Friday, April 19, 2024

Labor shortage: employs its own employee 850 km away

Must read

Maria Gill
Maria Gill
"Subtly charming problem solver. Extreme tv enthusiast. Web scholar. Evil beer expert. Music nerd. Food junkie."

An accounting office manager at the MRC in Bonaventure, Gaspey, unable to find an accounting technician in her part of the country, just rented one from the Saint-Michel neighborhood of Montreal.

“In the area, there has been no interaction. To no avail,” said Diane Beausoleil, owner of the Service Multi-Disciplinaire, located in the village of Kaplan, Gaspeze.

Unable to find an accounting technician in her area for weeks as tax season approaches, she decides to take on the bull by advertising her job offer throughout Quebec.

“We received about thirty resumes, three of which were interesting. We had some at the Laurentians, in Montreal and at Longueuil,”

Even if you breathed a sigh of relief today after finding the rare pearl in February, in Montreal, Diane Beausoleil finds herself with hundreds of extra dollars to pay each month to welcome it.

“I have to invest in Office 365 with Teams. I need to pay more monthly installments for other third-party software to be able to do the work remotely.”

Save $350

Almost 850 kilometers away, a new employee since February, Julie Levasseur, sees nothing but the good in her life.

“This is my business,” she says over the phone.

No more traffic jams, no more childcare costs, no more stress…the accounting technician loves working with Diane, who is accommodating. She enjoys her new quality of life every day, which allows her to breathe a little.

“I don’t get road work headaches in the morning. I don’t pay for after-school care. I save $200 a month on gas,” she breathes.

See also  Michael Melling, CEO of Bell Media, Takes Vacation After Lisa LaFlamme's Departure

However, even if these remote work jobs can make candidates smile, that’s another story for SME bosses, according to François Vincent, vice president of Quebec at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

“How are we going to make them live, the districts, if all the workers are at a distance? He asks himself aloud.

“For the vitality of the regions, it takes the people,” he pleads.

negative effects

at registerFrancois Vincent waves a study on the impact of remote work on companies conducted at the beginning of the pandemic, which paints a rather bleak picture of the new reality of remote workers.

Reduced productivity (34%), connectivity (36%), team cohesion (53%)…not to mention the increased cost of office equipment (39%), telecommuting can hurt businesses, according to CFIB.

The lack of meetings (49%), the difficulty of management (47%) and employees’ access to high-speed connectivity (31%) are all concerns of superiors.

CFIB’s François Vincent concludes that “there is a limit to having to recruit 100% remotely”.

♦ last December, The magazine had told the story of Monique L. fortinAn accountant from Manywaki denounced the lack of accountants in the region.

Do you have information you want to share with us about this story?

Got a scoop that might interest our readers?

Write to us at [email protected] or call us directly at 1800-63SCOOP.

Latest article