CBJ JANUARY 2026

47 WHAT KEEPS BUSINESS LEADERS UP AT NIGHT? JANUARY 2026 « The Canadian Business Journal 46 W hen I ask business leaders what keeps them up at night, it is not only about supply chains, inflation or rising commodity prices. The number one concern is about talent. HOW DO I fill critical staff vacancies in a tight labour market? Where can I find workers who are digitally literate? How can my employees upgrade their skills in a way that makes my company more innovative and competitive? Meeting those just-in-time talent needs is becoming one of Canada’s biggest challenges, exacerbated by lower than usual immigration numbers, aging demographics, the ability to work remotely for firms in other countries and a pandemic-fuelled withdrawal from the labour market. Our post-secondary educational institutions need to work at this intersection of business needs and talent development. At Saskatchewan Polytechnic, for example, we are addressing acute labour shortages in the long-term care sector with a new program to train supportive care assistants. After more than 20 months of immense pressure on the healthcare system, we are finding new ways to ensure the sector has the people it needs in critical roles. Six weeks of online training followed by four-month paid work placements is a short- cycle solution in a sector facing dire shortages of long-term and home care staff. It also helps people who were displaced by the pandemic to jump-start their careers in high-demand roles. COVID-19 also prompted businesses across sectors to consider the adoption of new technology, making an already emerging need for enhanced digital skills even greater. While we embed digital skills across our programs, we are also using our new Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE) to help industry partners solve a breadth of data challenges, including data integrity, transmission, analysis and storage. At the Centre, businesses and non-profit organizations can identify useful business statistics or explore opportunities to use machine learning and artificial intelligence. In addition to a team of specialists, industry partners have access to exceptional computational facilities, faculty expertise and talented student researchers. This same talent pool will propel digital adoption and awareness into the broader labour market. Maintaining this level of responsiveness relies heavily on close relationships with industry. That’s why we work with program advisory committees that include nearly 700 experts who understand where the labour market is headed and what skills graduates will need to succeed.