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A national association representing small business owners says about a quarter of recently-surveyed employers have had staff refuse to return to work when asked — and the group claims a desire to remain on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is playing a big part.
Of those businesses who had employees turn them down, the top reasons cited included a preference to remain on the CERB (62 per cent), health concerns (47 per cent) and child-care challenges (27 per cent), according to the results of a weekly survey the Canadian Federation of Independent Business conducted of its membership between July 3 and July 6.
“Staff have said, ‘I’m a little bit worried about coming back to work, I’ve got some child-care challenges, my bills are being paid by the CERB, so I’m just going to stick out on the CERB for the rest of the summer and give me a call in September,” Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the CFIB, said in an interview.
“That’s a very typical response that we’ve had from members.”
There are just under 1.2 million small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada, according to government figures from late 2019, of which the CFIB represents about 110,000.
According to the group’s recent survey results, 3,389 respondents answered the question about whether any of their laid-off staff refused to come back to work when recalled. The CFIB says 27 per cent of those said “yes.”
According to the CFIB, the results suggest 14 per cent of all businesses have had staff refuse to return to work because they prefer to stay on the CERB, a $2,000-per-month emergency benefit the federal government rolled out as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.
While Kelly acknowledged the CERB isn’t the only reason given by employees for being hesitant to return to work, he said the fact it was the most commonly cited reason “surprised” him.
“What it says to me is that CERB … certainly is, for some, tipping the balance in favour of remaining off and for others, is the reason that they’re remaining off,” Kelly said.
Parisa Mahboubi, senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute, said the type of labour being sought might be part of the challenge. She noted that in many industries, only part-time work is up for grabs.
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