This document provides an overview of skills gaps and shortages in Toronto and discusses strategies to address them. It finds that (1) skills deficiencies exist for both hard/technical skills and soft/employability skills, negatively impacting business; (2) initiatives partnering business with education can help by identifying needed skills and creating relevant training programs; (3) future employees will require skills like strategic thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability to changing work environments. The document examines skills issues across various levels from frontline workers to executives and suggests certification, partnerships and lifelong learning as ways to develop the skills workforce needs.

1. Addressing skills issues in the
Toronto area
by Toronto Training and HR
May 2013

2. CONTENTS
3-4 Introduction
5-6 Definitions
7-8 Why is there a gap?
9-15 The situation in Canada
16-18 The situation in Ontario
19-21 Global strategies to overcome skills shortages
22-23 Drill A
24-27 Skills certification
28-29 Initiatives where business partners with education
30-32 Skills deficiencies
33-34 Global leadership skills development
35-37 Senior executives
38-41 The “middle skills” gap
42-43 Drill B
44-47 Skills of tomorrow’s employees
48 Case study
49-50 Conclusion and questions
Page 2

3. Page 3
Introduction

4. Page 4
Introduction to Toronto Training
and HR
Toronto Training and HR is a specialist training and
human resources consultancy headed by Timothy Holden
10 years in banking
10 years in training and human resources
Freelance practitioner since 2006
The core services provided by Toronto Training and HR
are:
Training event design
Training event delivery
Reducing costs, saving time plus improving
employee engagement and morale
Services for job seekers

5. Page 5
Definitions

6. Definitions
• Skills gap
• Skills shortages
Page 6

7. Page 7
Why is there a gap?

8. Why is there a gap?
• The workforce is rapidly becoming
younger
• High unemployment has started to
atrophy skills at all levels
• Colleges and universities have
focused on teaching to the test
Page 8

9. Page 9
The situation in Canada

10. The situation in Canada 1 of 6
• Need for more university, college
and trades graduates
• Strong demand for university
graduates
• University graduates have in-demand
skills
• Graduates have a close connection
between studies and careers
• University graduates adapt to job
market changes
Page 10

11. The situation in Canada 2 of 6
• Opportunities are strongest for
university graduates
• Job growth for university graduates
continues in a tough economy
• Canada has room to grow
• University students get hands-on
career preparation
• Need to narrow the Aboriginal
education gap
Page 11

12. The situation in Canada 3 of 6
INDICATORS
• High-school completion
• College completion
• University completion
• PhD graduates
• % of graduates in science, maths,
computer science and engineering
• Students with low-level reading skills
• Students with high-level reading skills
• Students with low-level maths skills
• Students with high-level maths skills

13. The situation in Canada 4 of 6
INDICATORS
• Students with low-level science skills
• Students with high-level science skills
• Adult literacy rate; low-level skills
• Adult literacy rate; high-level skills
• Performance of disadvantaged schools
• Adult participation in education
• Equity in learning outcomes
• Foreign student index
• ROI, tertiary education for men
• ROI, tertiary education for women

14. The situation in Canada 5 of 6
LEAGUE TABLE
• Canada 2nd out of 16 after Finland
MEASURING EDUCATION PERFORMANCE
• Basic participants
• Mainstream participants
• Advanced participants
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
Page 14

15. The situation in Canada 6 of 6
SKILLS SHORTAGE
• Occupations x 25
SKILLS SURPLUS
• Occupations x 20
Page 15

16. Page 16
The situation in Ontario

17. The situation in Ontario 1 of 2
• Innovation, productivity and risk
aversion
• Partnerships
• Science and technology
• International students
• Immigration
• Education
Page 17

18. The situation in Ontario 2 of 2
• Training programs
• Older workers and retraining
• Labour market and mobility
• National strategy
Page 18

19. Page 19
Global strategies to
overcome skills shortages

20. Global strategies to overcome skills
shortages 1 of 2
• Additional training and development
• Appointing people without the skills
currently but with potential to learn
and grow
• Broadening the search outside the
local region
• Increasing starting salaries
Page 20

21. Global strategies to overcome skills
shortages 2 of 2
• Partnering with educational
institutions to create curriculum
aligned to talent needs
• Increasing the focus on improving
pipeline
• Broadening the search outside the
country
Page 21

22. Page 22
Drill A

23. Page 23
Drill A

24. Page 24
Skills certification

25. Skills certification 1 of 3
BENEFITS
• Promote and acknowledge job cross
training
• Establish a common standard of
performance across the organization
• Increase productivity and
competitiveness
• Motivate staff
• Improve workforce skills
• Send out a positive image of the
organization
Page 25

26. Skills certification 2 of 3
FOUNDATION OF A CERTIFICATION
PROCESS
• Conduct a competency analysis of
the occupation by breaking it down
into its major areas of competence,
tasks and sub-tasks
• Set the expected performance
standard for each task to evaluate
proficiency-establish a performance
rating scale and define each level
Page 26

27. Skills certification 3 of 3
FOUNDATION OF A CERTIFICATION
PROCESS
• Define the skill certification levels
• Identify any prerequisites for skill
certification
• Decide how the assessment process
will occur
• Establish skill certification policies
such as the application, skill
assessment, certification award and
certification maintenance system
Page 27

28. Page 28
Initiatives where business
partners with education

29. Initiatives where business partners
with education
• Skills identified as deficient
• Partnering for improvement
• Business and education partnerships
• Professional association partnerships
• Training and development programs
Page 29

30. Page 30
Skills deficiencies

31. Skills deficiencies 1 of 2
• Hard skills (technical)
• Soft skills (employability)
Page 31

32. Skills deficiencies 2 of 2
IMPACT OF SKILLS DEFICIENCIES
• Lose business or orders to competitors
• Delay developing new products or
services
• Have difficulties meeting quality
standards
• Increase operating costs
• Have difficulties introducing new work
practices
• Increase workload for other staff
• Outsource work
• Decrease productivity

33. Page 33
Global leadership skills
development

34. Global leadership skills
development
• Definition
• People skills
• Process skills
Page 34

35. Page 35
Senior executives

36. Senior executives 1 of 2
• Leadership
• People
• Communication
• Resilience
Page 36

37. Senior executives 2 of 2
SKILLS MISSING
• Creativity and innovation
• Ethics and corporate social
responsibility
• Professionalism and work ethic
• Lifelong learning and self-direction
• Critical thinking and problem-solving
Page 37

38. Page 38
The “middle skills” gap

39. The “middle skills” gap 1 of 3
EFFECTIVE INITIATIVES
• Multiple employers in the region or
industry sector cooperate with one
another and with educational
institutions to design and fund
initiatives and train/hire graduates
• Classroom education is integrated
with opportunities to apply new
concepts and skills in actual or
simulated work settings
• Training focuses in offering workers
career pathways rather than just
skills for the initial job

40. The “middle skills” gap 2 of 3
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE SKILLS
ECOSYSTEMS
• Start from positions of strength,
common pain and interest
• Identify a network integrator
• Building skills ecosystems takes time
Page 40

41. The “middle skills” gap 3 of 3
EDUCATION LINKS WITH EMPLOYERS
• Colleges
• Internships
• Online education
Page 41

42. Page 42
Drill B

43. Page 43
Drill B

44. Page 44
Skills of tomorrow’s
employees

45. Skills of tomorrow’s employees
1 of 3
• Strategic imagination
• Provocative inquiry
• Creative problem solving
• Agility
• Resilience
Page 45

46. Skills of tomorrow’s employees
2 of 3
• Ability to change course in response
to innovations and shifts in the
labour and capital market
• When is good enough is indeed good
enough; how much information is
enough basis to take action without
waiting until all the data is in?
• Leaders will need more ability to see
discontinuity and not look at the
future as an extension of the past
Page 46

47. Skills of tomorrow’s employees
3 of 3
CHALLENGES AHEAD
• Demographic shift
• Work-life balance
• Training/skills opportunities
• Talent acquisition
Page 47

48. Page 48
Case study

49. Page 49
Conclusion and questions

50. Page 50
Conclusion and questions
Summary
Videos
Questions