The Great Retraining

What comes after a surge in employee turnover? A surge of untrained employees. 

Driving the news: While the data coming out of Stats Canada hasn’t lived up to the hype of the so-called Great Resignation, a new study suggests that half of Canadian workers are adding “landing a new job” to their list of resolutions, up from 31% as of six months ago.

  • In October 2022, more than 229,000 workers left their jobs, according to Stats Canada, which is in line with the averages observed from 2017 to 2019.    

Why it matters: Looking at similar trends south of the border, economists say the wave of job-switching could be one factor that drags down overall productivity—for individual companies and perhaps for the economy as well, per The New York Times. 

  • Many hires are not overly productive until months, even years, on the job, while the perpetual need to train employees also drags down the productivity of managers.

Why it’s happening: Workers are trying to flex whatever power they have left before the labour market cools down. Almost 60% of employees who changed jobs in October 2022 secured a position with a higher wage, up from a 50.5% average seen from 2017 to 2019.

  • The churn is particularly high in low-wage sectors, so remember to be patient at your local coffee shop or that new dinner spot.

Bottom line: Training is an investment into a company’s future. While the efforts behind training new hires could pay off in the long term, they require workers to stay put—which many are reluctant to do as rising living costs force people to chase bigger paychecks.