Attracting and retaining employees continues to be a challenge in the changing business landscape of South Delta.
With the opening of Tsawwassen Mills last month and the phased opening of Tsawwassen Commons next door now underway at the Tsawwassen First Nation, the employee pool is getting shallow for businesses, both new and existing. Steve Krawchuk, owner of the McDonald's franchises in Ladner and Tsawwassen, said keeping and attracting employees has certainly had its challenges recently.
"When the Mills opened up and they had their big hiring process, we did lose some employees," he said. "When you look at the numbers and now the second mall is starting to open up, there is just not that many young people around. But it could have been worse. Certainly it has put some pressure on us, but we are recovering from it slowly, but surely."
Krawchuk said there are a number of factors he feels work in favour of McDonald's when it comes to attracting and retaining employees, including flexible scheduling and discounted meals. The fast food chain is just one of many existing businesses in South Delta to feel the pinch of having two large malls open adjacent to a relatively small community, one that's located at the edge of the region and not well served by transit.
The 200-store Tsawwassen Mills held several job fairs in the weeks and months leading up to its grand opening on Oct. 5. It also launched a job centre on site shortly after opening, but as of Monday, the fashion mall still had over 100 job postings on its website. "The job centre that we created on site definitely assisted our retailers," said general manager Mark Fenwick. "It created a good opportunity to connect with applicants and have a nice interview space in one central location. Many retailers told us that it was appreciated."
Fenwick said the job centre was scheduled to close yesterday as the intent was to only have it operate for a month.
"I think overall the retailers are managing," he said. "We have had generally reasonable comments that they have found the staff they were looking for."
Fenwick said there are no plans for further job fairs, adding the mall website and its mobile app are both great tools for job seekers.
Tsawwassen Mills runs an employee shuttle to the Scott Road SkyTrain station.
Tsawwassen Commons has held a couple of job fairs over the last month as the first tenants in the 100-store strip mall come on stream.
As for challenges finding employees for the likes of Walmart and other tenants, property manager May Lee cautioned it's still early on.
"I can't speak on behalf of our tenants, but what I can say is that we are still at the early stage and our tenants are still seeking employees, so our role is to work with our tenants and provide opportunities to the communities," she said.
Walmart has run fullpage ads looking for staff members.
