Beth Veenkamp
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
Thirty people attended attended a networking event that was co-hosted by the Thrive Project, the Williams Lake and District Chamber and the City of Williams Lake.
The event was focused on Human Resources and was an opportunity for business owners and non-profit groups to come together to find common solutions for HR challenges in the the local labour force.
The Williams Lake Hiring initiative was introduced as a one of the ways that the City of Williams Lake is seeking to be proactive in addressing the lean labour pool that is impacting employers.
“From the initial outreach sessions that I have conducted with businesses I have started to identify some common themes,” say Laurie Walters the Business Liaison working on the project.
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“We are seeing a gap in knowledge about programs and services that are already available from business owners, and we are hearing a desire for more opportunities to connect with others that are having similar challenges.,” Walters says.
“This breakfast was designed as an opportunity to allow business to get together to meet and as a way to start bridge the gap between them and available services”
One of the speakers was Shannon Thom from WorkBC who spoke about the new services available for employers to access dollars for training to support skill development of workers through training dollars, as well as the support and services that they can provide to businesses who are on the verge of terminating an employee.
“The message that we really want to get out is that we are all working towards solutions for Williams Lake and that if you are a business owner suffering with HR challenges to come forward so that we can work toward creating some strategies that will help.”
Beth Veenkamp is the economic development officer for the City of Williams Lake