Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker helps both local employers and an international workforce reach their respective goals.
Bouchra Zerouali is proof positive that the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program assists employers who cannot fill staff positions with local talent. Moreover, the personal advancement made by the former resident of Lyon, France demonstrates that the program is equally beneficial to the workers themselves.
Zerouali, 26, came to British Columbia in May 2008 to be a food-counter attendant for an A&W outlet in Richmond, and she was quickly won over by the care and attention paid to her. That's appropriate, as the corporate name for her employer's multi-store A&W business in BC is The Friendship Food Company Ltd. “I’ve never had such nice bosses,” she says. “From the outset they told me that if I needed anything, just phone – and I’ve not been let down.”
Sean Krishnan, The Friendship Food Company’s manager of people potential, credits company president Roger Milad for ensuring that TFW is a mutually beneficial program. “Roger emigrated from Egypt as a teenager, worked the grill at A&W, and today owns 19 A&W outlets,” he says. “So we love the idea of recruiting foreign talent who want to build new lives for themselves.”
As is the case with many fast food chains, it’s a challenge for Krishnan to recruit locally. “People in their teens and 20s are concerned about being cool, and cool to them means working at trendy urban restaurants,” he says. “Another factor against us is the tight labour market. I’m constantly trying to find new people and developing ways to retain them.”
Krishnan heard about the TFW program in late 2007 and promptly applied for staff. “Our goal was to fill positions in nine of our free-standing stores,” he recalls. “We ultimately wound up with 16 successful applicants in their mid-20s and mid-30s from France, Germany, Belgium and the Philippines. Of this group, 12 stayed and have proven to be extremely reliable.”
Given that A&W provides the same pay, training and benefits to foreign workers as it does to local employees, what makes TFW applicants attractive to Krishnan? “Newcomers to Canada have a fantastic approach to work,” he says. “They’re willing to be trained and adapt to our corporate culture. In short, they want to succeed.”
Zerouali says obtaining the two-year work permit via the TFW program was relatively straightforward. “A&W made it easy. First, I was hired after attending the Destination Canada job fair in Lyon. Then Sean filled out all the papers, and it took me just three weeks from the time I signed my work contract to get my visa.”
Although Zerouali’s knowledge of BC was confined to what she had seen in television documentaries, she instantly felt at home. “Sean helped me find a place to live, then I took job training, and even though my English was pretty bad, everyone was supportive,” she recalls.
Zerouali’s enthusiasm for her job has paid off in spades. She has become one of three A&W temporary foreign workers to gain management skills via the Accelerated Career Education program provided by The Friendship Food Company to 10 selected employees. “In order to put these skills to use, all three workers have applied under the Provincial Nominee Program [PNP] for landed immigrant status,” says Krishnan, referring to the government process that grants accelerated permanent residency to those with the ability to become economically established in BC. “If all goes well, A&W could have three new managers sometime in 2010, and who knows what they could achieve from there.”
Zerouali’s PNP application has been approved, and she has a clear vision of what her future in BC will be. “Most definitely I want to advance through the ranks of management, but I want to do it with A&W,” she says. “I wouldn’t consider working for anyone else.”
