Edmonton region stakeholders converge to collaborate on talent attraction and retention
On November 16, Edmonton Global hosted a Talent and Labour Force roundtable event. This was the first roundtable event coming out of the forward/slash economic summit, which saw more than 900 regional stakeholders attend – with many signing up to be involved in the movement to work together to accelerate the growth of our regional economy. This first roundtable aimed to begin working together to advance our regional competitiveness by addressing talent-related challenges.
Those surveyed identified talent as a critical issue following the forward/slash economic summit. Many regional stakeholders indicated that they want to be actively involved and engaged in working together to address these issues. Local talent retention and attraction were the most important issues to address.
During the event, Jeff Bell, director of business intelligence and research at Edmonton Global, walked attendees through the data related to the Edmonton region’s workforce. Some of the highlights that attendees heard from Jeff were that Alberta has some of the fastest-growing retention rates in Canada and that most of our population growth is coming from international migration.
Myrna Bittner, CEO and founder of local tech company RWI Synthetics, also presented. She shared some of the synthetic modelling work that RWI Synthetics has done around the future workforce of the Edmonton region, including how we need to prepare for a growing population. Myrna explained how their modelling considers a wide range of variables that could impact the region’s future population, including unemployment rates, immigration, inflation, and other areas related to the quality of life. She also described the current and potential impact of international students on the region’s workforce.
More than 80 attendees spent time in small groups sharing ideas and discussing the next steps to address talent attraction and retention in the short and long term.
Some of the key takeaways we heard were:
- The importance of uniting behind a shared narrative for our region. The more we tell the same compelling story about what it is like to live and work here, the more competitive we will be
- Employers need to be innovative and adaptable, looking for ways to bring new people into the workforce
- We need to continue our efforts to attract international students into our post-secondaries and find ways to increase the number that stays beyond graduation.
This was the first forward/slash roundtable event hosted by Edmonton Global. Future initiatives will include roundtable events centred around some of the region’s key sectors: food and agriculture, health and life sciences, clean tech and hydrogen, artificial intelligence and technology, and global logistics. Reach out to us to stay current on upcoming events and initiatives.
