Construction firm’s CEO on global hunt for workers

‘Frustrating’ recruitment effort

George Vassallo is the president of Bothwell-accurate, an almost century-old construction firm with offices in Ontario and British Columbia, specializing in roofing and waterproofing. Business is booming. Work orders are coming in. But finding enough people is a problem.

So Vassallo recently took off on a six-nation world tour to look for some.

Last year, the CEO spent two weeks each in the U.S., the Philippines, Singapore, Ireland, Israel and Vietnam, meeting with educators and fellow businesspeople.

“It’s been a frustrating endeavour so far,” he says of his journey. “They’re having the same difficulties in finding labour. It seems to be a global mindset.”

All around the world, people hear “construction” and they form an opinion. “The perception of construction is it’s dirty, it’s hard labour, it doesn’t pay well, there’s no future in it — and I disagree with all that.”

Bothwell-accurate is a case in point. “At this very moment, I have 50 jobs to fill, ranging from $66,000 to $400,000 a year. We’re eager to diversify our workforce with more women, newcomers, and youth, yet there’s a reluctance to pursue these rewarding opportunities. We need their talents, creativity, and determination, but how do we motivate them to come to work?”

One thing he found is that job seekers are happy to fill office positions such as accountants, engineers and programmers. But fieldwork is seen as less attractive, even though the pay and prospects may be superb.

“We all push our kids to become lawyers and doctors,” he says. “There isn’t anybody that I know of, when their kids were being raised, who said I want to be a roofer, a waterproofing, a cladder, a glazier, a bricklayer. That’s just not where we put our focus. And it seems to be worldwide.”

He adds: “What we have to do is change that perspective. It’s no longer a dirty thing to say I work in construction.”

One labour-market oddity he noticed was gender diversity. Bothwell-accurate employs about 850 people, of which some 500 are in the field. In other countries, women hold a significant portion of those positions. At his firm: Zero.

“I don’t know how I’m going to turn that,” he says, though he wants to. “You don’t have to be six-foot-five and 200 pounds anymore.”

Other issues had to do with ease of movement. People in Vietnam and Ireland, for instance, mentioned how difficult it can be for family members to accompany a new employee to Canada.

Canada is bringing in hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year. But, says Vassallo: “I don’t think we’re filtering them into good jobs. You don’t want them all driving Ubers or working at 7-Eleven. They’re smart, smart people. We just have to utilize their smarts.