Businesses in Burnaby are having a hard time finding and retaining workers, according to a board of trade report released this week.
The Business Sentiment Report was part of an economic development exercise conducted by the Burnaby Board of Trade in July, and it outlines concerns, challenges and successes experienced by businesses in the Lake City-Production Way area, according to a press release.
“We feel it is very important for us, as the voice of local business, to go out into our community and talk with businesses face-to-face. It takes a lot of effort to door-knock so many businesses, but the feedback we get is invaluable to our role as Burnaby’s leading business association and advocate,” board of trade president and CEO Paul Holden said in the release.
The report shows that, of the 82 businesses surveyed in July, 43 per cent of them identified hiring and retaining employees as the single-greatest challenge they face. Several businesses cited the high cost of housing and real estate in the area as one of the factors “in them being unable to attract and retain employees,” according to the report.
The hot real estate market was also identified as a growing concern when it comes to owning or renting workspace in the area.
But it’s not all bad, according to the report.
Businesses in the Lake City-Production Way area said the number 1 reason Burnaby is a good city to do business is its central location in the Lower Mainland. Other reasons included access to transit and the road system and a solid customer base.
Ninety per cent of businesses also said they’d try and stay in Burnaby if they were forced to find a new location, the report noted.
“We were very happy to see how well businesses are doing and how positively they view Burnaby as a business destination. However, we were very concerned with how many businesses see the high cost of real estate as having both direct and indirect negative impacts on their bottom lines. This isn’t just a housing issue anymore – it’s a business issue,” Holden said.
