An opportunity exists in Watson Lake to redress the employment equity issues through a coordinated strategy between business and service agencies working with people with disabilities.
KEY CONCEPTS: barriers to employment; labour market shortage; education and training; learning disabilities, mental health, FASD.
All employers in Watson Lake relayed a similar message to the Yukon Disability Employment Strategy team: there is a labour market shortage and employers are looking for ways of getting people ready-to-work and overcoming barrier to employment because of disabilities.
In fact, employers were consistently concerned about the future of business development in Watson Lake over the near and longer terms, given issues regarding staff shortages and a lack of an available skilled workforce.
How does this relate to disability employment issues directly? Learning disabilities, addictions, and the social, emotional and intellectual difficulties associated with FASD were identified as key barrier to employment. The agencies in Watson Lake were in agreement; there are significant community problems that underpin the development of an effective labour market strategy – most of which are rooted in disabilities issues.
Here are some of the things employers are saying:
- There is a high turnover of employees due to disabilities and/or the ability to do the job for which someone is hired.
- There are few physical disabilities. Most disabilities are related to learning disabilities, addictions, mental health, and issues arising as a result of FASD.
- Many employees become part-time staff due to personal and social difficulties, some of which are related to addictions and mental health problems.
- Employers take a practical view when accommodating disabilities such as those related to FASD and addictions, remaining flexible around employee work schedules in order to allow for un-scheduled time away from work.
- Employees with learning disabilities would benefit from training materials that are not text-based, but rather via video-based training modules. Employers don’t presently have access to these types of materials to given to their employees.
- Employers do not utilize, nor are then generally aware of the disabilities agencies and their services based in Whitehorse. Businesses delay expansion plans given the labour market shortage.
- Many businesses are operating below capacity for lack of sufficient staff. At least one business is delaying plans for expansion given what is described as a lack of interest by the local community to apply for available positions.
- Employers are concerned about hiring people with disabilities, given the prospective short and longer term cost associated with ensuring accommodations are sufficient to maintain expected job performance.
- Social Assistance can be a barrier to people pursuing gainful employment, as it is seen to be relatively lucrative by comparison to entry-level jobs and for un-skilled labour.
- Employers are concerned the next generation is not ready to enter the labour market – in part because of lack of education and motivation. There is shared worry amongst employers that this is linked to learning disabilities and disabilities associated with FASD that are not being addressed at school-age, and as a feature of school-to-work transition planning.
This is a foreboding list of concerns by the employers and businesses of Watson Lake.
What employers seem to be saying is, it is not that there isn’t a sufficient number of people in Watson Lake to develop a skilled and growing labour force. Rather, the barrier to employment appears to be located at the entry-point to securing work, namely, a readiness-to-work given the right combination of education, skills, and motivation.
Learning disabilities, mental health issues and disabilities arising as a result of the deleterious effects of FASD are not identified as barriers to employment as such. Rather, it seems employers are suggesting the pathways for enabling people to seek and secure work are unclear – and are presenting the first barrier which needs to be overcome in order to increase access to the workplace by people with disabilities such as those identified here.
In our next blog, we will explore some of the solutions put forward by Watson Lake agencies and service providers – linking the gaps identified by employers with proposed innovations in teaching and learning and health and social services to ensure everyone has access to employment for the benefits of businesses and community alike.
