THE ONLY SOURCE FOR PROFESSIONAL ICI ROOFING CONTRACTORS IN ONTARIO ORN 16  ONTARIO ROOFING NEWS – ISSUE 1 2019 OCS Contractor Survey How Contractors Have Been Impacted by Skilled Labour Shortages in Past 3 Years (% Yes)7 79% GROWTH OF FIRM SLOWED 76% TURNED DOWN WORK 70% USED LESS QUALIFIED LABOUR 69% DECLINED OT BID ON PROJECTS 59% COST INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY 57% PROJECT COMPLETIONS DELAYED SIGNIFICANTLY 56% PROJECT STARTS DELAYED SIGNIFICANTLY 55% FIRM BECAME LESS COMPETITIVE 55% FIRM LOST MARKET SHARE 36% FIRM’S REPUTATION WAS HARMED 34% CAUSED SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL HARM TO FIRM 32% QUALITY OF WORK DETERIORATED 29% PROJECTS CANCELLED SOLUTIONS CONTRACTORS MOST LIKELY TO ADOPT DEPLOYING WORKERS MORE EFFICIENTLY ADOPTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES HIRING MORE APPRENTICES RAISING WAGES OF CONTRACTORS EXPERIENCED SKILLED LABOUR SHORTAGES IN PAST 3 YEARS 62% Contractors who had experi- enced skilled labour shortages in the past three years were given an additional series of questions to gain a deeper understanding of how skill shortages had im- pacted their firms. Percentages in this series are based on the group of contractors that reported shortages (N=308). Among contractors who had experienced skilled labour short- ages, the most widespread impact was on the growth of firms, with 79 per cent indicating that their firm’s growth had slowed because of skills shortages. About three- quarters (76 per cent) of contrac- tors said that they’d turned down work because of skilled labour shortages, while 69 per cent de- clined to bid on projects that they would normally have bid on. Sev- enty per cent of contractors said that they’d resorted to using less qualified labour. Other impacts identified by more than half of these contrac- tors were significant increases in project costs (59 per cent), sig- nificant delays in project comple- tions (57 per cent) and project starts (56 per cent). More than half of the contractors said that skilled labour shortages had made them less competitive, and that shortages contributed to their firm losing market share (both 55 per cent). Lesser impacts of skilled la- bour shortages were harm to reputation of firm (36 per cent), significant financial harm to firm (34 per cent), deterioration in quality of work (32 per cent) and project cancellation (29 per cent). The entire group of contractors was then asked to rate potential remedies to skilled labour shortages based on the likelihood that their firm would adopt each approach over the next three years.8 To enable a detailed comparison, contractors were asked to provide scores on a 7-point scale, and the mean scores have been reported here. Among the potential solu- tions, the most likely to be adopted by contractors in the next three years is deploying workers more efficiently (mean score of 4.3 out of 7). Other solutions that are relatively more likely to be adopted by contractors include using new technologies (4.2), hiring more apprentices, and raising wages (both 4.0). Potential solutions with moderate likelihood of adoption include new recruit- ment methods (3.7), bidding on different types of projects (3.6), requiring more overtime work (3.6) and offering work- ers more benefits (3.2). Potential remedies that are relatively less likely to be adopted include au- tomating processes (2.7), recruit- ing from other regions (2.7), using prefab or modular construction (2.4) and using temporary em- ployment agencies (2.3). Methodology The OCS Contractor Survey 2019 is designed to gauge ICI contractors’ expectations for their businesses and Ontario’s ICI con- struction industry in 2019. The survey was conducted via tele- phone with 500 ICI contractors from across Ontario in January- February 2019. The margin of er- ror for a sample of 500 is +/-4.38 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Sev- enty per cent of the contractors surveyed were trade contractors and 26 per cent were general con- tractors. The regional breakdown was as follows: central Ontario 25 per cent; GTA 38 per cent; eastern Ontario 16 per cent; southwest- ern Ontario 13 per cent; northern Ontario nine per cent. About the Ontario Construction Secretariat The Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) represents the collective interests of the union- ized construction industry in Ontario’s industrial, commercial and institutional construction sector. A joint labour-manage- ment organization, OCS is dedi- cated to enhancing Ontario’s unionized ICI construction in- dustry by developing relation- ships, facilitating dialogue and providing value-added research. Our stakeholders include the 25 unionized construction trades and their contractor partners. © Ontario Construction Secretariat 2019 180 Attwell Dr., Suite 360, Toronto, ON M9W 6A9 info@iciconstruction.com 416-620-5210 416-620-5310 1-888-878-8868 Follow the OCS on Twitter @OntConstSec www.iciconstruction.com This article has been reproduced with permission from OCS. 7 N=308 8 N=479