As one of the three mining employers participating in the TPM pilot, FireFly Metals was one of three engaged members of the employer collaborative throughout the Talent Pipeline Management model implementation phase. Bonnie Matthews, Vice President of Human Resources at FireFly Metals, contributed the organization’s regional perspective as employers worked together as partner in the TPM pilot to better understand their unique, shared workforce and recruitment challenges.
For Bonnie, one of the most valuable parts of the TPM process was the connections made with other employers and the information that came from those conversations. According to her, the company already had a clear understanding of the position it was having difficulty recruiting for. The bigger question was how to get to a point where people with the right skills were available to fill that position.
Through the TPM activities, Bonnie identified where a key workforce bottleneck lies. She says the challenge is not necessarily what the company is or is not doing, but the lack of available education for the positions it needs to fill.
The HR professional explains that she sees particular value in this kind of employer-led approach when several organizations are experiencing similar challenges. Through this Project’s employer collaborative, employers shared their knowledge, identified common barriers and explored solutions to address them collectively.
“The collaboration is the key to success, and having others with common goals and challenges helps come up with solutions one company might not be able to come up with on their own,” Bonnie highlighted.
Workforce challenges rarely stop at the door of one employer or organization. Based on her experience with the Employer-Led Workforce Development Project, Bonnie recommends the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) model to organizations across Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly to employers who are facing common labour market pressures that may be difficult to solve individually.