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Welcome to the Move Royal Canada podcast, where every week we showcase incredible businesses and rural Northern Canada businesses that are not only growing but are looking to hire. We're here to show you companies and communities outside of the big cities that are building stronger and more inclusive workplaces, workplaces that want and are encouraging newcomers, immigrants and refugees to work with them.

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Let us be your guides to help you find the best places in Canada to not only immigrate, but build a career in Seattle. I'm your host, Leah Mitchell, and I am your co-host, Lindsey Rubini. Join us as you learn about all of the amazing career opportunities in places that you may not have ever thought of moving. Let's get started.

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Unknown
Good morning and welcome to podcast. We have an exciting episode today. Today we have on Kathy Sweet. She's the director of HR in North America for veterans dad, which is located in southern Saskatchewan. Welcome, Kathy. Thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute pleasure. Yes, I'm very excited because I have a lot of family that live in Saskatchewan.

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Unknown
So we drive very near, you know, near to where your companies located. I know there's lots of great things about the area. You know, the company. So I would love for you to tell us. Yeah, about the company and everything around. Yeah. For sure. Thank you. It it is really a family run. It's been family run since the beginning.

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Unknown
Even before Patterson had purchased, the entity in Canada. It was built by a family as well. So family is very much a part of who we are as a company. It is the Canadian operations, the manufacturing facility is in rural Saskatchewan. It is in near Long Beach, Saskatchewan. It is about, 20 minutes south of the U of the number one highway, but it really draws in from a radius of as far as Grunfeld, Mossman as well as further south is Carlisle in Arcola.

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Unknown
So it is a very nice little population pool. And it is on the secondary highway just on highway nine. So how far would you say just because actually we had on the Economic development officer of Mossman, our last episode, how far would you say it's from movement? If someone wanted to like live in Mossman and work at that instead?

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Unknown
It's about 50km. There are some really good roads. You can either take the number one, which is obviously really nice, or there is a really great city. We call them super grid roads. Which is a nice little direct roach there as well. So it takes about 35 minutes to drive to get to the site. So that's not bad at all.

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Unknown
So that's that's like I mean, I would tell people it's not a different incident traffic for an hour. You know, these are not getting angry because you can drive in a straight line and there's not cars you can you got to look out for the wildlife, is what we say. So sometimes it's a little tricky when you have, hunting season in the fall as an example.

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Unknown
But a large population of our, community, the people that come from our communities, are obviously Whitewood, Kipling, Kennedy that's on that highway 48. So it's literally 8 to 16 minutes on the highway to get to our facility. So we do see a lot of that. But then we also, encourage carpooling and things like that. So because there is over 200 people that come to the factory every day, you know, to help with roads and things like that, we we absolutely encourage those.

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Unknown
So, Kathleen, what is it exactly that Barratt said does like and the positions when people travel to the factory, what's all involved in the positions there that are set in the Lang Bank facility has everything, right? It is a full manufacturing facility. And it was it's the original in Canada. We do have a supplementary head office. I would say that's in Regina.

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Unknown
For some professionals that don't necessarily need to be on site all the time as we expand. But at the factory itself, it has got everything from fabrication, assembly technicians, accountants, HR, finance, IT, manufacturing, engineering, design, engineering, innovation, engineering. So it does have on the site. It's really grown. It's got multiple offices. I would say one is relatively new, only a few years old that we have for our we call them products and development.

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Unknown
So those are the engineers designing, innovating new product, new ideas. And again, right. It's right from raw steel right to finished product that rolls off the factory line. So and it's air seeder. So it's the farm equipment, that everybody sees the great big red ones. So, they are Saskatchewan has massive farms, even in Alberta, which is, you know, a very large market for us.

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Unknown
Everyone can see how big those farms are. So you can absolutely have an 84ft toolbar, with a 1300 or more tank on the back of it, and you see them drive because they can only drive 40km an hour down the highway. So, it is very much a right from raw steel to finished product innovation and everything included.

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Unknown
So the Regina office really helps us attract, some talents that give some flexibility into our into our working professionals. Those are, occupations that you've, that you need right now or you find this more prevalent than others right now. I think, you know, when we when you build a sense of community in the hourly workforce so they, you know, we have a very large Filipino population as well as Ukrainian population in our hourly workforce in the factory.

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Unknown
And there's very much a sense of community there. They have lunches, watch together, they picnic together, they go to church together, things like that. So that is really positive for us because there is very much word of mouth now in our hourly workforce. When I started six and a half years ago, I think maybe 20 people applied to founders that there was not much of a reputation out there at all.

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Unknown
But we've really done a lot of work on employer branding and attraction and recruitment and really partnering with organizations such as SMP, Open Door Society in Regina, things like that. The ones that we have a very hard time at, at the factory is really those professionals. And so that Ystad is one of those organizations, as we'll say, just an engineer, manufacturing engineers, they have to be at the manufacturing site.

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Unknown
If you're a quality engineer, you've got to be at the site. If you're a design engineer, we want you to be right attached to the test shop trying out new things. It's not one of those organizations where you go design something in a cubicle on the 20th floor of a building in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, and you never get to see and touch it.

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Unknown
We encourage people to go design it, work collaboratively, and then go see and touch it as you're doing it. So that is really where we find the hardest pieces. Young engineers and young professionals are super excited. As we all know, ready to travel and go do whatever they need to. But when it comes to really keeping them there for that, you know, that career progression and showing that there's opportunity laterally in our organization as well, not just everything vertical.

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Unknown
That's really where it's tough because you, you, you commute for a few years, but after that you really want to find your, your study. So yes, I think that can be the challenge. You know, a lot of people are more and more I think moving rural or north sort of get their career started. But it's how do you keep them after those three years, you know, so that they go into those higher positions and stay?

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Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. And we do, you know, all the traditional things such as, you know, we do an onboarding that incorporates you into the family. You know, we really try to associate as being a sports team, a sports teams challenges, other. We all respect each other's strengths. You know, we we do things family. You kind of give excuses every once in a while.

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Unknown
But it's really it comes down to how can we we do the exit interviews. We do an analysis every quarter. How are we doing? I mean, I love that we, the young people are brutally honest, which is fantastic. We've had some really spicy, answers. You know, with relation to finding a significant other is a challenge in a rural community.

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Unknown
So that's wholly fair. Absolutely. You know something? It's out of our control as a, as a and as an employer. But investing in the communities, getting people there, participating and representing themselves and who we are is, is really been part of our success. Anyway. So Cathy, it's just taking off from that. What would be 1 or 2 suggestions you would give our listener right now, if they are interested in your company, in terms of trying to get to know your company better and if it's the right fit for them.

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Unknown
Yeah. I mean, I would really recommend, following our social media platforms because that really tells you more than just what the website's going to. It shows you how passionate our farmers are, the ones that purchase our equipment, how they're invested in us, and take a look at local communities as well that are within the organic, with or associated with this organization.

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Unknown
So Moda is such an ambassador for I mean, we partnered with them to when the war broke out, you know, Ukrainians coming, their very great skill set, you know, taking a look at our social media and seeing testimonials and what we've done, whether it be LinkedIn, whether it be Instagram, we just launched TikTok, which, you know, is always controversial.

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Unknown
Yeah, it's really great, especially for a European company, because TikTok is not a thing in Europe. Oh, yeah. So I mean, the website is a traditional thing, but I mean, there's stories to be had, so that's much better to watch those stories on those. Well, absolutely. And I think too just you mentioned a lot of great towns which I'm going to everyone put in the show notes because I think that's a great opportunity to, to look at all those different towns and explore and see what they have.

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Unknown
And, and you know, I always tell you, look at the house prices. You're going to be pleasantly surprised, you know. Yes, exactly. You know, there's great opportunity. You know, it's an opportunity where you can come and work for a company and buy a house. You know, we can't do that in Toronto. You can't do that in Vancouver.

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Unknown
You know, as a 25 year old, you know, like there's just amazing opportunities in, in the rural areas to, to do that. Yeah. And it's truly, I think a lot of people I mean, outside of maybe the, the factory floor, but the professionals really understand it's a global company. They are interacting on teams calls. You know Kovid really forced us all into the online platform.

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Unknown
And so as a company has really embraced that. I mean, there are days where, you know, your headphones aren't out because you're collaborating with someone in a different country, with a different perspective, with a different background. And I think that that for the professionals, they really do see that. Yeah. So creating that diversity and collaboration. So a factory as an example, a couple of weeks ago we wrapped up our sales and service right the season over er cedar planting season is done.

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Unknown
We brought the professionals that were right in front of all the farmers all year long, talking to the people on the factory floor, engaging with them, giving them the feedback of what they do every day, how the farmer is taking that celebrating and asking for something a little bit different. And it was something that absolutely, we want to continue having.

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Unknown
So there's not just this isolation of, oh, you only do this, you only do that, and you can only do this. It is really meant to be as much cross-functional as we possibly can make it. Yeah. Oh that's great. So you talk a lot of yeah about that cross-functional collaboration. So how does it what how do you find that challenge.

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Unknown
Because being in rural area, you know, I can I'm assuming there's probably not a lot of like language supports right. For at some time. So so do you have certain levels of expectations for language or how do you, I guess, meet that challenge? Yeah, language is one that we had to get really creative on, to be honest. A few years ago.

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Unknown
So we actually partnered with, someone in I do believe the first one was in Kipling, and we would actually do English classes at night, and she would do them in her house and we really streamed from there. Very, very lovely. I mean, the some of the ladies that, I have the privilege of working with, they have really gotten gone creative.

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Unknown
They've really talked to them as well and said, what do you need? There is obviously when you talk about a manufacturing facility, there is an expectation. Obviously safety is our number one priority. And so you've got to be able to understand different safety mechanisms, communications that are in place now. The other one was ukrainian's was also a challenge.

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Unknown
So we actually did have a gentleman or do have a gentleman that's on the shop floor who is Ukrainian. So he was able to really help. We extended what we called like a mentorship program or a buddy program that would allow him to come in and support and so on. And then we support them in their paperwork.

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Unknown
We support them in their language classes, and give them time and space to do that as well. So there are lots there are some supervisors on the floor that are fluent, in the different languages as well. So we really try to do that bridging. But I mean, I know a lot of organizations that are large are like, oh, safety, you know, you've got to have a certain, you know, sea level English to be able to operate.

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Unknown
And and I think, yes, there are certain points for that, but I think there's at certain points where we can you can get creative within your organization to make them feel included, but at the same time, make sure you're communicating with them as clearly as possible. Oh, 100%. And I think and I think that's what's very different about being a rule, is you don't have maybe a larger group to pull from.

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Unknown
You can say, oh, this is our level, but they maybe have 5000 applicants. Or as you might have 200, right. There's a big difference there. Yeah. And you have to get creative and you have like you said, you have to sort of offer those classes or get them set up a support they're given, like I said, flexibility with their work.

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Unknown
So that they can can do that. Right. Because I would say it can be a challenge if you're working full time and you go home, you know, when you have family, it can be hard to make English a priority. So it's great to hear, like of a workplace that's giving that flexibility to to encourage it, because then those could be your managers in 2 or 3 years, you know.

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Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. Exactly. And like I said, I mean for for us I mean, yes, there are challenges. Am I going to say it's easy? Absolutely not. I mean, do our supervisors get frustrated? Absolutely. I mean, that's just the way it is. But, they have seen in the six years that, you know, that I've been there and that we've really changed the organization to look what it looks like today.

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Unknown
There is such a large added value to the way that you're bringing someone, how they're thinking about things, what they've done previously, right or wrong, teaching them they're they're teaching us about what they've come from, and we're teaching them about where they are. And it doesn't come without its struggles. But it's been insanely successful for us in the last several years, for sure.

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Unknown
And I think a lot of companies don't realize how much offering that language is. A retention strategy. I just finished working with the company, over the last three years, going in and doing English, and we were looking at the stats. All the people that started three years ago are still there. So I'm like, you just had 100% retention.

00:15:08:11 - 00:15:22:04
Unknown
Yeah, because you're offering English and I'm sure there's other factors as well. But yeah, people are buying houses and staying because they're not having to go and find classes somewhere else. And I think that's where a lot of companies miss. They're like, oh, figure it out yourself. Know if the company helps them figure it out, people will stay.

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Unknown
Yeah. And I mean, we've really grown in the factory to almost over 34% diversity within there. And that's including, you know, professionals and and hourly folks. So it it really does lead to, you know, the sense of community that they have as well. I mean, there's, there's so happy I mean, maybe it's just because maybe the director of HR is waving at them, I don't really know.

00:15:45:00 - 00:16:06:20
Unknown
But, you know, they're all it's like, hi, it's so nice to see you and very respectful. Even our cafeteria on site will do, like, a lunch or something to showcase their nationality. There's some backgrounds that can't eat meat, so there's certain things that they have as supplementary. And so our cafeteria even meets that requirement. So I mean, it's those are the types of things, right?

00:16:06:20 - 00:16:29:00
Unknown
It's just not one thing. It's different aspects of each. Right. So yeah, 100% on on how to retain your employees, especially if they're newcomers. Do you guys assist with any immigration pathways. Do you facilitate that for them, and if so, can you give us a couple examples? Yeah, I mean, we are the two ladies that I have the privilege of that are working in my area.

00:16:29:00 - 00:16:49:02
Unknown
They have really developed a wonderful program for people. I mean, there was definitely times where we scraped our knees because we trusted some external support from, you know, as an example, their legal guidance, which we ended up finding out that that was not the correct path. We need to have our own in-house expertise. So we've had these ladies are trained up.

00:16:49:08 - 00:17:08:07
Unknown
They have communicated to the new people that are starting that this is the expectation of the organization. You have one year. We will support you in this. This is where your starts. This is when we will communicate with you. This is what the expectation of you is. And then they will do on full letters of support. And then again we have our own legal.

00:17:08:07 - 00:17:27:14
Unknown
So we have, we have a very trusted provider, consultant that we use to assist them with their paperwork to make sure that we don't have the problem we had several years ago of of trusting others, because it really came down to when he learned that it. I know it wasn't their fault and it definitely wasn't ours, but it still felt bad.

00:17:27:16 - 00:17:51:17
Unknown
And we didn't want to put our that kind of hope and loss of hope in someone that we weren't comfortable with. So, you know, there's things such as helping them with, we give them relocation allowance when they come. Right? So there is an immigrant, like I would say immigrants. And we have different levels of relocation packages, obviously, but, we allow them that support and then we help them find, you know, connected into the right communities and things like that.

00:17:52:12 - 00:18:11:19
Unknown
We onboard everybody, you know, at the same time. So it's not like just random. It's not like one here, one there. You start with a group of people, so you start already with getting to know other people that are new into the organization as well. So there are, you know, we we support them from the paperwork through the troubling times as well.

00:18:11:21 - 00:18:29:17
Unknown
I mean, there are some professionals that, that are Filipino that they're like, I just need to talk to someone in my native language. And, you know, we're like, we get it, you know? So yeah, because we are a Swedish owned company, so we absolutely understand that English isn't everybody's first language. And sometimes some, some things just don't translate.

00:18:29:19 - 00:18:50:14
Unknown
Yeah. Definitely understandable. So we do see a very large retention when we support them through the entire process. But it didn't come without, you know, some unfortunate things in the very onset of it. But SMP and some of the other organizations have really supported us in it as well. And kind of told us what we're doing, how we're doing it.

00:18:50:14 - 00:19:12:18
Unknown
And obviously there's been some change in program as of recently. Right? So there's been some nomination programs that have decreased for a certain amount of time. And sure, panic ensued. So the nice thing is, is that I had my team connect indirectly. They got all the notes, we prepared everything, and then we sat down with everyone. So that was the nice part about it is they felt comfortable that we weren't just casting aside.

00:19:12:20 - 00:19:31:16
Unknown
They absolutely knew that we stick to the process. We became educated in it and then we continued on. So, you know, I actually want to, reiterate what you just said for the listeners and I know it's great when people, you know, have the option to select their own, representation. However, the company does have it in your best interest.

00:19:31:21 - 00:19:53:13
Unknown
They do want to see you be successful in it. So I hold contracts with companies as well. And they do give us alternatives, you know, because we can't force them. But, we do see a higher refusal rate than, when you go internal and, Yeah, I just, I think the listener or the newcomer has to be aware that the company is very, very much rooting for them.

00:19:53:13 - 00:20:12:23
Unknown
It's just not a one off hit and that you guys will, you know, provide English and, you know, relocation. So you're invested in that, employee. And I really think that's a great idea to have your own internal house or have somebody contracted out so they understand your company and what your needs are and what type of people you're looking for as well.

00:20:12:23 - 00:20:36:15
Unknown
So, yeah, just truthfully, the two of us sat down when that incident happened a couple of years ago and just felt dreadfully awful, and there was nothing that we could do to help them. It was just, you know, everything. Something happened. It really does. But that was definitely a lesson for us that we needed to step up our game, to have some sort of, again, who understands our organization, what our needs are.

00:20:37:06 - 00:20:56:16
Unknown
But then also that interprets a better level of support for the employee as well. So, and that's really great to hear about the, the relocation packages. So, so in theory, someone wasn't allowed to say Calgary or Toronto. You know, they're very interested. There's opportunity to sort of help financially to get them there. That's sort of what's holding them back.

00:20:56:16 - 00:21:18:09
Unknown
Right. Yeah, exactly. And and that's just the beginning. Right? I mean, there is things that we do to support them because we understand, you know, just as an example is if you have an ailing family member and they're back there, back home, you know, we do try to really work with our employees to understand that, you know, you don't, you know, if you have an ailing parent, you don't just go away for two days, right?

00:21:18:10 - 00:21:42:19
Unknown
It is a longer period of time. Or when you are going home to relocate your family to Canada, that does take some time so that you know the relocation. Yes, that's in the onset, but there is things out there work life cycle with us that we really tried to accommodate, such as going back home for either bereavement or, marriage or something like that of significance.

00:21:43:01 - 00:22:08:06
Unknown
We really try to work with them. And it seems to go over really well. It's very different for a Canadian. Right. We don't have, don't take a month to have three marriages or, you know, three ceremonies, to get married. Right. So it was something that took some cultural training as well for our people leaders. Because how do you go without someone for a month in an organization that's actually, you know, it's only about 300 people.

00:22:08:08 - 00:22:28:12
Unknown
So one person in a department might be pretty impactful for them for a month. Yeah, it's pretty tricky too, in terms of immigration, right. You got to make sure that you're watching the immigration requirements. So even though we've got to have cultural awareness, we do got to follow, federal policy and law as well. So that's kind of a, you know, a tightrope to walk as well.

00:22:28:14 - 00:22:58:19
Unknown
So in terms of you speak a lot about having newcomers. So then I'm going to guess that your requirement for the Canadian experience is, is not high on your list. As long as they have experience in that field you're looking for or. Yeah. And I mean, honestly, it's, transferable skills. I mean, the two ladies that I speak about, in my organization, one was she ran her own privacy law firm in the Philippines for years, almost a decade, and came to me.

00:22:59:01 - 00:23:20:14
Unknown
And then she hadn't worked in Canada yet. And I saw some personality. I saw some traits. My team was absolutely blown away by her energy. And then another one is actually comes from being a, team lead as an auditor for a major auditing firm, outside of Canada. And I'm going to tell you, they're the best ALM payroll person you're ever going to meet there.

00:23:20:14 - 00:23:47:06
Unknown
There's compliance there. So I mean, now we've invested in her. So now she gets trained on what Canadian legislation and federal regulations are regarding clean payroll. So there isn't an immense amount. I mean yes, we do partner with like University of Regina for their master's program as well. But then we do really take a look at sometimes it works really successfully, like I just mentioned with my two, because I tell my team I'm like, oh, I must be a really good judge then of what they do.

00:23:47:08 - 00:24:09:06
Unknown
But at the same time, sometimes it doesn't go well, right? Because sometimes we get, we call it hoodwinked. That maybe it didn't transfer as much as it we had thought it was, but overall, I would say our success rate is much higher than not. So it's worth taking a risk. But it really depends on we've tried we've had risks with managers as well as individual contributors.

00:24:09:06 - 00:24:29:19
Unknown
So. But you can risk kind of Canadian. It doesn't matter. Right. It just someone you know in the local town. You could think that they have the skills and it doesn't work out, you know. So but yeah, I mean, even with the local communities or the some of the communities have opened up, additional daycares, there's some that have come to us and we entertain them.

00:24:29:19 - 00:24:52:07
Unknown
We talk about what's going on in their local areas. Right? I mean, Kipling is a big draw for people because, again, it's highway like 15 minutes from the site and they talk about what they're doing for their local, we sponsor, like the Whitewood Rodeos, you know, the curling bonspiel, things that are beautifully Canadian. And then we give tickets away.

00:24:52:09 - 00:25:09:20
Unknown
So then you have some of these newcomers going to the rodeo for the very first time, and they're like, what was that? Right? Those kinds of things like, that's that's the fun stuff. Well, and that's a huge piece, I think, to also retention because it's getting them in the community. They're, you know, they're using English, they're talking through making friends.

00:25:09:20 - 00:25:30:22
Unknown
And that's how you keep people. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So would you see, Cathy, that there's a requirement that you should, you know, try your best to get your driver's license if you're going to be employed by your company. What are your thoughts on that? It's really tough. I mean, we've had some people that said, I'll get it, which, you know, we asked them kind of where they are in the process.

00:25:31:05 - 00:25:53:17
Unknown
Because you all have to drive. Obviously we really support people carpooling, without a doubt. But then when you're at the factory as well, depending on the role that you're in, if you're an hourly person, there's a likelihood that you're going to have to drive around throughout the site as well. And there's probably forklift and there's other requirements of driving other than just getting to and from work.

00:25:54:03 - 00:26:19:02
Unknown
And then some of the professionals that we have, it's not just getting to site. Right. I mean, you're going to go watch see equipment running in the field. You're going to be cross collaborating with people. Maybe it's even our suppliers across Western Canada. So as much as there is a hub that is there, you know, there's yes, the work is there, but there's also so much more additional work that's not at the site that you do need to be able to get to.

00:26:20:01 - 00:26:39:00
Unknown
And again, we all know driving in rural Saskatchewan in the winter is pretty tricky as it is. And so it is really important for a sense of community, for people to support each other in each of you driving or things like that. We've we've brainstormed ideas about doing other things, such as, you know, a shuttle bus or something like that.

00:26:39:00 - 00:26:58:07
Unknown
But then how do you how do you draw that? Right. And then the towns we're like, well, what about mine? What about mine? So, the requirement for the driver's license, that is pretty that is pretty vague. But we do some depending on the role, do get some flexibility on on getting that within a time period of of starting with us.

00:26:58:09 - 00:27:19:22
Unknown
But I think that's a really great point though, you bring up because right there, you know, that it's, you know, beneficial for you as an employee to have your driver's license. And if you aren't really interested in getting your driver's license when you relocate to Canada, then maybe this job won't be for, you know, right. Exactly. So that's that's something you can tick off right there.

00:27:19:22 - 00:27:38:17
Unknown
Right. And and then so it doesn't, you know, I don't want to say waste, but it doesn't take your time and resources as well as the newcomer that might be looking at reapplying. So if you aren't really interested in getting your driver's license, then probably working for your company isn't the right path to go. No real Saskatchewan is based on being in a car.

00:27:38:19 - 00:28:01:09
Unknown
Yeah, you know, we all have to have, you know, if we've all had children. I mean, I grew up in rural Saskatchewan and, it was like a 50 kilometer radius that I played sports. Now it's like a 400 kilometer radius on sports. So, I mean, you're driving everywhere. And so it is very different. So if someone does truly want to have a long term with us, I mean, you're going to have to drive, right?

00:28:01:09 - 00:28:27:19
Unknown
Whether it's to the grocery store, not every town even has a big enough grocery store. Right. So there is there's just real Saskatchewan is based on getting around. And I think that's honest. I and that's the real magnitude that's most I think rural areas in north, you know, real Canada. Simple driving. Yeah. You need to have a license like that's just like, you know, and maybe I should say you can take a little bit time to get it, but you just you can't settle and be part of the community without it.

00:28:27:21 - 00:28:53:21
Unknown
No. And I mean, I will poke a funny story. So one of the ladies that works for me, she's the lady with the from the Philippines who's a lawyer, and she grew up in a very privileged home in the Philippines. And I mean, I appreciate her her energy, her her thoughtfulness. So as her senior director, her and I were driving somewhere together, and so we, I was I was bringing her along, sharing with her, whether it be a snap or some sort of project that we're working on.

00:28:54:02 - 00:29:10:18
Unknown
So I went and picked her up because she wasn't comfortable driving. I picked her up and she got in the back seat of the car. I was her driver and I was like, hello? No, you can't sit up front with me. She's like, oh my gosh. It was just natural, isn't it? Because she grew up with the driver, nanny, chefs, things like that.

00:29:10:19 - 00:29:29:20
Unknown
But she just natural instinct. She just jumped in the backseat because the driver was there to pick her up and take her to her next meeting. So something as simple as that, it can be super fun to celebrate and laugh about. But sometimes those natural tendencies are just they're just ingrained, right? I mean, something as simple as that.

00:29:29:20 - 00:29:49:17
Unknown
I mean, how you tie your shoes, how you say goodbye to your kids in the morning, I think, you know, it's I find it just insanely celebratory for us to be able to say what the funny things are that we come from. So, Cathy, before we started our recording, you had mentioned that you have lost some staff in terms of, you know, them relocating to larger urban centers.

00:29:49:22 - 00:30:07:03
Unknown
If you had the opportunity to go back and kind of, you know, work with the with that staff who had left, would you give them advice on what they could do to so they wouldn't feel so isolated, like maybe they just didn't know or weren't aware of the opportunities within their community. What would you have said to them, if anything?

00:30:07:15 - 00:30:33:15
Unknown
We found that when they were here as a single male, they had a huge sense of community. They did things together. You know, there was they work. They really felt value in their work. They said, they really loved who they worked for. They loved how the company, you know, gave them the freedom, the flexibility, and trusted them to give him what I don't know how I, I don't even know this.

00:30:33:15 - 00:30:52:21
Unknown
We use for this, to be honest, is how do we when they, you know, they come back and they're newly married and they've relocated their their wife here. How to embed that in the community? I don't know the answer to that. I don't know if it was just that population. I don't know if it was just the wrong timing.

00:30:52:21 - 00:31:08:12
Unknown
Again, as I mentioned before, my one of my employees, she relocated her family here in December from India, and it was real cold. And her son just could do nothing but lay in the snow and she's like, no, you're going to get hypothermia. Like you can't be outside all the time. You've got to come in the house.

00:31:08:13 - 00:31:32:02
Unknown
So, you know, everyone's been really upfront with us and really honest with us, which I really appreciate because as a I mean, I've worked for very, very large organization, global organizations in my career. And you don't necessarily get that level of connectivity with them. So they've been very honest, and some have even gone so far as saying, I just can't find, a female social life in this rural setting.

00:31:32:02 - 00:31:55:21
Unknown
So I need to go to a larger setting to find that. So they do they they're part of the kinsmen in our local communities. They are a part of part of the churches in our local communities as well. You know, we put on some of our managers even go above and beyond and have like every Wednesday night, it's a dodgeball tournament or it's a pickleball tournament or something like that, like some sports things that now we're going to sponsor.

00:31:55:23 - 00:32:17:10
Unknown
But it's when they layer that, you know, their new life. Yeah, we respect that. We absolutely respect it. It's just and it's it's hard to do that too. But you're I also like what you said, like in terms of volunteers, ice work overseas. And one of my projects I was in charge of is, it was actually the first generation of Ukrainian children that would be born not in communism.

00:32:17:12 - 00:32:36:20
Unknown
And it was foreign when it got hired to do it because they're like, hey, you're going to educate these young people on volunteerism and small business ownership, which seems so natural to us as being Canadian. And I was like, wow, you know, they never thought it was that some countries just don't have that volunteerism backbone and small business ownership.

00:32:36:20 - 00:32:59:04
Unknown
So, volunteerism, immersing yourself in the community is a great way to feel valued and wanted. So yeah, you know, but but opportunity is what you make it. So it is. And we find it really easy. In the spring, summer, fall, people love it. Yeah. But we all know winter are really tough. Especially for immigrants. It's very tough.

00:32:59:10 - 00:33:19:22
Unknown
You know, there's it takes us decades to grow the skin that we have to, you know, withstand the -40 with, you know, minus an extra 10 to 15% wind chill. So. And then, you know, as we all know, in rural, in romance, whether the rural Saskatchewan rural communities, you've become very isolated them. Right. And many of these, many of these people that come to us are community based.

00:33:20:01 - 00:33:43:18
Unknown
Right? So there is a lot that the employer can do. But then you also want to empower your employees to create their own sense of community as well. So that they have that there. But yeah, we don't have a problem ever, you know, celebrating things. There's there's basketball courts that are going up here in our, in my local community, you know, those types of things, you know, really showcasing what sports they like to play and what they like to do.

00:33:44:00 - 00:34:05:23
Unknown
Well, you know, I also I also say this too, though, is that in immigration, the employer brings the, the worker, you know, the worker to the community. But the community also has to pick up some slack to and embrace that, that newcomer, because it has to be a symbiotic relationship for sure, between the employee and the employer, but as well as the community is benefiting from it.

00:34:05:23 - 00:34:25:19
Unknown
So I don't think the employer, they've already done the heavy lifting by hiring them, getting them here. So the real community has to really step up and show some supports as well. Let's my I thought and what I usually say to people yeah. And it can be really hard to you know, you think if you come over as a spouse maybe you don't speak the language yet you don't have a job?

00:34:26:04 - 00:34:42:18
Unknown
You don't have a license, you know, how how do you get that right? And how exactly how do the rural communities reach the people that are feeling that that isolation? You know, most of us, like I said, we have the license and yeah, you just bundle up and go out, right and volunteer. But if you don't have that from your own culture, how do we how do we get that?

00:34:42:18 - 00:35:02:06
Unknown
And yeah, I mean, that's that's not a new challenge unfortunately. Right. It's how do we get actually. But speaking of that, do you have, any spouses that work as well. Like have you have do you have a lot of partners that come over and they end up working for you too? Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. We do. We absolutely, have some that are, kind of the duo.

00:35:02:08 - 00:35:22:08
Unknown
Right? One came and then the next came, we have lots that have some, some entire families, that are with us. One of the things that, you know, we're trying really hard and a focus for us going into next calendar year is, in 2026 is, you know, we are open minded and we understand that we are a very large employer in the area that we're in.

00:35:22:08 - 00:35:42:21
Unknown
We know that there's massive other employers, right? Whether it be oil and gas or potash around us responsibly. And so for our niche, this is where we actually want to really partner with other small organizations to really look outside their box because we are doing it. But we also can't hire every duo. We also really want to showcase that, oh, you know what?

00:35:42:21 - 00:36:03:06
Unknown
The town of Greenville. Absolutely. This person. You should take a look at this person. Yes. This is their background. This is the bridge. But it'll it'll pay off. So they're just trying to help and promote. That's really the focus of next year is going in to some of our other organizations that are around us, even a little bit further, actually, to really support them.

00:36:03:06 - 00:36:27:08
Unknown
And them making the transition and seeing what the payoff for that would be as well. And I think it is, I mean, because if you if you can have both people happy then that helps, you know. Absolutely it does. And the amount of daycares and schools capacity, hospital capacities I mean the list is endless of you know, who we partner with on on and communicate with on a regular basis.

00:36:27:23 - 00:36:52:00
Unknown
You know, the local hospitals, we absolutely do the local doctors, we actually do the daycare centers. I mean, yeah, it's it's a lot to make sure that everybody is still able to, you know, sustain because 300 at the factory is like 700, 800, a thousand. Yeah. It's all said and done in that local area. And that's a lot because those populations of those towns are not very big.

00:36:52:12 - 00:37:13:10
Unknown
And are you finding, as I said, continuing to grow. Yeah. Yeah, it is definitely I mean, agriculture we know what happened with agriculture after and during Covid, right? It was just this what, you know, farmers just, you know, grain prices, canola prices, just record highs. Yeah. We're we're both for both for our. Lindsay was a farmer.

00:37:13:10 - 00:37:30:23
Unknown
I'm a farmer as well. So yeah I we get it. We're we're doing record lows right now. We sure are. We can talk about that little scoop there. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. But I mean, honestly, there was a lot, you know, during the Covid, I mean, I think that batters had handled that very, very well. I know that lots of employers struggled.

00:37:30:23 - 00:37:44:17
Unknown
I mean, I'll be honest, when I blew the horn in March of 2020, I was like, oh, well, I'll be gone for two weeks and then we'll be back. And then, yeah, we all learned really quickly that we weren't all going to be back right away. So that was interesting part of my career. But I do think that we've done it.

00:37:44:21 - 00:38:00:20
Unknown
You know, we continue to do it really well. So when we talk about expansions, we really do see what is the limits of what we can do out in that land bank facility. Because at the end of the day, it is in a farmer's field. That's what it is. So you can only have so much Wi-Fi out there.

00:38:00:20 - 00:38:25:09
Unknown
You can only snap so many. You know, the well can only be so big. This local communities can only hold so much. So I mean, as we talk about further and growing and diversifying where we are and where our skills are, does it make sense to still have our major parts distribution in a farmer's field? Should we maybe localize that into something that's a bit more regional, and easier for logistics?

00:38:25:09 - 00:38:43:16
Unknown
So, you know, as you take a look at growth because we just, you know, big growth, the United States, big growth in some of our other acquisitions globally as a company, and then investments in our home that are said company as well in Sweden. So, Canada definitely is on the earmark of continuing to grow, diversifying the portfolio.

00:38:43:16 - 00:39:03:00
Unknown
I mean, there's there's careers that exist today that did not exist six years ago when I was there. Yes. They did not. And so and I think that's just a great example to, you know, as a young person, here's a great opportunity, a growing company, you know, you might start out in the, you know, the Saskatchewan say, but you never know where you could go.

00:39:03:01 - 00:39:25:09
Unknown
Right? Because you're not just located in Saskatchewan. You're located, like you said, internationally. So there's you never know what opportunities. It's a great. Yeah, huge. It is really great. It is. I mean, there's a gentleman in the United States, just incredibly a wonderful manufacturing engineer, absolute world class. And yet it's really hard to understand him because he's not native Canadian or not Native American.

00:39:25:11 - 00:39:43:16
Unknown
So he does have a very thick accent. So if you've got a very thick accent on here trying to communicate with the Swedes, which also have a language barrier, we're really tapping into copilot in that translation app that that's coming out. So there, there is that. But there is an incredible amount of opportunity to just learn from each other.

00:39:43:16 - 00:40:01:06
Unknown
And they're trying really hard. You know, Canada seems to be that neutral partner in all of it, right? We seem to be a melting pot and that there's other organizations. I mean, we've even gone so far as trying our hand at a global like mobility program. We we're going to take a pause and we do a few things, and then we're going to launch it again.

00:40:01:08 - 00:40:31:09
Unknown
So that is a real attraction piece for professionals as an example. But we've got to get it right. And right now the political climate that's going on out there. Yes. Making it a little hard on us. So we're just going to take a breather and start and start again. So, so Kathy, if somebody was interested and they were more interested in applying to positions within rural and northern Canada, but specifically obviously in rural Saskatchewan, how did they because I was on your website.

00:40:31:10 - 00:40:52:13
Unknown
Right. And so how do I make that? No one that I kind of want to be in the Canadian realm and more specifically in Saskatchewan, because you guys are international. We are. We are. I mean, we purchased the workday platform a few years ago globally so that we could have some more transparency with all of our roles and really sharing best practices.

00:40:52:13 - 00:41:31:04
Unknown
So, you can, continue to drill down into our platform to, locate Canada. And then again, I mean, it's still our people, you know, there's no robots in front of ours. I mean, we are 300 in Canada. So it's ladies, that are drilling down with their, their managers and taking a look at it. And because it is still it's a small company and there are no robots that are injecting themselves into it, talking about the applicability of what you've done and then taking that extra step and applying it to how it could be happening here helps with the translation, because not everybody is great and every resume has a little different,

00:41:31:09 - 00:41:51:21
Unknown
you know, some English to it as what we call or different, you know, take on a word. When I was doing military transitioning military people into the Canadian economy and Canadian job market several years ago, I mean, even just the military was I mean, I remember hearing, oh, we asked if you were a gun control person in the, you know, Canadian military, you're an HR manager.

00:41:51:21 - 00:42:16:09
Unknown
And I was like, what? How does that apply? So, you know, having that translation yourself of what you can bring to the table and not be so specific and what you used to do. And again, I use the the lady that works for me. She was a team lead in a major auditing organization for decades before coming. Those skills can absolutely be applied to pay time in attendance category for forget.

00:42:16:13 - 00:42:36:23
Unknown
I'm going to ask you something because every time my we release a podcast, I get I get numerous LinkedIn invites. Do you do labor market impact assessments or do you just look for a postgraduate work holders? How do you know we do? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. The ladies, you know, when we talk about when we started, we were very focused.

00:42:36:23 - 00:43:09:00
Unknown
So when we started down this journey and as we got more and more educated and more comfortable as the process goes, we do we work very hand in hand with those labor market assessments. We we work really closely as well because sometimes, you know, they only do the impact assessment at a very high level and not really what is granular what to rule Saskatchewan is, you know, we aren't you know, and we're going to a lot of organizations in Saskatchewan sometimes can't or Manitoba can't pay that high level of what you need to reach to that benchmark.

00:43:09:01 - 00:43:28:12
Unknown
Yeah. The median wage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so we really advocate for there's a scale to be looked at right. They only take a look and I'll just use an example is they don't they only look at a journeyman welder. There are four other levels of welding that many of these smaller organizations need. But they're not going to be able to do this.

00:43:28:14 - 00:43:45:19
Unknown
So we work really hard with them to showcase kind of where we are, how to approach it, and not from a low bowing perspective at all. Not at all. But I mean, it's just like going in and saying, I need an engineer, great new graduate. But they're like, you have to pay them a master engineer, right? I mean, it's it's a very big difference.

00:43:45:19 - 00:44:03:07
Unknown
And the scale of work is very different. So, and we want to support a lot of local communities, not just our own and not our own company as well. Right. There's other organizations that have tapped us on the shoulder saying, how did you get to that point? How did you get them to recognize that there's different levels within that one discipline?

00:44:03:23 - 00:44:33:05
Unknown
And then we kind of really help the rest of the small companies around us as well. So there's lots of farmers that they are. They have townships. They are their own company, and they don't need a journeyman welder. They don't need a journeyman mechanic. They just need something different. So exactly. No. Exactly. So, yeah. So the best way then to reach out is to go to your site, apply, you know, maybe what what are your thoughts on people, connecting with you or your, so on LinkedIn is, is that a thing.

00:44:33:05 - 00:44:49:12
Unknown
Do you do are you. I get a lot of that connection. Do you? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think I'm well over the thousand and I, I remember when LinkedIn, when it was first coming to Canada like 15 years ago, it's really evolved. It's really grown. You can see my team as well on my page, on my LinkedIn page because they're all there.

00:44:49:12 - 00:45:13:01
Unknown
So they, they reach out as well. So we share a lot of I mean, for me, I'm, I'm, I really want my team. I mean, they work so closely with the company. They work so closely. They know everybody's name, which I absolutely adore, love. And so I really want us to continue partnering with, organizations like yourself to get the more word out there, more knowledge, more.

00:45:13:07 - 00:45:32:03
Unknown
Let's just talk about it. Let's just talk about, you know what? We're not all doing everything really great. We actually have opportunities to do better. And we need to rely on each other to help each other do better. So it's not those big five, right? There are so many other small employers within rural communities that absolutely probably need more support and more conversation rather than the big ones.

00:45:32:08 - 00:45:52:16
Unknown
And you're going to get ahead sooner, in my opinion, to smaller companies, you know, a lot sooner, better opportunities than you would with those big companies. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, I think we're coming to the end here, Lindsay, unless you had. I have two more questions. Do any of your positions, Kathy, require French? I know there's a large push nowadays.

00:45:52:16 - 00:46:12:07
Unknown
More in Canada. It's, more French. I'm just curious, is there are there any jobs that need French at your company? So we actually have a subsidiary, and I shouldn't say a subsidiary. Our eastern Canadian parts and sales and service organization is out in Quebec and Ontario. So we actually do stretch quite a ways in that aspect.

00:46:12:10 - 00:46:35:17
Unknown
So there is depending on where it is, there is an absolute need for that. We found that some of them actually even have to be posted in French. And so we do. Yeah. Yeah. So we do absolutely have out there more so than, than in the rural where a factory is. And then again in Western Canada, in the Alberta, northern Alberta, things like that.

00:46:35:19 - 00:46:53:20
Unknown
We have a bit I know that when we're expanding more into Manitoba, as we both will know that there's a strong French influence in Manitoba. Yeah. So, that is something that we're looking at diversifying a little bit closer. But the absolute, you know, the the ones that we have for Ontario and Quebec. Absolutely. They each of them do speaks fluent.

00:46:53:22 - 00:47:20:02
Unknown
Yeah. That's. Yes. And there's that great, pathway for French mobility as well. So that makes immigration easier on the company and the individual themselves. So exactly, exactly. Go through the provincial nominee program, which is a blessing. Yeah, it would be. Yeah. And we always like to ask because we always like to promote, rural areas. Do you have a favorite rural restaurant or a rural place that you'd like to visit in Canada?

00:47:20:16 - 00:47:40:00
Unknown
Around. I mean, I'm going to be probably really biased because I live in Muslim Saskatchewan. So, and I mean, I lived in Calgary with the oil boom in the 90s. I mean, like most of the Saskatchewan, Manitoba left. But we all came back. So that's the big story there. But, I mean, I love just the small town ones, right?

00:47:40:00 - 00:47:59:11
Unknown
I mean, I love those little ones like Quark and Bone in Bozeman. He was born and raised in Mosman. He left and went out to Banff. Kananaskis ran major like Fairmont hotels, and then came back to raise his son with a small little boutique. And, you know, those are some really great dinners. He does lovely wine pairings and things like that.

00:47:59:11 - 00:48:18:16
Unknown
So that's like a nice little company dinner. Like we loved entertainers are seeds and internationals that come. And then again there's like wonderful little smoke shops, right. Like Curry House where you can get like they can come and do like a luncheon for everyone, smoked brisket, pulled pork, all that kind of stuff. Get it sent out to the factory and to our colleagues and things like that.

00:48:18:16 - 00:48:36:19
Unknown
So I mean, so those ones are in this vignette. So I'm ready these days because I pull in all the time. So pork and bone and crate Kratos great house. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to Reno something really great. Like it's a smoke shop. So, you know, smoked brisket, smoked meats. Yeah. Yeah. So I think we have to do an in-person meeting and.

00:48:37:01 - 00:49:06:01
Unknown
Yeah, I think we should. I think we should. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's, you know, it is the largest center to landing. So, you know, a lot of our professionals do prefer to stay in Mosman, right? It's 4500 or 4000 people. I'm sure Casey probably mentioned the population of it, so. Yeah. But I mean, there is like Kipling and there is brilliant little, places, like Filipino places now to eat that are popping up in that Kipling area as well.

00:49:06:01 - 00:49:28:14
Unknown
So love that, right? I mean, Regina's got some really great little nuggets that we love to pull from as well. So the food scene has really changed a lot over the last. I'm going to say ten years and really diversifying what people are are doing. We are really lucky because at the site, we actually have a full blown cafeteria that has breakfast subsidized and lunch subsidized for our employees.

00:49:28:18 - 00:49:46:15
Unknown
And it's also really, well, you can't go anywhere. No. That's huge. So that's really interesting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah there's some it's quite nice that way. So but yeah I mean like I said there's some really it's the right space to have the right space. So it's not for everybody. But that's okay I mean we're here to the next piece is the retention.

00:49:46:17 - 00:50:04:04
Unknown
How do we do better at that. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Kathy, for coming on today. You've given us a lot of great information. Listeners definitely will have all the information in the show. Notes that you can check out. Connect with Kathy on LinkedIn. And as you have any questions, please reach out. And yes, thanks everyone.

00:50:04:08 - 00:50:24:09
Unknown
Yeah. Until next time Liberal love. Well, if you feel this could assist other people like yourself, please like and share a podcast as well. We will leave links below to the topics we spoke about today. Thank you for listening and join us next time to learn about another great company and community. That is a great place to work and settle.