When asked what the most important tool in her florist’s toolbox was, Donna Friesen of Page Florist, Kenora, Ont., replied, “People! The employees, of course. Besides my staff, good product, and obviously customers . . . So, quality product, excellent staff and customers. Oh, and proper utensils.”
That wasn’t the response writer Rebecca Schwarz was expecting when talking to florists about their toolboxes (see Inside a Florist's Toolbox), but it shows a keen understanding on Friesen’s part of the importance of good employees. The other implements may vary from box to box, but all successful florists will need good staff.
Finding skilled labour has become a challenge for Canadian businesses as the country moves from a manufacturing base to a service and retail economy. Unlike our neighbours to the south, Canadians have not valued retail careers, and attracting long-term workers has been a challenge. In the floral industry, some full-time college courses that were available have been cut back because the government didn’t think they should support learning that would result in lower paying retail jobs. This puts the onus back on industries and their champions to generate interest in and deliver training programs to keep a skilled pool of labour available.
A new champion to the floral industry is Skills Canada and Skills Canada-Ontario. Skills Canada is a not-for-profit organization that promotes skilled trade and technology careers to youth. Gail Smyth, executive director of Skills Canada-Ontario, has been working closely with members of the floral community to include floristry as a career option in the programs they deliver to elementary and secondary school students. By creating opportunities for students to be exposed to the work of retail florists, Smyth hopes to encourage them to see floristry as a potential career path.
Skills Canada and their provincial counterparts also host Canadian Skills Competitions that provide an opportunity for young Canadians studying a skilled trade or technology to be tested against exacting standards and against their peers from across the nation. Historically, lack of funding and participation has meant floristry was not represented, but this year, because it’s the qualifying year for the WorldSkills event being held in September 2009 in Calgary, Canada will have a competitor in the floristry category.
An old faithful champion to the industry is Flowers Canada and its accreditation programs.
Through the tireless work of a few dedicated industry professionals, the organization developed a program to ensure that flower shop owners could train or upgrade themselves and their staff with all the necessary tools to run a flower shop. The program has been available for some time now but recently has achieved a new level of industry acceptance. When advertising for a floral designer in one of their full-service florist locations, The Superstore grocery retailer listed Level l of Flowers Canada Accreditation as the minimum skill level required.
Our industry needs all the champions it can find to get more students into the programs that are available and create a supply of the sharpest tools in the box.
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