Security systems firm Fitch Security Integration had to lay off employees at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Now the company is facing the opposite problem: it is in desperate need of technicians to install and service security systems and willing to pay a $7000 bonus to anyone who makes the cut.
“The signing bonus numbers just came up in desperation,” said Edward Fitchett, president of the Toronto company, which typically fills jobs through networking and rarely needs ads.
His small business is not alone. CBC News reviewed dozens of popular job listings sites in Canada like Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, SimplyHired and Workoplis and found signing bonuses listed for jobs at big businesses like Amazon, Aspire Bakeries and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
The use of signing bonuses for common jobs signals that “these are desperate times” for some companies, says Marie-Hélène Budworth, an associate professor with the School of Human Resource Management at York University.
Canada’s jobless rate stood at 7.8 per cent in June, and there are about 830,000 workers aged 25-54 without full-time work. Yet as pandemic restrictions ease, some sectors are finding it hard to get the workers they need.
Limited data is available on the popularity of signing bonuses in Canada.
The job site Indeed says ads including signing bonuses have not substantially increased this year. But recruitment firm Robert Half found 35 per cent of 800 senior managers in a variety of sectors it surveyed were offering signing bonuses to help woo workers.
Marie-Hélène Budworth, an associate professor at the School of Human Resource Management at York University, says the use of signing bonuses for common jobs signals that some companies feel ‘these are desperate times.’ (James Dunne/CBC News)
From drivers to hair stylists
Signing bonuses are typically used in tailored offers to top executives, highly-skilled workers such as engineers and tech specialists as well as some trades workers like mechanics.
But an online sampling shows signing bonuses are now being included in ads for more common jobs across the country.
In Nova Scotia, a licensed hair stylist can collect a signing bonus to join the Chatters Hair Salon in Halifax, while a delivery driver can get $1000 to sign with the non-profit National Diabetes Trust in Dartmouth.
In B.C., the Fairmont Chateau Whistler will pay out a $500 bonus and the same amount in relocation costs for room attendants, Aspire Bakeries is offering $1000 to new production workers in Burnaby and Molly Maid is putting up $1000 for new cleaners in Victoria.
Tense times for two companies in Ontario
In Caledon, Ont., just over an hour northwest of Toronto, Thomas Wilson is relieved to see pandemic restrictions easing and says his orchard and restaurant business has never been busier.
“People can’t go away. They can’t go to great far-off destinations,” said Wilson, who owns the Spirit Tree Estate Cidery.
But he is worried.
Thomas Wilson is the owner of the Spirit Tree Estate Cidery in Caledon, Ont. He is offering $1000 signing bonuses to attract new employees he desperately needs. (Craig Chivers/CBC News)
He has eight students on staff who will soon leave for school and he’s already short five workers, two of them in key roles.
“If I don’t get some hiring done in the next week, I will also be the head baker and the sous chef until we fill those roles,” he said.
To lure candidates, Wilson is advertising a $1000 signing bonus for each job.
It’s not the first time he has used bonuses. But after three weeks without any luck in hiring staff, the pressure is mounting as his kitchen struggles to keep up and event bookings are turned down.
Wilson says offering a bigger bonus would be hard because other costs are up as well.
“We lost money last year. We lost money this year so far,” he said. “We can only go so far.”
Fitchett, the security system company owner in Toronto, says he is even considering increasing the sum offered as a signing bonus.
“It’s crazy that it should be, but it is,” he said.
He had to lay off four of his technicians early in the pandemic. Three didn’t come back and the company has been struggling for a few months to keep up with pent-up demand for services.
Now he has job postings up for three jobs, each offering $7000 signing bonuses. After 30 days, he did not have a single qualified applicant. He says the staff shortage is causing delays on jobs and may force him to turn clients away.
Vans are parked at Fitch Security Integration in Toronto. The company is looking for skilled technicians to drive the vans to job sites and start installing security systems. (James Dunne/CBC News)
“You can look outside our back door and see a fleet of trucks sitting there waiting for employees. Without these employees the jobs the salesmen bring in don’t get installed,” he said.
Not a universal solution
In Langley, B.C., Trevor Borland, the owner of fastener maker Pacific Bolt, is considering robotics to make up for lost business due to a lack of labourers and skilled workers to keep up with orders.
Other businesses in his area are struggling for help too.
“When you drive down the road coming into the industrial park we’re in, almost every building has a giant ‘Help Wanted’ sign,” he said.
Trevor Borland owns Pacific Bolt, a manufacturer of fasteners. He’s desperate to hire staff for his Langley, B.C. factory. Instead of signing bonuses, he has raised wages by as much as 15 per cent to attract new hires. (Christian Amundson/CBC News)
He doesn’t know of anyone offering a signing bonus, but Borland has offered referral bonuses of $500 to employees who bring in a new hire, and raised wages by as much as 15 per cent.
Budworth says raises are better for workers in the long run, and that employees would benefit from trying to lower the signing bonus to increase the salary instead.
She and other experts say that as immigration gradually resumes, some of the pressure on the labour force will ease as more skilled and temporary foreign workers come into the country.
Budworth predicts the signing bonus trend will have a limited life span.
“It might last a while, but it won’t last forever,” she said.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
