BEAVER CREEK │ BUSINESS Z

Business Growth in Rural Yukon is Limited by a Lack of Available, Ready-to-Work Employees

KEY CONCEPTS: business growth limits, work readiness, education gap, family and community

This small business highlighted the repeating theme for rural Yukon regarding drug and alcohol abuse and its implications for employers. However, this employer identified the major barrier to full employment for the community, for people with and without disabilities, was education and work readiness.

This employer identified that young people in rural Yukon struggle to complete their education given the standard route to complete high school requires they leave their community and live in Whitehorse as teenagers in their final years of school. This employer believes this break in the family and community lives of students is the reason students struggle at this critical stage in their education.

This employer also emphasised that there is plenty of work in the area during summer months and a good pool of potential employees. The problem for employers is getting the lack of motivated and skilled candidates. Again, this employer emphasised the main barrier to employment as appropriate levels of education and work-readiness as a part of this.

A positive story of perseverance and the power of the entrepreneurial spirit was shared in a story of a friend and business acquaintance of this employer, who, in his 90’s journeys hundreds of kilometres by car before making numerous flights into the backcountry to stock his lodge for his clients – making the return journey in a single day, and stopping only for a cup of coffee on the way. And while we can’t be certain that a man in his 90’s has necessarily acquired any level of disability as a natural function of his age, we can at least assume that in this case, any barriers to mobility and functional skills have been overcome to enable him to carry on with his work. An inspiring story that reminds us about what is possible.

This employer emphasised the importance of family and community for sustainable business and nurturing work-readiness and availability. Simply put, this employer identified that even staff who were recruited from outside Yukon for season work tended to find it difficult to stay on in employment and remain a reliable and committed part of the workforce. This employer suggested the problem could be pinned on lack of community and family support – which could result in the employee getting involved in drugs and alcohol and a culture of neglecting responsibilities at work.

As a final point of interest, this employer suggested that business development in the communities is in fact limited by the lack of available employees – and that business could expand if there was a solution to the deficit of qualified, motivated potential staff. This is an important issue that has implications for the whole of Yukon, and represents an opportunity for action to increase the economic activity in communities, and, as a result, increase opportunities for all. 

BEAVER CREEK │ BUSINESS Q

Longevity in Business = Scalable, Adaptable, Inclusive Management

KEY CONCEPTS: adaptability, community links, self-reliance,  cooperative and responsive management

This small business in rural Yukon was established during the boom-days of the 1970s, when the pipeline and road building provided a heavy demand for services and skilled labour in the region. Since those heady days, this business has succeed by scaling its services  to adapt to changing demand, but maintaining links to key personnel in the community who can provide essential services when the demand is present.

Disabilities were not a barrier to employment with this small business. The owner operators themselves identified that they would not hesitate to hire a person with a disability as long as they were able to do the job. A regular employee with the business has an identifiable disability and receives no formal accommodations, but rather is supported in his work through understanding and cooperation with the business owners.

A theme that ran through this discussion with the small business owner was one of self reliance and independence in work and life, where people cooperate as employees and business owners to get the job done. 

DESTRUCTION BAY │ THE PEOPLE THE PLACE

The Wikipedia page for Destruction Bay  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_Bay,_Yukon says that DBay gets its name because of the destructive powers of the strong winds blowing down Kluane Lake during the building of the Alaska Highway in the years 1942-43. With Kluane Lake as the longest lake in Yukon it is perhaps not surprising the gusts during winter storms didn’t cause a few problems.

The population of Destruction Bay is a friendly 47 according to the 2011 Yukon Bureau of Statistics. There are no direct figures on the type or numbers of people with a disability, but we might guess that it is higher than the Yukon average if the population demographics can be used an indicator. 

While age is not always related to disability, the occurrence of acquired disabilities is increased with age. One might anticipate if the community has a disproportionate number of older people, then this would equate to an higher than average occurrence of acquired disabilities.  

Our discussions with employers in the area will hopefully reveal how this and other similar communities think about disabilities and the implications for living and working.