ETS, as an employer, can review and adjust their human resource practices to better reflect the occupational needs of the EC. There are many actions and human resource policy changes that can assist the EC to be more effective in their roles. The research evidence pointed to a need for basic job information and orientation practices in the more northern First Nations communities. Other human resource suggestions relate to better and more consistent professional development and inclusion in planning. Participant comments indicated that there are less human resource services available to them the farther they are from Winnipeg. Participants asked for more job autonomy, flexibility in delivery and administration, more training and mentorship, access to more services for clients, more funding options, clear external partnership expectations, a more complete orientation and retention focus on new staff, more internal government partnerships, and finally, relationship building and focus on the creation of a healthy workplace.
The following list represents a culmination and analysis from each time the participants were given three wishes. The results in order of frequency are: (a) more resources and money, (b) a healthy and supportive work environment, (c) more flexibility with policies and procedures, (d) more staff, (e) more partnerships and collaboration, (e) common assessments to work with, and (f) more training. ETS could develop a round table of ECs from across the province and encourage this group to work together to research the issues and provide recommendations and action plans for ways to expedite the implementation of these wishes.
The Province of Manitoba needs to move urgently to address the gap between growing skills shortages and the huge unemployed pool of Aboriginal job seekers. The province needs to begin by finding out for certain how big a job this will be. The next step is to implement a Provincial Certification and Practitioner development process that is wide enough and flexible enough to include the EC needs from across the province. There is a solid and functioning structure supporting the ECs who work for the province; Manitoba can build on the training available for employees, while building capacity within the Northern communities to offer their own services. This element of the recommendations presents some real possibility for change. The province also has a vested interest in developing a labour market in the rural and northern regions of Manitoba. Evidence indicated clearly that partnerships are known to work well, and this makes it important enough to discover ways to nurture and replicate them. Impacts can also be seen for the Province of Manitoba, specifically ETS, by looking at the health and well-being of the EC’s workplace on the integral spiral as follows.