond League gold on Friday.
Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., won the competition, the final Diamond League event of the season, with a heave of 20.25 metres on her third throw.
Chase Jackson of the U.S. placed second with a throw of 19.90, while German’s Yemisi Ogunleye, the Olympic gold medallist, claimed bronze with a toss of 19.72.
Mitton, the runner-up of last year’s world championship, failed to qualify for the top eight in Paris.
Edmonton runner Marco Arop, who won silver for Canada in the men’s 800 metres at the Paris Games, was scheduled to race in the 800 on Saturday.
Olympic bronze-medallist Alysha Newman, of London, Ont., also competes Saturday in the women’s pole vault.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Greg Harden, who counseled countless people at the University of Michigan from Tom Brady to Michael Phelps, and Desmond Howard to J.J. McCarthy, has died. He was 75.
Michigan athletics spokesman Dave Ablauf said the family informed the athletic department that Harden died Thursday due to complications from surgery.
The late Bo Schembechler, a College Football Hall of Fame coach, hired Harden in 1986 as a staff consultant and student-athlete personal development program counselor.
“He meant the world to me and I could never have had the success I had without the time, energy, love and support he had given me,” said Brady, a former Michigan quarterback who went on to win seven Super Bowls in a 22-year career.
Howard, who won the Hesiman Trophy in 1991, was part of the first wave of Wolverines to count Harden as a confidant, mentor and friend.
“Greg brought wisdom, joy and his calming nature to every encounter,” Howard said. “His presence will be missed by all of us.
“Although my family and I are heartbroken, we hold on to the lessons, guidance and memories that will forever be Greg’s legacy. We are blessed beyond measure to have had him in our lives.”
Harden, who was from Detroit, earned undergraduate and master’s degrees at Michigan.
Phelps lived and trained in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after emerging as swimming star at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and worked on his mental health with Harden.
Harden retired from his role as director of counseling for Michigan’s athletic department in 2020. He still continued to work, advising student-athletes at Michigan along with the Toronto Maple Leafs as the NHL team’s peak performance coach.
He published his first book, “Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive,” last year.
Michigan athletics announced Harden’s death, and shared statements from some of the many people who knew him.
McCarthy, a Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback, sent the school his thoughts in the form of a letter to Harden.
“You gave me the courage and belief as we fought hand and hand against the demons that I’ve spent my entire life fighting,” McCarthy wrote. “You have inspired me by your ability to unconditionally love everyone and everything.”
While many famous football players worked with Harden, he also was a trusted adviser for women and men in all sports and walks of life, including broadcaster Michelle McMahon, who played volleyball at Michigan.
“He poured his heart into thousands of students, athletes, and celebrities alike without any expectation of gaining anything in return,” McMahon said. “He dedicated his entire life to making a difference and investing in the growth of the young impressionable minds that were lucky enough to meet him.
“His captivating presence and charisma captured the rooms he walked in. Greg’s gift to the world was his unwavering ability to help people see themselves fully, in full acceptance of their flaws and their gifts. His relentless approach made it impossible for his mentees to give up on themselves.”
