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This episode is brought to you in partnership with Supply Chain Manitoba and the Manitoba Trucking Association, working together to support workforce development and a stronger future for the industry here in Manitoba.

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Welcome to the Move Royal Canada podcast, where every week we showcase incredible businesses and rural and 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 and settle. I'm your host, Leah Mitchell, and I am your co-host, Lindsey Rubin. 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
Hey, everyone, welcome back to Move Rural Canada, and today we have Jodie Romanow, Director of Humen Resources with Ritz Machine Works, and she has been with Ritz for over a little year and a half. She has an accounting background, but made the transition to this position of HR because she found it to be a growing company with so much going on that she wanted to be a part of it.

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Unknown
Ritz employs 58 people here in Canada and close to 40 people at their facility in Cambridge, Minnesota, in the United States. There are two blending production facility that produces OEM parts for companies such as New Flower, Nova, Bass Bueller, McDonald and many other companies across North America. Welcome, Jodi. Thank you. We have mentioned that you come from the community and often maybe tell us a little bit about the community.

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Unknown
And if you want to kind of dive into that and the place your company is located in, as well as where all the people in your company live and work. All right. So, Ritz Machine Works, was an established back in 1998 by two gentlemen, Rick Honesty and Tom Zappa's. And so the Ori and the zag is actually what makes up Ritz.

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Unknown
And that is the from the owner's, name. So they started, 27 years ago with a handful of, of workers and, set up shop in the facility that we are still in today, which is an old cheese factory located in Dauphin, Manitoba, so used to be the Manco, cheese factory. So they have now, filled it with, they started out with just a few machines and then they've grown and have added on to our building here in Dauphin, have expanded, to house our, laser machine and the raw goods.

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Unknown
So, and then a while back, they expanded and started a production facility in Cambridge, Minnesota. So we do have a us, a facility and then also the facility here in Dauphin. Most of our employees live here in Dauphin. Some, commute in from smaller communities around Dauphin, like Winnipeg, Oasis, Saint Rose. We find people from from all over.

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Unknown
We hire, try and hire within the area, sometimes with some positions that were needing to be filled. We definitely look outside of of the parkland area to bring in, to fill positions of that more technical level. So you have, just following up on that. You've got positions from entry level to, to that more advanced piece then.

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Unknown
Absolutely. So, we have positions that aren't necessarily requiring high school. We look, for our, production worker, for entry level positions on our production floor. We look for, knowledge of tools, the ability to work with hand tools and saws and, and and such. Right up to a full engineering, degree with your with your ticket.

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Unknown
So, and everything in between, your, you trades apprentices, administrative positions. So positions that are requiring more of a diploma or certificate and so, you know, I'm going to ask this because I'm the language lady, of course. But, how does it work in terms of language? I know, you know, right now there's, you know, with, you know, immigration being cut, language programs are being cut.

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Unknown
Have you noticed that at all in terms of your hiring piece, is that something you've had to look at? Are there local supports? Do you support your employees I guess, yeah. What does the language piece look like in the room that you're working in. So what we first do is we try and get, new employees that are, say, English is not their first language to connect with as many places.

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Unknown
In in often to start learning more English. We've also used translation apps are fantastic. We also train and provide the, literature electronically to our non-English speaking employees so that they they take it upon themselves to translate it into their, their language and, and learn the processes. Because, one thing here at Ritz, we are ISO 9001 certified for a quality system.

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Unknown
So everything has a process, everything has a document. So the more we can hand off to them so that in their time they can absorb it, understand it in their language as they're learning the English language in either, at facilities like at the church or regional connections somewhere where they're, they're learning every day English. We try and then work with them on production language.

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Unknown
So a lot of words we use during the day aren't necessarily words that they would use if they were, grocery shopping or meeting with friends. So we try and give them that time to, translated, the documents and then also just using other employees that have come from like understand their language and have learned more English, we kind of use them to bridge that, that gap.

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Unknown
So, we do a lot of, checking in and performance reviews and ask them, are you continuing with, with, lessons? How are you doing with the English language? And then just kind of, encouraging them, say, sitting at lunchtime to have a conversation with somebody in English or with their problem solving out on the production floor.

00:07:04:17 - 00:07:30:01
Unknown
The quality department tries to say, okay, we're going to we're going to solve this like step by step, but we're going to do it if we need to bring in, Google Translate or something to help us, we're going to work through it in English so that they can kind of start, being able to do their work thinking in the English language.

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Unknown
And that's, that's great because I think a lot of times companies don't sort of force that English on. I always say English is like going to the gym. You've got to have someone kind of kicking your butt a little bit, to go, you know, everyone doesn't know what you do. You're always going to try and take the easy way, right?

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Unknown
So your first language is always easy. So sometimes, yeah, you've got to get a force in. So that's good. You've got supportive managers and supervisors who are doing that. And and a big piece of it is the more you move up in the company, the more external contact you have. Right. So, to move up, you're, you're needing to reach out to suppliers or reach out to customers.

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Unknown
And in order to move up the, in the organizational chart, we encourage them like we're we want you to learn English because this is going to open up these opportunities. Are these positions that we have here at Ritz. Jody, with your experience. And when you're interviewing people now, do you set expectations when you're during during the interview, let's say newcomers, are being interviewed and say, this is our expectations, these are our guidelines, and that's what you expect them to follow.

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Unknown
Yes, we do have that conversation on. I ask, are they currently in, an English, as a second language, program? What are their plans? And then also, like I was saying, the performance reviews, checking in a lot of them, like we set goals for the year. So a lot of them their goal is to continue work like, learning the English language.

00:09:11:00 - 00:09:35:04
Unknown
Some finish their course and they continue on. And then when their performance review comes around, we kind of encourage them, hey, I think it's time. Let's let's get back into that. And sign up for another English class just to keep that, that going. Well, and that's great too, that they've got that option. I'm happy here.

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Unknown
They have English classes that they can go to locally because it's not happening in a lot of places. So you guys are lucky and often to have that. Yes. Very lucky. Judy, with your experience. And when you're interviewing people now, do you set expectations when you're during during the interview? Let's see, newcomers, are being interviewed and say, this is our expectations.

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Unknown
These are our guidelines, and that's what you expect them to follow. We have approximately it's some 701. Okay. Yeah. So, we have from our driver, that drives for us lives in Winnipeg. And he just, got his, citizenship, and, we have, then he's from Hungary. We have a gentleman, from Nigeria, and I would say another five is not six.

00:10:31:22 - 00:11:04:09
Unknown
I think one just, was on leave, from the Ukraine, Jody, off the top of your head. And I know we didn't prepare you for this question, but do you know how many newcomers you have in your site and often, yes. Absolutely. We do have, one that comes to mind is, we had a gentleman that started here back in December of 2023, and we quickly realized that this gentleman had amazing work ethic and, a lot of skill.

00:11:04:09 - 00:11:39:06
Unknown
You could tell he was, learning the English language, but really trying to wrap his mind around what we do at reps and looking for ways of of helping us take a production to the next level. So we have a robotic welder and, we needed we had nobody currently operating it, and he asked to take the manual home with him, learned how to work this robotic welder over the weekend with the manual, came back and is like, I'm ready to go.

00:11:39:07 - 00:12:08:13
Unknown
So we promoted him from production worker to, a welding wage because he was able to operate this robotic welder for us and very efficiently. He did that for a while. He mastered that. And then he's like looking around, he, that, the machinist saw the manual, the lathe that we've got, he's like, I think I want to get on that machine and learn that.

00:12:08:15 - 00:12:39:15
Unknown
So he got on that and was putting out parts until like times that we had had not seen in a long time. So very, very efficient. So then we he did that for a while and then now he's his own. He's a supervisor of an entire department. And so in under two years, he went from an entry level production worker to running his own department.

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Unknown
And it was just he he was determined to learn our processes, learn as much as he can. And in that whole thing, we celebrated that. He just got his permanent residency. I think it was July or August. He let us know. And, so we definitely celebrated him for that also. So, yeah, so that was one of our very awesome stories.

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Unknown
Jody, you can really tell that your company rewards people that your initiative. Oh, absolutely. Because I think it's and that's and that's, what we, we tell everybody is that if you want to learn, you want to learn our processes, there is opportunity. And it changes every, every day around here where it's opportunities are always coming up. That's yeah, that's amazing.

00:13:30:09 - 00:13:47:04
Unknown
And so when you talk about you mentioned he just recently got his permanent residency. Do you hire people on different pathways then like you people can come to you on different I guess visas and applications. Honestly, this is probably more of your question, but they don't have to necessarily be a Canadian citizen to come work for you.

00:13:47:06 - 00:14:24:21
Unknown
Absolutely. Yeah. So, we do like to have, as long as you're living in, in often, we don't necessarily look for people that are not permanent residents that are not in the parkland. So if you are not a permanent resident of Canada, but you live in the parkland, we would always consider, what you what you've got for skills and past work experience and see if, you would be a good fit for it.

00:14:24:23 - 00:14:45:02
Unknown
And so I think that also shows, you know, not only does for its reward people who are showing initiative, but I know Rick and Tom, the owners, and they love people with work ethic. And they also are really proud of the community of Dalton, surrounding area. So again, then rewarding people that choose to live and work in rural Manitoba is probably what you guys are doing.

00:14:45:04 - 00:15:31:15
Unknown
Yes, absolutely. Well, I think it's an important retention strategy because you want people who are willing to stay and live in rural Manitoba because that's where the work is. And that's another big reason why we have this podcast, because there's so many opportunities to work and do very well in rural areas. Yes. And we've and we've had people like, we've brought people in and recruited from, say from out west, say an engineer or somebody coming, off the rigs and, and moving to, to Dawson that had never lived here before, and that they've come out and to our facility and look around often and they're very surprised and say something like us a

00:15:31:17 - 00:16:00:11
Unknown
production facility industry is located in Dawson. And everything that we've got to offer here. One thing that, when we're recruiting, say we're we're trying to make, send that message that Dawson, is is a place that they would enjoy living. Explaining to them about the balance of of the arts, sports, recreation, leisure activities being so close to the Federal Park.

00:16:00:12 - 00:16:38:02
Unknown
There's so many things here in Dawson, for people to do. I always ask what what their interests are, what their hobbies are, what do they like doing in their spare time, and then always giving them kind of a heads up on, you know, you might want to, check out this opportunity or this opportunity talking about opportunities that they might not have thought of, like volunteer fire department or, non-profits that are in town, like humane Society and, and different, community clubs, that people can, can get involved in.

00:16:38:02 - 00:16:56:23
Unknown
So I think we've got a little bit of everything for everybody here in Dawson. And I think really to be clear to what's the sides of Dawson right now around us, would you say would either of you pull 8000? Yeah, I was thinking of 82. Yeah. Like it's I think a lot of people too, like I said. And it was interesting.

00:16:56:23 - 00:17:15:05
Unknown
We had another past, interview and she made a very good point. You know, different people, depending where they come from, have different interpretations of what rule is, you know, Dauphin isn't 100 people. You know, Dauphin has thousands of people. And and, you know, and, you know, there's other places, you know, within an hour or two hours too, right?

00:17:15:08 - 00:17:31:03
Unknown
Like what is Brandon, two hours away if they need to. Yeah, they need to get on a flight. You can fly direct from Brandon to other places, you know? So, I think a lot of times people think it's all just small, little tiny towns and no, like, you know, it's the city of Dauphin. You know, it's a city.

00:17:31:03 - 00:18:00:02
Unknown
And so I think that's really important for people to realize, like, you're not, you know, you're coming to a good sized town with lots of resources and opportunities for people. Yes, absolutely. I have a quick question to so you talk about sort of and we had this conversation before. So you just you sort of help people settle locally then, right, in terms of like you give suggestions or if they're first moving here, do you guys help us say, like, you know, you could try here if you wanted to buy a house or rent or things like that, because that's I think can be overwhelming as a newcomer, if they're not already living

00:18:00:02 - 00:18:25:08
Unknown
in that area to to find. Yes. A lot of times it's, it's save rentals. It's, it's very hard to find and be able to know the people to, to talk to, to, to be able to, to find somewhere to, to stay accommodation is probably the biggest challenge. And sometimes people move here with no vehicle.

00:18:25:10 - 00:18:53:00
Unknown
So trying to find something within walking distance or somewhere where we have another employee that lives close by that they can possibly carpool with, the landlords that I've reached out to here in Dauphin have been great at, keeping in contact with me. So, you know, we do vouch for people when they come to town. And we're trying to find them somewhere to live, even if it's just a temporary for the first 2 to 3 months.

00:18:53:00 - 00:19:16:05
Unknown
And then always knowing that, okay, we're going to find you something closer or something bigger or, that would better suit their needs. So, I still have, landlords that will check in with me, send me a text saying, hey, I've got this unit coming up. If anybody there or if you have somebody coming in. So, that's very much appreciated too.

00:19:16:09 - 00:19:34:18
Unknown
It's very similar in the job market, and the job market is not necessarily what you know. It's who you know. And it's the same way here in Dauphin in other small communities. It's not, you know, if you can find somewhere to live and the newspaper online, a lot of times people find a place to live based on who they knew.

00:19:34:19 - 00:19:57:20
Unknown
Yes. And that's another thing is, people coming to work and, having a spouse or somebody that they're bringing with them saying like, hey, my spouse is a dental assistant or this or that, you know, and giving them places to, you know, talk to this person or sending them, you know, it's not just about getting that are employee in place.

00:19:57:22 - 00:20:22:21
Unknown
It's everything that they need, in order to want to stay here and often get settled in and, and stay for the long time, like the long term. So I would say then you do you factor in that Canadian experience piece at all, or you're very more on the skills, how they can be transferred. You know, that's a lot of talk I know in Canada right now is people have seen that they need a Canadian experience or things like that.

00:20:22:21 - 00:20:53:13
Unknown
What are your thoughts on that? Well, when we it's hard because when somebody gets their education outside of Canada, we're not we're not 100% sure on like what we call certain things here isn't necessarily what they, they just got like they learn, in another country. So, when we're looking at, education or experience just reading a resume, we never just, make any sort of assumptions.

00:20:53:18 - 00:21:21:18
Unknown
We like to talk about more specifics on. Okay, what what are some of the projects you worked on in school or when you worked here? What were your core responsibilities? Tell us, more in more detail of what what you did exactly day to day in order for us to be able to, kind of compute that into experience in, in, on the Canadian side.

00:21:21:18 - 00:21:43:16
Unknown
Right. So, we don't necessarily just say, oh, well, you haven't had a job here in Canada yet. We can't consider you as an applicant. We would consider you. We would just need more of a conversation, more detail on on on what you what you have experience in and thank you for saying that because I think you've really nailed it.

00:21:43:16 - 00:22:09:15
Unknown
I don't think in most instances it's really about Canadian experience. It's just about the people who are applying, translating that into something that Canadian employers can understand. Right. So maybe it's learning the lingo of the industry so that they can better put that in, in their resume or their interviews and things like that. You know, I think employers you just want to be comfortable that those experiences translate over and it's easier for you to understand if it's in the language that you understand.

00:22:09:17 - 00:22:35:09
Unknown
Right? Yeah, exactly. I also think our listeners, too, they're coming from a newcomers perspective. And if you look at it from the employer's side, that they're just reading a resume. So in terms of the newcomer, they gotta really try to align their experiences, a bit better with a Canadian company and what they're looking for. So when the newcomer is writing their resume, they need to look at the job title.

00:22:35:09 - 00:22:56:11
Unknown
And if they use different terminology, perhaps look up Canadian terminology and put that down in exchange for what they would usually say. And that might assist them to, you know, get in front of the employer for an interview. And so what is your, sort of current hiring process of someone to say, listen to this podcast? And they're like, I want to apply what what is there the process?

00:22:56:11 - 00:23:24:19
Unknown
What would you recommend? Their next steps are? So, when we are, trying to fill a specific position, we usually put it out on, on sources like in deed or our, our social media. And then also we always have and we always take in resumes office, our careers page on our website. So rates machine.com.

00:23:24:21 - 00:23:50:09
Unknown
So you can go to the careers page. And it does say apply now and people just send in even if we don't have positions to fill. But that changes from one day to the next because I know that I had mentioned, I think it was last week that we didn't have any positions. We just had a meeting today, and I've now been tasked to fill two positions for production workers.

00:23:50:11 - 00:24:27:04
Unknown
So now I'm like looking through my, what I have on file, seeing if anybody had had sent anything in, new through the website. So we, I'm constantly bringing in, applicants and then also like, we have a huge, resume pool that I make notes on. It's, it's all, categorized on skill so that, and I'm constantly reviewing them, looking for, applicants that that would, would suit whatever position we've got open at the time.

00:24:27:06 - 00:24:50:04
Unknown
So being in a, you know, a smaller town, rural area, you know, I'm a big believer. I mean, and I think we're all probably at the same generation, sort of old school where you were told to like walk in and introduce yourself, you know, what are your thoughts on obviously the online application? Are people able to say, call and have a chat or is it more you prefer the the email online or or connecting with you on LinkedIn?

00:24:50:06 - 00:25:16:14
Unknown
Things like that sort of, level of to remember, you know, remember we get we actually get a lot of walk ins here. Anybody that comes in, they I invite them into my office, if they have a resume on hand or I have, a form for them to fill out if they don't have a resume in hand and just have a quick conversation with them that really helps us know, like, who they are.

00:25:16:16 - 00:25:45:05
Unknown
And that kind of takes that next level. If it's not all in your resume and, you can kind of put yourself past the finish line, by showing up in, in person just once, several times at once. And to come in and just drop in and see us cold call. Also, they calling and asking for myself or just the HR department.

00:25:45:07 - 00:26:07:10
Unknown
Everybody knows to to put them through and, just a quick chat, but, yeah, I would, take any interested parties, by phone, walk in, or applying online, however. Okay. Oh, I love that. Thank you for saying that, because I find a lot of times people are my son was actually just recently looking for work, and he would go in and they say no to school, apply online.

00:26:07:10 - 00:26:26:04
Unknown
And I was I was sad to hear that, because I feel like that is such an important skill to be able to walk in and have those conversations sell yourself like, yep, you're, you know, you're presenting yourself and, and and marketing yourself. So the best thing to do is to, to do that in person to. Yeah, it definitely helps.

00:26:26:06 - 00:26:53:21
Unknown
Let's do that. Jody, you let us know that you do have 58 people employed here in Canada. Is there anywhere, any part of the company where someone is required to speak French? No. Not currently. All of our, clients and, and buyers all have English. Speaking buyers. So we haven't ever been forced to have, anybody that that can speak, only French on on staff.

00:26:54:00 - 00:27:31:15
Unknown
So I had a question and I think different Canadian employers would interpret this differently. But I think it's beneficial for any newcomers listening to to know, do you think there's certain I call it the Canadian workplace culture. Are there things, as a Canadian employer, that you expect to see that maybe newcomers from different, you know, countries, cultures might not be aware that this is sort of what some of the, you know, unseen things that you just learn on the job or you don't learn and maybe you don't get the job, you know, you know, like, for example, when I think of Canadian culture, I think of communication is huge.

00:27:31:17 - 00:28:03:13
Unknown
You know, talking with everyone, you know, your boss isn't, you know, unapproachable. They're at the same level. You should be able to talk to them, you know, talking with your coworkers, things like that. Are there anything that you as a Canadian employer would say are sort of expectations that you have for like for our our like our culture here in, in terms of, you know, when you think of Canadian workplace culture, what do you think of?

00:28:03:15 - 00:28:42:12
Unknown
Well, we actually, we gear a lot of our actions and our culture and the way that we do things here at Ritz, we center it around. We've got five core values here at RIT. So it's hard work, teamwork, respect, focus and integrity. So we apply that to everything that our employees do. So it it is how they relate to each other, how they relate to management, how they produce the products and the parts for our customers.

00:28:42:14 - 00:29:17:07
Unknown
And we really but it's possible that, you know, somebody is coming from another, another country where they didn't focus on on a lot of interaction between each other, or they were just there working, doing their job and then going home. But we we focus a lot on those, those five core values. Our performance reviews, gear are geared around core values and, and, and people are part of their work performance is just how they work with each other.

00:29:17:09 - 00:29:49:00
Unknown
So we try and, and, have people in the especially newcomers that they're, tasked with reading the manual, understanding the core values, knowing that the performance review is geared towards those core values and how they take those core values and apply it to their their every day here at Ritz. Jody, I think you actually demonstrate it, what we were going to ask for you for an example, and it was for that gentleman who got it was, I think, 2 or 3 different promotions.

00:29:49:02 - 00:30:08:12
Unknown
And you had provided him the resource manual that he asked for his hard work. And so all of that is your core values at Red's. And that really reflects that. And the example was really perfect for you to gap. And I've been at Ritz and I feel like you guys display that. And I think you said it like you said to it, just being open to learn, right?

00:30:08:12 - 00:30:26:11
Unknown
You have your core values. Those are the expectations. So then being willing to embrace those. And and that's how you get better and you learn and being open to it might have been done differently somewhere else. But this is how we do it here. And and being open to that. Yes he Jody at move we all Canada. We always want to get to know the company but specifically the person a little bit better.

00:30:26:16 - 00:30:50:14
Unknown
So if you can give us somewhere that a person if they were coming to Dauphin, what activities they can participate in, maybe somewhere they can go eat. We'd love to hear your advice. Oh wow. I would start with a tour through the North Gate trails. I think that that is now dolphin's best kept secret. We actually just had a, an employee function up there.

00:30:50:16 - 00:31:16:01
Unknown
A barbecue in front of all all of our employees out there to try out the fat bikes and go on the trails and stuff. And a lot of people have never been up there, so, definitely tell people to to go to North Gate trails. And then swing by Kareena's restaurant for a really good burger. So, that's a locally owned, restaurant here in, in Dauphin.

00:31:16:03 - 00:31:35:13
Unknown
I would definitely tell somebody to, to do that. And then, if you're here in the winter, catch a Kings game, we have a junior, a, hockey club here in Boston. And, I'm a proud supporter of the Dauphin Kings. So I would definitely encourage people to come out and and support them. That's awesome.

00:31:35:15 - 00:31:51:23
Unknown
So that would be a full day. Well, thank you so much, Judy, for coming on today. Listeners, we're going to have all the links and connections at the bottom in our show notes. So if you want to reach out, you want to learn more about Dauphin. All those sorts of things will have them there. So thank you once again, Jody.

00:31:51:23 - 00:32:01:06
Unknown
Thank you everyone for coming in to listen. Thank you very much. Until next time, live real live well.

00:32:01:08 - 00:32:16:05
Unknown
If you feel this crisis, 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.