New residents and business owners are invited to brainstorm actions at a planning meeting to encourage skilled professionals stay in Williams Lake.
With a shortage of workers in occupations such as nursing and early childhood education, the Williams Lake & District Chamber of Commerce (WLDCC) is looking to do more than simply attract skilled labourers to the community. “Once we get them, we want to keep them,” said Tamara Garreau, executive director of WLDCC and one of the event’s organizers.
“Everybody, shoot us your ideas...give us your wildest dreams on how to make Williams Lake amazing,” Garreau said. The meeting, which will take place on Sept. 4 at Signal Point’s Pioneer Events Room, is intended to be a place for the community to come together and take concrete action against the labour shortage.
Young professionals need to be shown why they should stay in Williams Lake, said Garreau, if the number of retiring workers is growing. The labour market can’t be effectively replenished, however, without also facilitating professional development in the area.
“It’s sort of this vicious cycle,” Garreau said when discussing barriers to recruitment and retention in Williams Lake. She said the Thompson Rivers University campus in Williams Lake is an important piece of the puzzle, but training is nevertheless limited. For instance, students taking the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the university need to go to Kamloops to complete their degree. “It would be nice to have some education that they can stay here and complete,” said Garreau, hoping it would lead nurses to settle down and work in Williams Lake after graduation.
This is just one example of a barrier to overcome. Beth Veenkamp, manager of economic development for the city of Williams Lake, said she’s sure there are many more ideas out there on how to improve retention, and she thinks it’s important to hear from the very people the city is trying to attract.
“We’re kind of trying to get out of the navel gazing and thinking we know what we know,” Veenkamp said. She wants to get the perspective of young workers, newcomers and new business owners, people who can attest to what Williams Lake is doing to attract or discourage professionals to settle in the area.
The planning meeting has space for 80 people looking to share their ideas on recruitment and retention, with 32 spots filled as of Wednesday. After a review of the resources that already exist in the community, the meeting’s facilitator will steer discussions to explore new ideas and consider what the best approach is to take effective action. Those who are interested in getting involved will be able to sign up for further meetings.
Laurie Walters, who is a board member with WLDCC, said they won't be dragging their feet once they’ve outlined a plan: “We want people kind of going away feeling like what we discussed that day...it’s actionable and we want to start making a difference.”
The WLDCC is also sending out a survey to learn what has attracted newcomers to Williams Lake and how their experience has been since arriving. Those who have resided in the city for less than five years can respond to the survey posted on the WLDCC Facebook page.
