DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 1

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 2 Workshop Objectives This working session has been developed to help our organization analyze the value that skilled immigrants bring to the Canadian workforce. Our objective is to fully understand how and where skilled immigrants contribute within our workforce and to track the progress of our results. Participants in this session will discuss possible definitions of skilled immigrant, the characteristics that relate to our specific environment and the criteria that should be tracked and measured. The topic is important for Human Resources executives and business leaders and other members of our organization who: –have responsibility for our strategic direction; –create and evaluate hiring policy and processes; –source candidates and execute recruitment processes; and –influence hiring decisions. The workshop concludes with discussions of how to develop benchmarks, identify and report on progress, allocate responsibility, and relate the metrics to overall business performance.

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 3 Why, What and How to Measure?  It is a well known business premise that what gets measured gets managed.  The time, money and effort directed to the sourcing, hiring and developing of skilled immigrants will depend upon the return on investment (ROI) that can be demonstrated.  For employers attempting to integrate more skilled immigrants into their organizations, an important question is “How do we define and measure our success in attracting this talent?”

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 4 Why, What and How to Measure?  As there are currently no universally accepted definitions for skilled immigrant, employers can choose from a range of identifiers : 1. Born outside Canada 2. Less than 10 years in Canada prior to employment 3. Less that three years in Canada prior to employment 4. International education 5. International work experience 6. No Canadian experience in area of skills/education prior to employment 7. ESL: English as a Second Language – and skill in a specific foreign language 8. Not Canadian Citizen  “What” you measure depends on what is important to your business: –In a business driven around innovation, acquiring top global talent is key. –In a business trying to expand in a new local ethnic market, specific coverage of that community is likely essential. –In a business intending to expand globally, expertise in specific target markets and languages is indispensable.

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 5 Identify a Definition that Aligns with Your Company  A company planning to identify global talent hotspots would be inclined to use definitions [4]: International education [5]: International work experience. It could thereby identify top skilled immigrant employees and map them against their source countries, international universities or international companies.  A company focusing on employment equity/social justice drivers may prefer to use definitions [3]: Less than three years in Canada prior to employment or [6]: No Canadian experience in area of skills/education prior to employment. It could thereby identify the percentage of employees to whom they gave their first job in Canada.  A company focused on serving global markets may prefer definition [5]: International work experience, and further track countries of experience, in order to better match employees with target markets.  A company focused on serving local multilingual markets may prefer definition [7]: English as a second language, and further track languages spoken.

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 6 Identify a Definition that Aligns with Your Company  Employers planning to track skilled immigrants can choose the metric that: 1.Allows the easiest identification of individuals; 2.Can most easily be tracked over time within the organization; and 3.Causes minimal confusion or overlap in categorization.  Different methods can be employed to start the tracking process: –Mine existing employee databases using definitions chosen; –Adapt employee databases to capture the additional information required; and –Conduct annual employee audits including skilled immigrant categories.

DateWorkshop: Creating Metrics 7 Tool: Creating Metrics #Possible MetricsCheck 1Born outside Canada 2Less than 10 years in Canada prior to employment 3Less that 3 years in Canada prior to employment 4International education 5International work experience 6No Canadian experience in area of skills/education prior to employment 7ESL: English as a Second Language 8Not Canadian Citizen 1. What are the business drivers compelling us to integrate more skilled immigrants into our workforce? 2.Given these drivers, what metrics related to skilled immigrants are most relevant for us to track? 3. How will we create the base-line metrics, i.e. our current percentage of skilled immigrants? 4. When will we review our progress (every six months, annually)? 5. Who will be accountable for improvement? 6. How and to whom will we report progress? 7. How can/will we tie our metrics on skilled immigrants with our overall business performance? Shrinking Workforce/Growing Demand Skilled Immigrant Expertise Changing Local Market Globalization