Canadian Workforce Set for Sea Change as Non-Traditional Roles Gain Salience

Canadian employers are challenging the established norms of the country’s workforce by hiring a broad variety of non-traditional workers, such as contract, remote, and freelance.

This trend that is likely to accelerate over the next decade, fundamentally changing the nature of employment in Canada, according to a new study from Ranstad Canada.

The Workforce 2025 report finds that non-traditional workers currently make up 20% to 30% of the workforce in Canada.

“Canadians, and especially millennials, are rethinking their approach to employment, which is changing the way that employers look to fill their staffing needs,” said Marc-Étienne Julien, CEO of Randstad Canada. “This shift in thinking and the willingness of young Canadians to eschew the traditional nine-to-five for non-traditional roles will dramatically change the makeup of the workforce over the next decade.”

Workforce agility represents a change in staffing models that features non-traditional workers. These are not the “temps” of the past; instead, they range from industrial to skilled engineering roles. What’s more, nearly 80% of employees who work as temporary or freelance workers said they are just as loyal as they would be if they were full time, which illustrates that employers don’t need to fear the agile workforce.

62% of employees believe that employers should be more open to flexible work arrangements and that this type of employment should be secondary to the skills and results brought by the employee. 21% of employers believe a flexible staffing model helps improve operational performance.

Many of the hesitations Canadians have about agile employment are disappearing, with 85% of employers agreeing that by 2025, their organizations will be committed to building an agile workforce.

If you want to work for a forward-thinking company in Canada, have a look at our upcoming Techfest recruiting fairs.