The Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant is a system which allows employers to get two thirds of training costs back for employees. The Yorkton Chamber of Commerce recently hosted an information meeting to outline how the system works and the ways businesses can take advantage of it.
To qualify for the program, employers can do up to $15,000 in training per employee per year, up to a maximum of $250,000. They must supply a third of that training. While it can be handled in any setting, all training must be done by a third-party agency that is not affiliated with the employer. At the end of the training period, the employer must have a job for the employee in question, and that job must be located within Saskatchewan. As well, the employee must be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident.
The training costs covered under the program are things like tuition fees, student fees, textbooks and other required materials and exam fees. This means that living expenses are not covered under the program. As well, the employer must cover the full cost of the programs and are paid out at the conclusion of the training. Smaller employers, those who employ under 50 people, are eligible to apply for wages to be 50 per cent of their contribution. The grant is not available to employers in the public sector, such as municipalities, health regions and school districts.
The program exists to encourage new training for new jobs and advancement, rather than maintaining standards for existing ones. It is not meant to replace current programs, but introduce new ones. To keep track of the progress of the program in the pilot years, and its success rate, employees will be asked to do a survey about how the extra training has impacted their careers and income.
At the information meeting, Larry Wells who works with the program, admitted that it will likely be more focused towards invested in training in existing employees rather than new hires, because of the risk of training new people. Employers will not be penalized if an employee does not complete a training program, but they will still need to cover the costs. This is likely to make employers want to prioritize people they can trust to complete the program.
Don Rae, owner of Crusader Drilling says that he likes what he hears about the program. He says that training is a major cost for his business, especially in terms in training new employees, and that training budgets are always a major expense no matter where you are.
"If you can hire more people, it's always creating more jobs."
