TPS faces labour gap with unique work model.

Greater Sudbury -- There is a whole galaxy of Northern companies facing a labour shortage, but only one has resorted to hiring a top National Hockey League draft pick to help bridge the gap.

TPS Group president Kevin Pattison got his company mentioned in the National Post when they did a profile of the top pick from the 1977 NHL Entry Draft, Falconbridge native and former Detroit Red Wing and Toronto Maple LeafDale McCourt. The focus of the story was former NHLers and their careers after hockey. McCourt's brought him back to Sudbury (he scored six goals and registered 11 assists in 26 games with the OHL's Wolves in 1972-73) and the TPS Group.

"The biggest challenge for us absolutely is finding qualified people," Pattison says in his office at 98 Fielding Road in Greater Sudbury. "Any way you cut it, the only way to grow is people."

The past president of Sudbury's Automotive Transportation Services group has found more than a couple since he formed the TPS Group of companies in 2001. A licensed heavy rig operator and a mechanic by trade, Pattison has added a fourth division to his transportation and trades labour solutions firm and more than doubled his workforce to date. He recently secured some temporary work plowing and sanding streets for the City of Greater Sudbury, and runs linens and other items for the Sudbury Hospital Service on weekends.

He plans to double his business again in the next five years or so, and is constantly planning for the future during the 50 to 60 hours he puts in at the office every week. According to him, that may be easier to do in Sudbury than around the Golden Horseshoe.

"It's a lot easier to find a driver here than in Toronto," he says.

But it's no cakewalk. Sitting at the highway hub between Toronto and all of Canada east of Highway 69 is a big benefit, but the transportation labour market is a lot leaner today than when Pattison started in 1979, when there was no shortage of workers in sight.

"This market is only going to get worse."

He says that by 2010, North America will be short about 220,000 drivers, 90,000 in this province alone.

Competition is stiff, but TPS Group responds with a "very unique" workforce management model.

TPS supplies drivers to several companies, including Maniutoulin Transport, Erb Transport, Quik/X, Bison Transport and Challenge Motor Freight. Normally, if a driver for personal or other reasons wants or needs to change up his routes, he would have to quit his job with one carrier and start anew with another. Full-time TPS employees, on the other hand, can swap between routes and clients freely, without losing health or other benefits, or seniority.

"Let's say I've got you on a Thunder Bay route, but something changes and you have to be closer to home here," Pattison illustrates. "I can put you on a Manitoulin route, dayshift" without penalty.

The only difference is the wage, which varies between routes.

"You have to have something like this flexible program," he says. "When a company sees someone good, they go after them."

Part-timers, which are not eligible for the route-switching program, typically are in their niche and like to stay where they are so it's not an issue, he says. He has several retired police officers and Inco retirees that fit their routes into their schedules.

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When not hiring top draft picks from the NHL, Pattison sources from Manitoulin Northern Academy of Transportation and New Liskeard's 5th Wheel Training Institute, both of which he fully endorses.

Endorsement aside, TPS drivers are put through a rigorous training program before they start regular shifts.

The first order of business is another road test with one of Pattison's two full-time safety trainers, similar to the one the driver passed to finish his certification from the school. Then they start an "extensive training program," working four days on, four days off. Halfway through the 24-shift, six-week program, they are re-evaluated again with the same trainer that examined them at the start. After the 24 weeks, there's another road test, and after another pass, the driver starts on a training run that allows him to grow into his position.

"There isn't a lot of that in the industry."

But Pattison isn't putting all of his eggs in one basket.

He has diversified with a new division focused on administrative and clerical work with an eye to city and other government contracts, and wants to get deeper into the skilled trades market with different types of labourers, such as mechanics.

Wish him luck.

www.tpsgroup.ca

By CRAIG GILBERT

Northern Ontario Business