60% of Canmore Employers Surveyed Say Their Workforce Has Skills Gaps

In 2024, a Town-commissioned labour market strategy found that more than a third of Canmore businesses believed new hires lacked some of the skills or certifications they needed.

The strategy recommended taking a closer look at those gaps and what training could help address them.

Two years later, the Town has those results.

Canmore’s new Training Needs Assessment found 60 percent of employers who responded reported skills gaps within their workforce, including 93 percent of construction employers and 83 percent of accommodation and food service employers.

But the new assessment also identified a larger challenge: there is currently no organization in the Bow Valley with both the mandate and funded staff capacity to coordinate workforce training.

“There really isn't an organization in the Bow Valley who has the mandate and the capacity to take on the roles of coordinating the training,” said Jane Worton, a partner with Osier Consulting, the firm hired to conduct the Training Needs Assessment.

Organizations in the valley have the knowledge and connections to do that work, Worton said. What they don't have is the money and staff time.

“It's the funded capacity, the staffing capacity to do that work,” she said.

The 2024 strategy

Canmore's 2024 Labour Market Recruitment and Retention Strategy was developed in response to broader labour pressures facing the business community.

The report looked at issues ranging from housing and affordability to recruitment, workplace culture and training. It noted that some businesses had responded to labour shortages by reducing operating hours, closing multiple days a week, limiting contracts or reducing available services.

Training was one piece of that larger problem.

The strategy found 39 percent of businesses surveyed believed new hires were not job-ready and required some form of training or certification. Employers in skilled trades and professional services were particularly likely to report that new employees needed additional training to meet industry standards.

It also pointed to limitations in the training already available in Canmore.

Some employers reported sending workers to Calgary or Cochrane for courses that were not available locally or did not adequately meet their needs. The report also identified the 2020 closure of Bow Valley College's Canmore campus as a significant loss of local training infrastructure.

The 2024 strategy recommended a more detailed study to determine exactly where the gaps existed.

That recommendation called for a comprehensive Training Needs Assessment that would survey businesses and other stakeholders, identify specific skills gaps and determine where existing programs could fill them or new training might be needed.

That work ultimately became the assessment presented to Canmore council on Aug. 18.

What the new assessment found

Osier Consulting surveyed 120 employers and 118 residents and conducted interviews with industry associations, community organizations and training providers.

The idea was not simply to ask businesses what training they wanted. The consultants also looked at how many people would actually need particular skills, what training already exists, what employers and residents could afford and whether bringing a course to Canmore would be realistic.

The results showed skills gaps were widespread among respondents.

60 percent of employers reported at least one skills gap. The numbers were considerably higher in some sectors, including 93 percent of construction employers and 83 percent of accommodation and food service employers.

The consultants cautioned that the 60 percent figure is probably higher than it would be across Canmore's entire business community because employers already concerned about training were more likely to respond to the survey.

Still, the assessment gave the Town a much more detailed picture of where demand exists.

Consultants examined 104 different skill areas.

For 44, they concluded there was not enough demand to recommend action. Six were identified as potential candidates for locally developed, in-person training, while nine could warrant bringing an existing course or instructor into the Bow Valley.

Another 27 could potentially be addressed by making employers and workers more aware of instructor-led online programs or training already available in Calgary.

Potential locally delivered subjects include handling complaints and difficult interactions, supervisory skills and workplace English.

Other opportunities identified in the assessment include budgeting and financial analysis, artificial intelligence and emerging digital tools, leadership and management, marketing and several construction safety certifications.

Greg Awai, a partner with Osier Consulting, told council the recommendations were deliberately focused on training that could realistically work in a community without its own post-secondary campus.

That generally means shorter courses that can be delivered in existing facilities, bringing instructors into the valley or connecting workers with instructor-led online programs.

Training has to be short and affordable

Finding a skills gap does not necessarily mean a course will work.

The assessment found significant limits on how much time and money employers and workers can devote to training.

Three-quarters of employers reporting skills gaps said they would contribute toward training fees, employee time or both.

But most employers willing to pay training costs said they would spend no more than $250 per employee. Employers also generally wanted courses lasting no more than two days.

Workers showed similar financial constraints.

Only 7 percent of residents interested in relevant local training said they would participate if they had to pay the entire cost themselves.

58 percent said they would participate if their training fees were covered, while another 19 percent said both the cost of the training and their time would need to be funded.

Canmore's cost of living was identified as part of the challenge. For residents working multiple jobs, finding the time for additional training can be difficult even when a course is available.

Timing also matters.

Employers and residents identified January, February, March and November as the best months for training.

For tourism businesses, the assessment suggests March could work particularly well for training ahead of the summer season, while supervisory training could be better suited to late fall and winter.

The missing piece

The assessment found that Canmore does not necessarily need to create dozens of new courses.

In some cases, appropriate training already exists but employers do not know where to find it, whether it is suitable or how to access available funding.

That led Osier Consulting to one of its larger recommendations: create a central point for coordinating workforce training across the Bow Valley.

The consultants identified the Bow Valley Adult Learning Centre as the organization whose existing mandate most closely aligns with that role.

A coordinator could maintain a training calendar, connect employers with programs, work with post-secondary institutions to bring courses into the valley and help identify changing training needs.

Worton said consultants repeatedly heard from employers who knew training was available but did not have the time or expertise to determine which programs were worthwhile.

“I know this training is out there, but I don't know how to assess quality,” she said, describing what the consultants heard. “I'm not sure if this is a good fit. I don't have time to look.”

The problem is that coordinating all of that requires someone to actually do the work.

“This is not something which can be done within the existing resources that any of the organizations, including the Town of Canmore's economic development department, has,” Worton said.

Osier's recommendation is therefore to start small rather than immediately trying to build a large training system.

The assessment proposes measures including an annual Canmore Business Alliance lunch-and-learn calendar, better promotion of existing training grants, stronger relationships with regional post-secondary institutions and a limited number of high-demand courses brought into the Bow Valley.

The report summarizes the approach this way: “Start small, do it well, see what works, and scale with intention.”

What happens next

The presentation did not come with a request for council to immediately fund a new training program or coordinator.

Instead, the next step will be to determine what role the Town should play.

Eleanor Miclette, Canmore's manager of economic development, told council administration has been directed through the Town's business-case process to develop options for supporting training development, coordination and partnerships.

Those options could involve different levels of municipal involvement and will return to council through the upcoming budget process.

“That will be brought forward as part of budget,” Miclette said.

In the meantime, Miclette said the Canmore Business Alliance and organizations involved in the assessment will look at what they can begin doing themselves, including better promoting training opportunities and funding programs that already exist.

One example is helping employers understand how to access training grants.

“Get your account set up so that you can apply for those training programs and training grants,” Miclette said. “They are often well used by our employers if they know about it and understand how to qualify for them.”

The question heading into the Town's next budget process is how much of a role Canmore wants to play.