The labor market continues to pose challenges for Canadian distributors.

Recent Canadian State of the Industry data from ASI Research shows that the percentage of firms who’ve had to increase compensation to attract and retain talent rose between 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, it’s taking longer to fill positions while worker turnover continues.

Scott Hulbert, managing director of ideavation (asi/229801) in Richmond Hill, ON, says that labor is often one of the heaviest drags on distributors’ growth. Hulbert would like to expand his company, he says, but the challenges with finding and keeping high performers force him and his team to do more with less and outsource where they can, particularly in areas like IT, graphic design and accounting. When Hulbert decided to fill two full-time positions recently, job boards didn’t produce results. So he paid recruiters to do the up-front legwork.

Once a new hire joins, they often expect hands-on training coupled with generous pay (particularly in an expensive city like Toronto), a robust benefits package, flexible work options, and a clear career path. Hiring sales reps from within the industry is particularly difficult, since they often aren’t looking to move to a small- or medium-sized firm.

“There are a lot of forces at play and I don’t see things improving, particularly in the shorter-term,” says Hulbert. “You grow people into sales roles and then hope to heck they don’t move to another distributor, exit the industry or start their own company. It can be risky to develop and train people.”

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