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.  

DESTRUCTION BAY │ BUSINESS Y

Effective Business is about Reciprocal Trust and Respect

KEY CONCEPTS: community needs differ from city, informal management, trust, work ethic

This small business identified a number of employees that have disabilities, including issues arising from a prosthetic leg and operating heavy machinery to managing diabetes effectively on the job.  

Accommodating disabilities is an everyday part of being an effective employer in rural Yukon. But accommodating employees needs is not specifically identified as a ‘disability employment’ issue. This employer suggested that they expect their employees to simply get on with getting the job done, and that they, as employers, do what is necessary to ensure their employees are able to do so. For example, the employee with one prosthetic leg drives truck, handles heavy machinery, does mechanical work on cars and machinery, and is fully capable of doing all aspects of the job without any identifiable limitations. The employer noted the only major accommodation they needed to make in this case is to provide suitable time off from work when the employee needs to have his prosthetic checked, maintained, or replaced.  

Flexibility and responsiveness to employees needs were the key themes emerging from our conversation.  Effective business in small communities is about relationships and reciprocal trust and respect between employers and employees – neither formalised or monitored, but rather, structured as a socially responsible relationship.

Many of the small businesses in rural Yukon were established one or even two generations ago, causing some business owners/employers feel as though young people who come to work for them might not share the same beliefs about business, work ethic, responsibility and enterprise. This employer indicated that there is a divide between the city/Whitehorse new-generation way of thinking about business and work-life and the expectations of employers in rural Yukon.

There is an impression that the city/Whitehorse doesn’t always have the best interests of the communities in mind, which makes it difficult to understand how the government and agencies might support small business on issues such as disability employment.

When asked what they might like to see in a Yukon Disability Employment Strategy, this employer indicated that government investment in small business was good for the whole community, and business needed less regulation and more direct support as indicated by communities. ‘Listening to the communities’ was the big message in this meeting: listening to the employers who, without overcomplicating the issues, work with all members of the community. Further suggestions included providing on-site education and training, avoiding the problem of having employees away in Whitehorse for extended periods of time.

Decisions about communities should not be made without the communities at the table – echoing the moniker of another jurisdiction’s mantra, no decision about me without me. 

DESTRUCTION BAY │ BUSINESS X

Inclusion and Respect for Community as Pragmatic Good Business

KEY CONCEPTS: sustainability, ad-hoc, flexible, community relationships, pragmatic and thoughtful management. 

The owner/operator of a hotel, food, and gas station business that was established in the late 60’s in rural Yukon identified that in order to sustain the business over the long term, employers have no choice but to accommodate employees needs given an identified disability or otherwise.

Good business in the rural Yukon is based on the principles of inclusion and respect as a pragmatic response to reducing staff turnover and securing quality employees.

What qualifies as a disability is not clear to employers. When we first started talking about disability and employment issues, this employers, like most others, initially suggested that they didn’t have any employees with disabilities on staff. Once the we discussed the broader definition of disability, it was revealed that a number of staff did indeed have a disability, but that the these disabilities were accommodated through a natural process of responding to employees needs as they arise –  adapting the work and scheduling during individual shifts and over the longer term.

This employer identified concerns that employers might have in hiring people with disabilities. Initial concerns about the idea of hiring people with disabilities centred on health and safety issues – working in kitchens and around dangerous machinery. The second significant issue centred on skills and ability to work unsupervised with customers making financial transactions effectively and efficiently. Customer service is a key feature of this particular business, placing significant demands on employers to ensure repeat business is maintained through quality service.

This employer talked about the interconnectedness of the business with community life – and how business and community are deeply interconnected in rural Yukon. Much of what goes on in terms of effective business practice is fluid and informal – occurring through daily conversations with members of the community/clients/employees. Responding to individual employee needs is handled in much the same way – in an ad hoc, do as needs doing manner of conducting business. This could be described as ad hoc approach to responding to needs, but without any negative connotation in the process of meeting needs as they arise and not being overly rigid in line management practices.

When discussing the potential benefits of introducing a Yukon Disability Employment Strategy that encapsulated and shared best practice as guidance for business across the whole of Yukon, this employer expressed some worry that some employers might take advantage a model that incentivised employing people with disabilities – suggesting that this might lead to employment that is less about socially responsible and pragmatic business, but more about doing what appears to be the right thing given a guarantee of remuneration for their efforts to be inclusive and responsive to employee needs.

When the discussion turned to developing a centralized support network that might include resources to provide otherwise unavailable accommodations (be it a modification to a workspace or retraining), this employer suggested that help with start-up costs for accommodating an individual would be very helpful.

ROSS RIVER │ A RESILIENT COMMUNITY AND OPPORTUNITY TO GROW

Ross River has a vision for the future and is seeking solutions and strategies to overcome key barriers for people with disabilities and contributing social conditions.

KEY CONCEPTS: change through education and training; inter-generational social deprivation and disabilities; coordinated strategic planning; links to Whitehorse agencies

Ross River might be small and tucked away in the heart of Yukon, but it has access to an array of economic and community development opportunities, including natural resources exploration and extraction, tourism, and infrastructure development.

With a number of mines operating in the area, accessible by road and fly-in only, Ross River is prospectively the hub for services for a wide range of business enterprises, not least the Dena Council and the ambitions of its development corporation.

Neighbouring Faro, a short 1 hour drive in the direction of Carmacks and the main highway north and south, is a full service town, providing additional services and human resources in support of innovative social and business enterprise.  

Like other Yukon towns of similar size and distance from Whitehorse, Ross River has significant disabilities issues that remain unresolved and continue to limit the community’s and First Nation’s plans for growth and development.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), drug and alcohol additions, mental health issues, and learning disabilities were identified as the predominant disabilities within the community. The social conditions associated with risk for FASD has resulted in inter-generational disabilities issues; a cause for concern that is by no means unique to Ross River, but one that the leadership of this community are committed to tackling, head-on.

The Dena Council is recognizably the leading employer of people with disabilities in the community. Like other First Nations, there is a commitment to support friends, family, and neighbours as both a responsible employer and government. To this end, significant efforts are made to hire and retain people with disabilities. Making progress is difficult, however, without a coordinated support network and direct links to key disabilities agencies based in Whitehorse.

Our meetings in Ross River helped us to understand the specific needs of this community and its ambitions to make important progress. Essential in piecing together a sustainable solution for the community are quality, sustained  employment-skills-education-training services. This could include everything from life-skills workshops, readiness-to-work supports, job coaching and on-the-job mentoring through to provision of fully accessible foundation skills courses in reading, writing and math, and education/career programs that lead to qualifications from everything from trades to business administration and leadership.

We were inspired by the resiliency of Ross River and its people, made possible, in part, by the ongoing efforts of the education and health providers, working to bring essential services and enable efforts to support pathways to employment for people with disabilities.

We look forward to extending and expanding disability support services through a Yukon Disability Employment Strategy, maximizing the benefits of opportunities for progressive change ahead. 

FARO │ FORMULATING SUCCESS FOR DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT STRATEGIES

Innovations  arise from an honest identification of problems and articulate, targeted solutions, backed by plan to achieve results through understanding and effort.

KEY CONCEPTS: community development; communication; responsibility; effort; understanding

Continuing from our previous blog, here we explore some of the best practice, needs and suggested innovations that key stakeholders in Faro shared with us during our visit back in November 2011.

Assuming a starting-point that Faro is a mature community – that is, a community that recognizes the importance and value in looking after its citizens for the betterment of all – stakeholders identified features of the employment landscape that would benefit from a careful review regarding the principles of universal design, accessibility and equity.

Keeping this in mind, the following is a selection of the headline disability employment issues identified by residents of Faro:

• Employers are open to hiring and accommodating disabilities in the workplace, as both a matter of civic responsibility but also as a function of effective business development through retention of qualified, experience staff.
• Physical barriers to people with disabilities limit more than simply access, they affect employee perceptions regarding the accessibility of management and the sustainability of the business itself.
• Small communities like Faro work together to resolve community issues; failing to do so jeopardizes community unity, placing strains on familial and business relationships.
• Small business in rural Yukon don’t tend to look to government departments in Whitehorse for supports or solutions to problems. Rather employers get on with the business of enabling their employees, each day, every day. Layers of bureaucracy to resolve problems in the workplace are associated with impersonal businesses and employment in the city, not Faro. Even the employees of the mines feel they are part of a community, in part because their co-workers are permanent or regular residents of the community.
• The key to establishing an accessible and equitable working environment is a flexible management style that promotes the principles of mutual respect and a willingness of all parties to work together to identify and implement solutions.
• An ageing population in Faro requires specific accommodations in order to retain this valuable, experienced workforce. Adjusting schedules, particularly during cold winter months for those working outdoors can provide welcome relief and reduce the likelihood of injury and leaving the labour force for good.
• Snow and winter present specific challenges to people with disabilities – including getting to and from work.
• There is no overarching community development plan for creating universally accessible public and private sector facilities/spaces. The community is interested in the principles of universal design and recognises the benefits for all citizens. A town that subscribes to the principles of universal design is a town that recognises that every person will eventually benefit from accessible spaces and places.
• Accommodating disabilities in the workplace requires effective communications between employees and employers. But in order to have effective communications, trust must be established through a mutually respectful working relationship, where neither party feels they might be at risk for addressing what has historically been viewed as a potentially conflict-based (even litigious) issue.  
• Establishing effective communications between employees and employers requires a hard and fast policy with a clear and readily implemented procedure. The procedure might include regular (daily) employee-employer meetings/check-ins to confirm that all members of the business team have the resources and information they require to effective in the workplace.
• Costs of establishing effective policies and procedures for creating an inclusive workplace can be a barrier to small to medium size enterprises. A Yukon Disability Employment Strategy will need to effectively coordinate existing services and resource for employers such that solutions to existing barriers to employment are not impeded by a lack of essential supports.
• Coordination of employment strategies with neighbouring towns (such as Ross River) will benefit the wider area, and bring a further benefit to Faro and its citizens. A strong mining sector demands a scalable, healthy, and ready-to-work labour force – made more likely by tapping in to area labour markets and raising the standards of care and opportunity across the whole region.

Our conversations with key stakeholders in Faro energized this initiative by demonstrating the communities are not only adept at identifying problems, but they are also just as willing and ready to innovate solutions – on the spot – with a view to making changes immediately and for the longer term.

The insights of Faro residents could perhaps be summarized by a rather ingeniously simple impromptu mathematical formulation (derived by a class of students on the Faro campus of Yukon College) regarding a solution to the disability employment problem – a social policy 'proof', as it were. The formula is…

R = U + E

Results = Understanding + Effort

The Results are reliant of the two variables Understanding and Effort. Breaking this formula down a bit further, we can see that Understanding and Effort alone will provide results…only, individually, they produce a smaller factor R, than when added together. As Understanding and Effort are increased,  Results increase incrementally. We could explore this further, breaking down the factors that comprise Understanding and Effort – working to maximize all those factors that feed in to this formula. But, that is for another day – and with the help of the originators themselves.

I like this algorithm, almost as much as I like the people of Faro, as it is a clear and direct articulation of what it takes to achieve a goal. In this case, our goal is to increase the representation of people with disabilities in the workplace: a goal that has benefits for the wider community of Faro, and the whole of Yukon.