This edition of Leger’s Tech and Innovation series explores the tech industry, specifically in terms of talent, attraction and retention.
Leger’s Tech and Innovation series, launched in 2022, explores Canadians’ perceptions of technologies and innovations that are shaping our future. Led by Leger’s Alberta office, with a special focus on Alberta, the series is designed to help governments and businesses understand public opinion, an important factor when designing new policies or preparing new product and service offerings. A new survey (accompanied by a free report) is released monthly.
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OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES
Renewable Energy and Going Green
The upcoming topics include digital experiences (November), fintech (December) and education (January). Stay tuned!
Canada’s tech industry has been experiencing steady employment and revenue growth for years. Employment-wise, Canada’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector has grown 18.8%, from 604,240 employees in 2016 to more than 717,590 employees in 2021.
With this in mind, we surveyed Albertans (and Canadians more broadly) to understand their likelihood and motivations for considering a job in the tech industry, knowledge about Alberta’s tech industry and what all companies (not just tech ones!) can do to keep employees happy and retain them.
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: TECH INDUSTRY TALENT, ATTRACTION AND RETENTION
FIFTEEN PERCENT (15%) OF THE CANADIAN WORKFORCE IS LIKELY TO CONSIDER A JOB IN THE TECH INDUSTRY
Albertans and Ontarians are most likely to consider tech jobs. A similar proportion of the Canadian workforce (17%) are undecided about whether they would consider a job in the tech industry, which is an opportunity to convince fence-sitters.
THE TECH INDUSTRY HAS A LONG WAY TO GO TO MAKE CANADIANS AWARE OF TECH JOBS
Less than half of Canadians knew a little or a lot about the 12 different tech jobs presented to them in our survey. Low knowledge levels are likely a barrier to entering the tech industry. British Columbians, Albertans and Ontarians tend to be more knowledgeable about the different roles.
CANADIANS WHO WOULD CONSIDER A TECH JOB ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE INTERESTED IN BUSINESS SUPPORT ROLES, QUALITY CONTROL OR RESEARCH/TESTING
The proportion who would consider a job in data science is highest in Alberta (24%).
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES WILL MOTIVATE THE WORKFORCE TO CONSIDER A JOB IN TECH
Paid/partially paid education or training, and paid learning opportunities (e.g., internship, co-op, etc.) are most motivating to consider a job in tech. Other impactful motivators are help identifying transferable skills for a tech job and a mentor who is already in the industry/role they are interested in.
ALBERTA HAS A BLANK SLATE TO TELL ITS STORY ABOUT ITS TECH INDUSTRY
The vast majority of Canadians (86%) don’t know anything about Alberta’s tech industry. Among Canadians who knew something about Alberta’s tech industry, mentions tended to be quite positive, including growth, diversification, and technological advancement.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
- A total of 2,432 Canadians were surveyed from September 9 to 12, 2022. The respondents were randomly selected from Leger’s LEO panel.
- To ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada, the raw data was weighted according to the actual distribution of the population based on gender, age and region using data from Statistics Canada’s latest available census.
- As a comparison, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of ±1.99% with a confidence interval of 95% (19 times out of 20).