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The Sarnia Express Employment Professionals office earned top honours at the international staffing firm’s Sales and Leadership Education Summit (SALESummit) held virtually Sept. 21 – 24, according to Bruce Hein, Sarnia Express franchisee.

 The Sarnia Express office received two awards for excellence and achievement in sales, recruitment, and job placement. 

SALESummit allows Express franchisees and their office staff to participate in learning sessions that focus on recruiting, hiring, and onboarding while gaining inspiration from top speakers and spending time networking with peers.

Throughout the week, the conference was attended online by more than 2,200 representatives from franchise locations across North America. 

“Providing hope through employment is more important than ever this year,” Hein said. “The Sarnia Express office is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the best each year and proud to invest this knowledge in the community by connecting qualified job seekers with companies.” 

The Sarnia Express Employment Professionals franchise began operation in 2006 and serves the Sarnia-Lambton area with temporary help and direct hire employees in a variety of fields, including professional, skilled trades, office services, and light industrial.

Imperial dropped by the Sarnia & District Humane Society to hear more about their plans to upgrade the outdoor dog play area and add two cat “pawds” to the building. The pawds are especially beneficial for cats who don’t socialize well with other kitties. A $15,000 donation by Imperialwill make these projects possible. 

Over the next several weeks, the Sarnia & District Humane Society will introduce you to Imperial Sarnia employees on their Facebook page who have made the rewarding decision to adopt a pet. They hope you will enjoy their heartwarming and inspirational stories. 

Minimum wage rates in Ontario increased on October 1, 2020. The increase to the general minimum wage is 25 cents, which brings the new rate to $14.25 an hour.

Minimum wage is the lowest wage rate an employer can pay an employee. Most employees are eligible for minimum wage, whether they are full-time, part-time, casual employees, or are paid an hourly rate, commission, piece rate, flat rate, or salary. Some employees have jobs that are exempt from the minimum wage provisions of the Employment Standards Act. See Industries and jobs with Employment Standards Act exemptions and/or special rules for information on these job categories.

The Governments of Canada and Ontario announced they are investing in several projects that will support labour and training needs in the farming sector, including committing more than $180,000 for the development of a new college program that will provide education and training in the latest agricultural equipment. 

Students will learn skilled trades in high demand areas such as spraying and fertilizing operations, custom tillage and harvesting operations. The project is one of several recently approved by the governments to help primary agriculture, food processing companies, and food retailers to recruit and train workers who are critical in keeping the province’s essential food supply functioning. 

Through a targeted intake under the Partnership’s Place to Grow: Agri-Food Innovation Initiative, the governments have also recently committed up to $594,000 to projects to boost labour supply and training in the agri-food sector. In addition to the Conestoga College program, the governments have approved: 

• $396,000 for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to develop a comprehensive support system for businesses in the agriculture and food sector to target communities affected by workforce shortages in the agri-food sector due to COVID-19
• $198,000 for Food and Beverage Ontario to develop and complete a six month marketing campaign to build confidence with frontline food workers, support business continuity for Ontario’s food and beverage processing sector, and support the operational stability of Ontario’s food and beverage processing sector during COVID-19 challenges.

The COVID-19 crisis has been difficult for entrepreneurs, most of whom have been forced to slow down, or stop entirely, their activities in response to the public health crisis. 

To help you successfully navigate the recovery, the BDC has put together a five-step framework to help you think about the steps required and keys to success. 

1. Health and safety: Go beyond social distancing
   Now more than ever, providing a safe workplace is foundational to being able to serve our customers. Having a plan for ensuring social distancing, sanitization, dealing with suspected cases, and communicating these expectations to your employees.
   
2. Make production decisions
   One of the main challenges for businesses in a crisis is to realign offerings to client needs. Goods or services that may have sold before the pandemic, may no longer be top of mind, or customers may not need them in the quantity they did in the past.
   You’ll likely want to limit your offering, at first, to ensure your cash doesn’t get tied up in unneeded inventory, finished goods, or activities that may be slow to convert to cash. 
3. Assess risks and develop contingencies
   With a clear idea of what products or services you want to offer, your next step is to complete a risk assessment to identify any issues that could impact your delivery. The idea is to identify your risks, then, look for ways to mitigate them. If you’re worried about supplies, consider identifying alternate suppliers who could be used in case of disruption.

The first webinar in our October series is Today! Join us as we hear from Marika Sylvain Groendyk, owner of Bluepoint Public Relations. 

Register before 2 pm to participate. Click here to register. 

This Saturday, October 3rd from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, drop off your pantry items at the Inn’s truck located on the corner of Finch & Wellington. Those who donate have the chance to win a $100 gift card to any Sherwood Village business of choice. 

The Inn’s Truck will also be at the Foodland Plaza in Bright’s Grove on October 10th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Those interested in contactless pick up at their front door, should email shana@336exit.com. 

The City of Sarnia is undertaking a review and modernization of its existing Community Improvement Plans. The various stages of this process are outlined in the Project Timeline. 

Community Improvement Plans (CIP) are strategic financial investment tools used by communities to stimulate and support key community outcomes. These plans are designed to leverage targeted public investment in the form of capital investments through a suite of grant offerings, with the intent to stimulate private investment in specific and defined community outcomes. These outcomes may include:

• Facilitating growth while encouraging private sector investment
• Supporting the development of affordable and rental housing 
• Enhance the quality of the public realm
• Create a focus for community activities
• Beautification opportunities along the waterfront and improving connectivity between the waterfront and downtown core
• Identifying changes needed to land use planning policies, zoning, and/or other bylaws, policies, and practices. 

Areas of the city included in the project are Downtown, Mitton Village and Northgate. 

You can get involved in this project by participating in the community engagement sessions & sharing the project within the community. To stay up to date with the most recent news, follow the link and subscribe to project updates.

COVID-19 has left many Canadian businesses scrambling to pivot digitally to meet the new needs of their customers. Making big changes to how you do business can be daunting at times, but it doesn’t have to be – not when you have the right expertise and support to make it happen. 

The Toronto Region Board of Trade and World Trade Centre Toronto created the Recovery Activation Program (RAP) to help you evolve your business in response to COVID-19 and beyond. The program offers participants access to engage with industry leaders and build their personalised plan to digitally grow their business – at no cost to them. 

To get started, take their digital needs assessment.

When the September extension of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program was announced, it was made clear the program was being wound down. Businesses needing rent support would need a new and improved program to help keep them afloat. The reality, however, is that businesses operate in real time and must be able to plan to be successful. Now, rent is due today. That means businesses urgently need to know the plan. 

Together, we need to ensure that businesses are able to survive the winter. Millions of Canadians’ livelihoods depend on it. On commercial rent, it’s time to see the long-term plan.