THE Surrey Board of Trade and the Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IECBC) signed a memorandum of understanding on October 30. The MOU will bridge the connection between employers and refugee and immigrant talent, with a focus on supporting practices around diversity and inclusion.
“This year’s employer sector dialogues, roundtables and focus groups have highlighted the deeper challenges that employers face when attracting, hiring, onboarding and retaining newcomers. In addition, lack of cultural awareness and practices negatively affect retention rates,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “This is especially important for Surrey’s businesses, most of which are small to medium sized.”
The objectives of the partnership between the Surrey Board of Trade and IECBC is to:
* Improve opportunities for employers to meet immigrant and refugee talents;
* Match specific occupations through specific programs and networking to find the right talent;
* Provide free online tools and resources to improve access to newcomer information for both businesses and job seekers;
* Create more inclusive and welcoming workplaces;
* Increase employee engagement and advance staff professional development; and,
* Increase local and global connections.
“This memorandum of understanding will allow IECBC and the Surrey Board of Trade to meet workforce development goals that will provide long term economic benefits to Surrey and to its businesses,” said Patrick Mackenzie, President and CEO, IECBC.
