North Bay, ON – Aug. 3, 2022 – The City of North Bay will launch a new pilot initiative this fall aimed at assisting local businesses struggling to find workers.
Stemming from the City’s Business Retention and Expansion Program (BR&E) and supported by local workforce partners, this new Workforce Attraction and Retention Initiative will take a multi-pronged approach to provide individualized guidance and tools to North Bay employers in need of human resource assistance.
“We are pleased to be taking action with this two-year pilot project,” said Mayor McDonald. “Recognizing the national workforce shortage is impacting our companies, we’ll be helping North Bay businesses tackle it with a local, customized solution.”
The City’s BR&E program, which was recently recognized with an Award of Excellence by Business Retention & Expansion International (BREI), identified workforce attraction and retention as a key priority for local businesses.
“Although not unique to North Bay, workforce was identified in the BR&E report as a barrier to growth,” said Mayor McDonald. “Our Economic Development Department will be rolling out the Workforce Attraction and Retention Initiative in the fall as part of the implementation phase of the BR&E program recommendations.”
Largely funded through contributions from the provincial and federal governments, the workforce initiative will involve development of tools and training for employers; deployment of HR expertise to work one-on-one with businesses; virtual job fairs and recruitment events, as well as increasing awareness of current resources.
“This new initiative is part of our continuing effort to engage with and support our business community,” said Mayor McDonald. “We all know the importance of supporting local businesses and it is wonderful to see such a strong return of community events and business gatherings this summer.”
The latest round of large-scale BR&E consultations were launched in 2019. The program is designed to better understand the needs of local firms and to identify ways of helping them remain competitive and grow. The program was recently named BREI’s 2022 Impact Award recipient. BREI Awards of Excellence are given to economic development organizations, municipalities and/or states or provinces who have demonstrated an outstanding usage of business retention and expansion strategies and tactics for growing and sustaining small business.
The City of North Bay would like to remind the businesses that they can still participate in the BR&E process. Owners are encouraged to reach out to the City’s Economic Development Department to arrange a visit and learn more about support for growth. Please contact BR&E Coordinator Fran Hanover at (705) 474-0400, ext. 2424, to book a visitation.
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