The Financial Post cites Alberta being at the center of Canada's inflationary problems. Alberta's growth of nearly 7% is unusual but is being driven by the fact that Alberta is sitting on the world's second largest oil reserves.

Housing Inflation

The value of my home in Edmonton has jumped from $100,000 (1997) to over $300,000 - great for me but not for companies looking to attract new workers to Alberta because high house prices drives the cost of living up substantially. This means employers will need to provide a higher income for new workers due to the increased cost of living.

Housing prices have soared more in Alberta cities than in any others, at 40%, prompting demands for rent controls. And companies can't find enough workers to keep up with the boom, leading to wage increases of nearly 5%. Via The Financial Post

Staffing Shortage, Higher Salary Costs

About six months ago the Alberta Government stated that Alberta had a deficit of 200,000 jobs. I haven't heard if the situation has improved but this quote from Lyle Oberg suggests that the situation has not improved.

"Let's bring people in from around the world to work in Alberta," provincial Finance Minister Lyle Oberg said in Toronto last week. "Let's tie them to Alberta, let's bring them in on a two- or three-year temporary foreign worker agreement and keep them there." Via The Financial Post

Has your company considered temporary foreign workers? Is your small business doing more outsourcing work for larger companies as a result? Are you paying higher than normal salaries to keep the staff you already have or attract new workers to fill positions as a result of growth?

As business owners we will need to get creative and focus much more on developing a compelling and exciting corporate culture. This will give us a substantial advantage in the marketplace as employee turnover drops and retention rises.

Today more than ever your Human Resource department is a strategic part of your business plan. Do you even have a Human Resource development plan?