As the Canadian automotive industry continues to transition away from internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles to those driven by batteries (EVs), opportunities to invest in employee skills have never been greater or necessary.

These opportunities have recently been amplified by signs of pending economic headwinds, the early stages of which we’re seeing right now with interest rates and inflation impacts. If you think investing at this time is counter-intuitive, it isn’t. Read more below.

An Aspen Institute report on upskilling

An influential report issued by the Aspen Institute entitled The Importance of Upskilling During Economic Downturns concludes that all companies (whether operating in the automotive space or elsewhere) post the strongest long-term results when they:

“Recognize the power of development to drive and sustain employee engagement, innovation, and the kind of discretionary effort on the job that increases productivity and performance. Invest in effective development of their workers and advance upskilled employees into better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. Understand, and routinely track, the positive effects of development on levels of workforce absenteeism and turnover.”

Prioritizing workforce transformation

The economic slowdown we began to experience in 2022 is likely to continue through most of 2023. This inescapable reality leads to a crucial question—and challenge—for the automotive industry.

How do we approach staffing—from high-tech jobs, to those involved in manufacturing and vehicle assembly—during a slowdown?

A recent article in Forbes entitled What To Do In A Recession? Prioritise Workforce Transformation hit the nail on the head. Workforce transformation is another way of expressing the retraining and upskilling imperative that is propelling change in Canada’s automotive industry.

As the author of the Forbes analysis observes: “The current environment may be an especially opportune time because such an effort enables the business to not only buffer against a recession but also prepares it for eventual growth.”

The author adds: “Redesigning work and overhauling talent strategies is a considerable task, one that even in the best of times is arduous. This job requires investing in people, processes and technology. Most of all, it requires removing ingrained thinking that has anchored organisations to the same outdated talent models for decades.”

While the Canadian auto industry has traditionally been forward-thinking and has most decidedly resisted a reliance on outdated talent models, the digital transformation empowering our business right now has forced us to embrace new ways of thinking and working as never before. 

Upskilling defined

As we recently stated in another post, “A company’s ability to upskill, or its capacity for training and developing its employees to expand their skillsets, creates a significant competitive advantage. It’s a two-way street delivering tangible benefits to both employer and employee, with proven implications for productivity and efficiency, morale, job satisfaction and employee loyalty. Upskilling impacts the competitiveness of any company to which the process is applied, driving operational efficiency and delivering tangible benefits to the bottom line.”

Human capital experts, drawn from a wide range of disciplines, generally agree that an economic slowdown represents the best possible time for employee upskilling. And that upskilling process is happening now, according to a recent analysis published in the Financial Post.

Competition for trained talent

The Financial Post article included the following: “Car models being imagined now look nothing like the ones in our driveways today – and that means Canada’s automakers and suppliers find themselves posting more jobs requiring skills that aren’t yet widely taught on the job. 

Many companies are taking the matter into their own hands, teaming up with colleges, universities or online platforms to recruit and retrain a bespoke workforce for one of the biggest industry shifts in a century.”

‘That war for talent is raging across Canada,’ Lauren Tedesco, vice-president of learning and development at the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) was quoted as saying, adding prophetically that while it may be a few years before Canada will require all new car and light-duty-truck sales to be zero emissions, ‘that design and that engineering, and that production really needs to start now.’”

Funding solutions

Through the FOCAL Initiative, eligible employers can access a wide and powerful range of funding solutions to help finance retraining and upskilling initiatives. These grants have the potential to be custom tailored to the special interests and needs of businesses in need of financial support. Contact FOCAL to find out more.

Follow FOCAL to stay informed

We have plenty of work ahead of us and we’re geared up to handle it. Please follow FOCAL on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay informed about the progress we’re making and gain access to resources and special events as well as funding opportunities for employers.

We encourage everyone reading this blog to share it with their professional networks to best share these opportunities with automotive sector staff and employers. The FOCAL team welcomes your questions and feedback—you may contact us at your convenience.