Exploring Recruitment and Retention issues for BC’s community social service sector employers

A report by SPARC BC March 2008

There is strong anecdotal evidence that community social service employers in British Columbia are having trouble recruiting and retaining workers.

On behalf of the community social service unions, the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union commissioned the Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) to conduct an independent study of recruitment and retention issues.

The study, which was done in between April 2007 and March 2008, collected qualitative and quantitative data from unionized employers in the sector to support this anecdotal evidence. The employers consulted in the study provide a wide range of services, including community living and residential care services, child care, child and family services, and counseling services. These employers provide these services to people with developmental disabilities, the deafblind population, children, families, and victims of abuse and sexual assault, as well as immigrant and Aboriginal populations.