What’s the update in the Flexible Labour Pool?

The Flexible Labour Pool project undertaken by the Centre for Employment Innovation at St. Francis Xavier University first appeared in the Casket

July 13. They’ve had a busy summer since then.

Several focus groups were held, where residents and employers converged and discussed various issues that are keeping locals out of the workforce. The result was “excellent feedback,” according to Jaime Smith, director of innovation at the CEI.

Several barriers in the way of working were identified: access to child care, transportation, education, and job training were among them. The diverse community members discussed how a flexible approach could fill some hours on the job, benefiting everybody.

“What we found is that there are people out there” who are interested in a “flexible” approach to work, says Smith, rather than the rigid full-time, part-time or casual designations.

A proposal for the project has been completed and submitted to funding bodies.

“We’re quite hopeful that we’re going to be able to launch a pilot project in the very near future,” says Smith. She is hoping the project will be up and running before spring 2020. The collaborative effort is already having contact with other parts of the province.

“We do work as well in Amherst with the Nova Scotia Works office, through Truro with Futureworx and other organizations.”

The first FLP project will be localized to Antigonish, but Smith thinks it could quickly scale to other parts of Nova Scotia, to get everybody to work.

“It’s broader than finding a job,” she says, “it’s about careers.”