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25 | Thursday October 19, 2 0 1 7 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insidehalton.com ____________________________________________________________________ (sanadianSm all BusinessWeek" A ttractin g im m igrant em ployees is key for entrepreneur When Ross McLeod, CEO o f Intelligarde Security, handed out shares in his security company to about 200 employees-- most o f them immigrants -- in 2016, he also gave them a loot bag. Among other things, it contained a copy o f Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a popular personal finance book, and a set o f business cards w ith the word shareholder under the em ployee's name. Giving shares to employees is one way McLeod is working to make his company more attractive to the immigrants who make up the vast majority of his staff. He also provides health benefits, training and advancement opportunities to his 500-strong workforce in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Winnipeg, which he estimates is composed o f about 70 per cent immi grants. "When people look up our chain of com mand, they can see people w ith similar names, who speak similar languages as they do, who are successful in the compa ny," says McLeod, who founded Intelligarde 34 years ago. More Canadian entrepreneurs w ill have to rely on immigrant workers as the population ages, according to a Business Development Training key to retention Providing good employment serves McLeod's interests by helping him recruit and retain top employees in an industry that suffers from chronically high turnover rates, he says. As chief culture office, Marjaan Hadi is responsible for training and reaching out to immigrant communities where the firm draws its employees. Training, including ongoing optional courses, and the opportunity to move up in the company are important factors in retaining immigrant workers, says Hadi, who was born in Afghanistan and speaks five languages. "We promote to new immigrants that there is room for success here," she says. " Besides myself, there are other immigrants in the company who are doing extremely well, and those success stories are very important." PHOTO: CPiMAGES/BDC Bank o f Canada (BDC) study Future-Proof Your Business: Adapting to Technology and Demographic Trends. By 2032, immigration w ill account for up to 80 per cent o f Canada's population growth. Several studies emphasize that companies w ith an ethnically diverse labour force per form better financially, the BDC report notes. Yet, immigrants have a much higher unem ployment rate than Canadian-born workers. McLeod says entrepreneurs need to be prepared to hire immigrants because that's where the workers are in an increasingly tight labour market. "You have to lean into it and embrace that reality," he says. "You've got to work w ith it." M U N IC IP A L L A W C H A M B E R S GordonE . Petch M u n icip a lL a w Russell D . Cheeseman M u n icip a lL a w J. AnthonyCaldwell C iv il L itig a tio n StephenW att M u n icip a lL a w C iv il L itig atio n ZaidSayeed M ilovanPrelevic T a xL a w We have relocated from Downtown Toronto to Downtown Oakville to better serve our clients. Providing exceptional experience and skill in Municipal and Civil Litigation, Real Estate Development Approvals, Environmental Law and Tax Law to the real estate industry and all levels of government. Royal Building, 277 Lakeshore Road East, Suite 211, Oakville O N L6J1H9 M L C T: 416-955-9530 | F: 416-955-9532 | E : info@mlawc.com W: MunicipalLawChambers.com Toronto Meeting Rooms: Brookfield Place, 16 1 Bay Street, Toronto O N M5J 2S 1 M unicipal Law Chambers