New workshop dates posted

Eight workshops added to STEC's training and events calendar:

• January 3 to 5, Saskatoon: Facilitator Skills Development (open to the public).
• January 7 – 10, Saskatoon: Service Best (closed workshop for school).
• January 9 to 11, Saskatoon: Facilitators Skills Development (open to the public).
• January 14 – 15, Saskatoon: Marketing 101 (closed workshop for school).
• January 23, Southeast Regional College (Carry The Kettle First Nation): Service Best (closed workshop for employer).
• January 23, La Ronge: Showing We Care, Mamawetin Churchill River HR (closed workshop for employer).
• January 24, Meadow Lake: Service Best, North West Regional College (closed workshop for employer).
• March 13, La Ronge: Showing We Care, Mamawetin Churchill River HR (closed workshop for employer).

Upcoming Service Best workshops

We've got Service Best and related workshops now scheduled into March. There's likely one taking place near you.

Service Best workshop gives you the skills and confidence to deliver superior customer service. Learn useful tools that create memorable customer experiences, identify and respond to customer needs, and turn dissatisfied customers into loyal fans. All workshops are open to the public, except where noted.

November - December, 2012

• November 19 - 20, Selling is Service, Saskatoon (closed workshop for employer)
• November 20,Showing We Care, La Ronge (closed workshop for employer)
• November 20, Service Best, Saskatoon
• November 21, Service Best, Meadow Lake
• November 22,  Service Best, Saskatoon-Whitecap (closed workshop for employer)
• November 26 - 27, Workplace Etiquette, Saskatoon (closed workshop for employer)
• November 27, Service Best, Prince Albert
• November 28, Service Best, La Ronge
• December 4, Service Best, Melville
• December 5, Service Best, Yorkton
• December 12 - 13, Serve It Right Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (closed workshop for employer)
• December 17 - 18, Volunteer Tourism Ambassador, Saskatoon (closed workshop for employer)

 

January - March, 2013

• January 15, Service Best, Regina
• January 15, Service Best, Humboldt
• January 22, Service Best, Estevan
• January 22,  Service Best, Saskatoon
• February 5, Service Best, Weyburn 
• February 5, Service Best, Swift Current
• February 12, Service Best, Moose Jaw
• February 12, Service Best, Nipawin
• February 19, Service Best, Kindersley
• February 19, Service Best, Lloydminster
• February 26, Service Best, Rosetown
• March 5, Service Best, Meadow Lake
• March 5, Service Best, North Battleford
• March 5, Service Best, Regina
• March 12, Service Best, Saskatoon
• March 12, Service Best, Prince Albert
• March 19, Service Best, La Ronge
• March 19, Service Best, Melville
• March 26, Service Best, Yorkton
  

Saskatoon RTW luncheons and dinners now open

 Our Ready to Work - Intro to Culinary Arts Saskatoon luncheons and dinners are now taking reservations at our demonstration restaurant.

As with earlier RTW projects in Regina and Saskatoon, students demonstrate their new skills as kitchen staff or food and beverage servers to potential employers.


We have a variety of dates in Saskatoon, with luncheons running from November 14 to 23 and dinners from November 27 to December 7. The dates make it convenient, but you do need to make a reservation.

Luncheons:

Dates: November 14 to 16 and November 20 to 23, 2012.
Time: 12:00 pm (by reservation only)
Place: St. John's Anglican Church, 816 Spadina Crescent East
RSVP: Lynne Kennedy, STEC Manager of Special Projects, (306) 933-7187
or Cindy Wright, Administrative Assistant RTW, (306) 933-5928.
Toll-free: 1-800-331-1529

Dinners:

Date: November 27 to 30 and December 4 to 7, 2012
Time: 5:30 p.m. (by reservation only)
Place: Saskatoon Trades and Skills, 450 Avenue W North
RSVP: Lynne Kennedy, STEC Manager of Special Projects, (306) 933-7187
or Cindy Wright, Administrative Assistant RTW, (306) 933-5928.
Toll-free: 1-800-331-1529

OPENING DOORS TO TOURISM & HOSPITATLITY

Intro to Culinary Arts - Ready to Work is a national career awareness, skills development, and transition to employment program that assists individuals in finding long-term, rewarding careers. Participants and staff would be honoured to serve you!

In partnership with STC Urban Services, Saskatoon Trades and Skills Centre, Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, Tourism Saskatchewan, STEC, and funded in part by the Government of Canada.

Let's do lunch, Regina

Our Ready to Work - Intro to Culinary Arts Students are hosting a VIP luncheon in Regina, and you're the VIP.

Students are learning valuable skills as kitchen staff or food and beverage servers. Now, they want show employers what they can do.

It's not every day that you can have prospective employees give you a hands-on demonstration of their skills. They've created a wonderful restaurant experience.

If you employ staff in food preparation or service, come out and join us for lunch. It's on us - no charge. We think you'll be impressed enough to want to hire these students. There's a variety of dates open, to make it convenient for you, but you do need to make a reservation.

If you're in Saskatoon, don't despair. Our Saskatoon RTW students will be opening their demonstration restaurant in a few weeks, so stay tuned for details.

Meanwhile, here's the scoop for the Regina luncheons.

Dates: October 24, 26, and 31; and November 2, 6, 7, 9, 16, and 21.

Time: 12:00 pm (by reservation only)

Place: Regina Food Bank, 445 Winnipeg Street

RSVP: by  November 16, 2012 to Lynne Kennedy, STEC Manager of Special Projects,        1-800-331-1529

OPENING DOORS TO TOURISM & HOSPITATLITY

Intro to Culinary Arts - Ready to Work is a national career awareness, skills development, and transition to employment program that assists individuals in finding long-term, rewarding careers.  Participants and staff would be honoured to serve you!

In partnership with Regina Trades and Skills Centre, Regina and District Food Bank,  Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council,  Tourism Saskatchewan and STEC

You think you're having a bad day now!

Sometimes, little decisions, made in haste to get you through a tiring day with minimum hassle, can have life altering consequences. Here's a good example. Six years ago, a visitor from Fargo, North Dakota, hunting in Saskatchewan stopped for lunch at a restaurant. What could have been a pleasant meal turned instead into life-and-death struggle for the hunter and a five-year nightmare for the former owners of the restaurant and the waitress who served the hunting party.

What would you do in this situation? Would you take the time to get your facts straight before answering a customer's question, or would you make your best guess and leave it at that? How would you handle the situation if the restaurant is crowded, full of noisy families with screaming babies demanding your attention, and you're tired? Would you really make the effort? Would it occur to you how badly things can go if you make the wrong judgement?

Three Ready To Work projects underway this fall

We have three Ready To Work projects starting this fall:

• Regina (started September 4)
• Lloydminster (started September 11)
• Saskatoon (starting September 24)

First of all, welcome to the 60 or so (we don't yet have a final count for Saskatoon) Ready
to Work participants! We're glad to have you in our STEC "family", and we hope that you'll keep in touch as you embark on your new careers. We always love to know how you're doing.

To the employers out there, if you're in a position to hire new workers, you'll be happy to know that this fall's Ready To Work participants will be perfect candidates that will be ready for employment in time for your busy Christmas holiday season.

Our Ready To Work participants learn the skills that employers look for in entry level recruits, making them ideal candidates for work in tourism, hospitality and remote camp occupations. The RTW program delivers practical classroom instruction; hands-on skills training; safety training, including WHMIS, first aid / CPR, SIRS and Food Safe; and on-the-job mentoring.

Our Ready To Work coordinator has a Facebook account that lets RTW participants keep in touch with one another and to connect with STEC. This is the easiest and quickest way to locate and communicate with many RTW graduates. Employers can use our Facebook profile to find candidates for entry level positions. Just "friend" Ready To Work STEC and post a status update with a link to your job posting.

Parliamentary Secretary announces youth funding in Saskatoon

This morning, Dr. Kellie Leitch, Parliamentary Secretary to Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley, was in our Saskatoon offices to announce that the federal government was launching Calls for Proposals to deliver $50 million in funding for the Youth Employment Strategy.

STEC Manager of HR Development Darcy Acton,
Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Kellie Leitch, and
Tourism Saskatchewan Industry Development
Manager Ian McGilp pose for a photo following
Wednesday's announcement in Saskatoon.
(Photo: Service Canada)

We were happy to be part of today's announcement. STEC has been helping our province’s tourism and hospitality employers recruit, train and retain a professional, skilled workforce for more than 20 years.

For most of that time, Ready To Work – Tourism Careers has been an important component of our service delivery.

Since 1994, more than 40 communities and three thousand youth have participated in Ready to Work in Saskatchewan.

Graduates have found long-term rewarding careers, returned to school, and moved from front-line to supervisory positions.

In fact, of the 300 participants who went through the program last year, 80 per cent are still employed.

We're able to get those remarkable results because of the support we receive from federal programs such as those announced today, as well at the valuable support we receive from our provincial and community partners.

That support makes it possible for people from under-represented groups to make the transition from unemployment or under-employment to the workforce. In addition to tourism, a valuable contributor to our provincial economy, participants also find work in mining and other significant economic sectors.

We currently have four RTW projects running in Saskatchewan: Saskatoon, Lloydminster, Regina, and La Ronge.

Register early for Tourism and Hospitality Forum

The CTHRC sends the following reminder that early bird registration for the Tourism and Hospitality Forum ends tomorrow:

Tourism and Hospitality HR Forum 2012

FINAL DAY TO SAVE $100!

Register Now! Register by August 17th, 2012 and SAVE $100.00

October 2-4, 2012
Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel

The HR Forum has become a “must go” event for anyone involved in managing and developing people for the tourism sector - executives, managers, corporate trainers, educators and association representatives. With a focus on critical issues related to recruitment, retention, and staff development in these challenging times, this event provides an opportunity you won’t want to miss!

See full program

Summer Youth Internship winds down another successful year

The Saskatoon Industry-Education Council (SIEC) Summer Youth Internship Program, running July 9 to August 17, held its annual Celebration Luncheon at Marion Graham Collegiate in Saskatoon yesterday (August 15).
Congratulations to the 68 students and 50 businesses that participated in this year's program. Special thanks to Chili's Saskatoon and to The Rook and Raven for the three culinary interns they hired for the summer.

Traditionally, most interns are hired in the construction trades, but with cooks and other food and beverage staff increasingly in short supply, we're sure to see more restaurants participating by next year.

There's no better way to start preparing your future employees than by hiring them as interns while they're still exploring career options. And there's no better way to hire interns than by working with our friends and partners at SIEC, because of the preparation, support and workplace mentoring that is available to them.

The SEIC recruits Grade 11 and 12 students from the three school divisions in the greater Saskatoon area. STEC recruits food service employers to participate in the program.

SIEC Summer Youth Internships get cooking

The Saskatoon Industry-Education Council's Summer Youth Internship Program (SYIP) is underway. For the past three years, the program has included cook internships.

The paid internships run from July 9 to August 17. Now in its eighth year, the program attracts 54 companies mentoring more than 80 youth. These companies will have paid more than $900,000 in wages into this program since the start. At least 25 youth participants will also gain Apprenticeship credits which can be used towards graduation from high school, while other interns will also complete the Saskatchewan Youth Apprenticeship certificate. The highlight of the program is the Summer Youth Internship Celebration luncheon on August 15.

Historically, construction trades take most students, but for the past three years there has been growing interest to train future cooks as the hospitality industry faces a shortage of skilled labour.

Students get hands-on experience, allowing them to investigate career options. They get relevant experience, evaluations, specialized training, and job coaching. Employers can see how the students fit into their businesses, often keeping the students on the payroll after their internships end.

The SEIC recruits Grade 11 and 12 students from the three school divisions in the greater Saskatoon area. STEC recruits food service employers to participate in the program.

In fact, if you own or operate a restaurant or other business that prepares and serves food, perhaps you'd like hire an intern next summer. You'd be expected to pay the student at least minimum wage, providing valuable summer employment for your intern, but unlike hiring inexperienced staff off the street or through classified advertising, you and your intern receive SYIP support that includes Food Safe and other safety training and a job coach who helps the student integrate into your workplace.

The kitchen and operations manager at one popular Saskatoon restaurant and lounge, who hired his first intern last summer, said that "the program sounded like a really good opportunity for the student and for us."

Hiring high school students is a good place to start, he said, because they haven't developed any habits that might make them unsuitable for a particular employer. Last year's intern is still working at the restaurant.

How to keep employees during a labour shortage

Earlier in June, the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council released its labour supply and demand study titled, The Future of Canada’s Tourism Sector. I posed a question on the STEC Facebook Page at the time. (If you're game for a little bit of fun, go visit our Facebook page before reading any further and try out the little quiz I posted there on June 6. In it, I've asked you to take a guess at rating the top non-wage benefits that help employee retention.)

This study quantifies the implications of long-term demographic and economic trends on labour supply and demand in Canada’s tourism sector, and outlines potential labour shortages over the next 20 years by industry, by province, and by occupation.

The CTHRC study warns of a looming 20-year labour shortage. Saskatchewan is among five provinces to be especially hard-hit, with a projected shortage equal to 1,227 full time jobs within a year. By 2030, that shortfall could rise to 7,396 unless businesses begin to act now.

In shortest supply: chefs, other kitchen workers, entry-level counter staff and housekeeping room attendants.

The report outlines strategies for tourism employers to improve their labour supply, including non-wage benefits that are most attractive to Canadian workers and that are most likely to help employers retain their workforce.

While preparing the report, the CTHRC surveyed 1,000 workers - employed or looking for employment - and asked them what non-wage goodies would either keep them with their current employers or entice them to work with one employer rather than another. The resulting 23 benefits - especially the top 10 - might surprise you. There's a different top 10 depending on whether or not you make over $100,000 a year, whether or not you already have a job, and how old you are.

For Canadians who are currently employed, here are the most important non-wage benefits keeping them with their current employer:

1. vacation time of more than two weeks.
2. health and dental plans.
3. short- and long-term disability benefits.
4. employee life insurance.
5. registered pension plan.
6. flex time/flexible hours.
7. formal professional development.
8. informal professional development.

In other words, if you're looking to retain staff, you should carefully consider providing these highly rated benefits to employees if you are not already.

In the middle are the non-wage benefits that might or might not matter to employees. These vary greatly in importance, depending on employees' current income and age! You'll need to do your homework and have a good understanding of your employees as individuals before you make decisions about these benefits:

• Group RRSP.
• Employee discounts/free services.
• Sales bonuses and/or commissions.
• Company car/mileage allowance.
• Profit-sharing plan.
• Maternity/parental leave.

At the very bottom of the list, of least interest to employees:

• cell phone/smart phone.
• fitness club membership.
• telecommuting/home-based work.
• on-site fitness centre.
• association memberships
• job sharing.
• tickets to events.
• bus or subway passes.

If you're currently putting most of your effort into those benefits at the bottom of the list, you likely aren't having much of an effect on employee turnover. That's not a good thing in the face of a labour shortage. Of course, if you're not doing anything on any of these lists, that's even worse!

I've been looking around at various employee recognition/retention programs that are offered to employers. Surprisingly, most "turnkey" programs focus on benefits at the bottom of the scale - the freebies, discounts, "perqs" and other stuff that employees don't particularly want or care about and that doesn't make any difference in helping employers retain their staff. These programs all but neglect the most important non-wage benefits near the top of the list.

A lot of employers subscribe to group benefit plans separately from other retention programs, and that's something that every employer should consider, no matter how big or small. But there's still a large gap in non-wage benefits that employers need for workforce retention. Professional development, whether formal or informal, is the biggest unfulfilled demand in most small to medium businesses, and it's one area where a little investment can pay out big results. It sounds complicated, but it doesn't have to be. It's basically a matter of making sure that employees are given the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge to do their jobs and serve their customers well. It might mean helping employees earn professional certification as front line workers, supervisors or managers. It could involve encouraging employees to apprentice toward journeyperson in a tourism or other trade. It could be as simple as enrolling in half-day or day-long workshops in customer service, responsible liquor service, or sales techniques. Just as important as the training or development is the follow-through. Don't give your employees the tools to do their jobs better and give customers more satisfaction and then expect everyone to keep doing things the way they were always done.

As we get closer to a serious labour crunch, employers are going to have to take a much closer look at their retention practices. Hanging out a "help wanted" sign just won't help any more.

Sweet deal for VIC managers

Do you work in one of the 112 Visitor Information Centres located in towns and cities throughout Saskatchewan? Or, maybe you know someone who does.

If so, we'd like to remind VIC managers that they can download copies of emerit National Occupational Standards for Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor and Tourism Visitor Information Supervisor.

The standards are ideal for training and orientation. Developed by the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) with input from employers and workers, emerit standards make it easier for you to prepare your staff and volunteers for their roles in your operation. Trained staff help boost visitor satisfaction, generate more business in your community, and inspire word-of-mouth referrals.

If you don’t already have the current emerit National Occupation Standards, download your free copy today (or order a printed copy for your office for $45). In addition to Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor and Tourism Visitor Information Supervisor, you might also be interested in Tour Guide and Heritage Interpreter.

You can download the standards from the emerit website. Look for the link on the right-hand side of the page for the free download.

For Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor, for example, you'll get a 44-page PDF booklet that provides a general job description and outlines the key attitudes, knowledge and skills a person needs to do the job. It also covers subjects such as tourism awareness, the role of the tourism/visitor information counsellor, communications skills, interacting with partner agencies, office routines, safety procedures, assisting people with special needs, product and service knowledge, selling, and handling payments.

Free USB key for first 20 VICs to request one!

If you are one of the first 20 Visitor Information Centres to ask for one, we will send you a free STEC 1GB USB flash drive. Each two-tone, blue and metallic, folding USB flash drive is emblazoned with the STEC logo and comes already pre-loaded with the emerit National Occupational Standard for Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor. We only have 20, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. We’re sure you won’t want to miss out! If you work at a Visitor Information Centre, simply post a comment below this blog post. Be sure to include the name and address of your Visitor Information Centre, so we'll know where to send your flash drive, as well as a link to your website.