We are uniquely positioned to mobilize and play a leading role in the community’s post COVID-19 recovery, for both the airport employee/employer community and those surrounding the airport.
Pearson Works! Online is a cross-stakeholder collaborative platform that serves to promote the benefits of airport careers and is our guide as we work towards building the workforce of the future for the airport of the future.
In March of 2022, Toronto Pearson was awarded with funding from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development of Ontario (MLTSD) for an application we put through their Skills Development Fund (SDF).
The 1-year funding will allow us to continue and accelerate our work on Pearson Works! Online, it will support us to:
- Create our first ever airport-wide job portal and resource centre dedicated to support the employee and employer communities at Toronto Pearson
- Work with our airport employer and employee network to undertake strategies for Post-COVID workforce recovery, as well as longer-term workforce planning strategies to ensure the airport is setting up workers for success
- Leverage the learnings from 3 important pieces of research; the airport’s 2019 Workforce Demographic Survey, a 2019 Deloitte Whitepaper on Underemployment to build targeted strategies to ensure underrepresented and marginalized groups have priority access to the online programming, and a Toronto Region Board of Trade’s: Toronto Pearson’s Workforce Strategy and Playbook where many recommendations fit within the Pearson Works! vision.
- Deepen and expand investments with community agency partners to identify, develop and deliver new approaches and programs to support workforce recovery and development
- Create a network of worker peer mentors from around Toronto Pearson to support their colleagues’ advancement
Background
From the onset of COVID-19, we witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of the pandemic on our airport, our workforce, and our industry.
We moved rapidly, in collaboration with the Toronto Airport Workers Council (TAWC) to create Pearson Works! Online, a virtual resource centre dedicated to support the employee and employer communities at Toronto Pearson.
PWO started by addressing the immediate supports and career counselling needs of the airport employees impacted by the pandemic. Shortly afterwards, we moved to offering relevant training and professional opportunities for workers to take advantage of.
We are currently building a comprehensive workforce strategy for Toronto Pearson. The support from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development will allow us to continue and expand our work further.
Read the joint statement from GTAA and TAWC released May 1, 2020.