Overview
Like many industries, construction faces a number of human resource challenges. These include the need to accurately forecast labour demand and supply, increase the mobility of workers, make the most of new technologies, engage and train more apprentices and supervisors, and cope with an aging workforce.
Temporary foreign workers are currently filling critical short-term human resource gaps within the Canadian construction industry, though as a part of the overall construction industry labour force, TFWs comprise a small proportion. And, while the use of TFWs is increasing within the construction industry across Canada, the majority of TFW permits in construction have been issued for work in a small number of provinces.
Despite the increased use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, TFWs should not be seen as a quick fix, or inexpensive solution. Instead, they should be viewed as another potential pool of qualified workers with rights and responsibilities just like any other worker. The process of identifying, recruiting, selecting, hiring, orienting and retaining these workers is complex, and resource-intensive. In fact, research suggests that hiring TFWs is more expensive than recruiting workers from within Canada, and most who have used the program indicate that it takes more time and effort.
While many guides exist to help employers with decisions about temporary foreign workers, the CSC has developed this construction-specific guide for industry managers and human resource personnel from organizations, associations and companies of all sizes, large and small.
Using This Guide
Regardless of your role within the construction industry, this guide is designed to help you understand how the TFW Program works, the specific steps that are required to hire TFWs, and the role(s) that you can play in this process. In most circumstances, the heart of the TFW Program consists of two documents: the Labour Market Opinion (issued by HRSDC), which gives an employer permission to hire a foreign worker onto a specific job site to do a specific job; and the work permit (issued by CIC) which gives a foreign worker permission to enter Canada and work for a limited period of time.
There are a number of tasks and requirements which must be completed in order for these two documents to be issued. This guide explains these TFW requirements, and the exceptions to these requirements, using six human resource (HR) management steps as a framework. Four of these steps – Job Analysis, Recruitment, Selection, and Job Offer – are concerned with activities that take place up to the point at which the worker arrives in Canada. The last two steps – Orientation, and Integration & Retention – give you tips on how to assist TFWs once they are in Canada, both in the short and longer term.
In each step, roles are played by multiple bodies – for example, labour associations, construction organizations and employers can all play a role in recruitment. In other cases, the role is specific to one body – for example, only employers can be the official holder of the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), though multiple associations and organizations may be named as third parties on the LMO application and fill in the paperwork on behalf of the employer. The following material highlights these variations within each step, and where possible, leads you directly to the information you need to know.
The TFW Program is intended to help Canadian businesses meet temporary labour shortages, and the nature of the construction industry – and of the economy – means that these shortages are in a state of flux. The TFW Program itself continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of Canadian businesses, which means that information can quickly become outdated. To avoid reproducing potentially outdated information, this guide focuses on key process steps and provides web links to important sites. In the event of an outdated or broken link, simply copy and paste the title of the document into a search on Google, or in the search function on the main site of the reference. For example, if you are looking for information on temporary low-skill workers and click on http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/epb/lmd/fw/tempOffers.shtml, you get an error message. Simply type in the main reference (http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca), then search for temporary low skill workers on the main site.
In each of the six steps you will find general information about what you need to do, a flow chart that shows what decisions you need to make, a list of the players and their roles, and a checklist that will help you to make sure that you have not missed anything. The steps follow one after the other, so if you have never hired a TFW before, you may want to start at the beginning. Finally, the guide provides a number of resources – phone line inquiries, links to websites and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section – which can help you get answers to any other questions you may have.
Read more to find out whether the TFW Program can help your organization find the workers it needs.
