Production, resources and infrastructure
Production, resources and infrastructure
What we know deeply
How we work with you
Between seasonal peaks and temporary foreign worker programs, integration has to be fast and repeatable.
The agri-food production cycle leaves no room for an improvised welcome: teams arrive all at once and the pace starts the same day. The number of positions filled by temporary foreign workers in Quebec rose from 14,838 to 35,735 between 2014 and 2021, and 68.8% of those positions were in agriculture alone, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec.
That concentration means an employer often welcomes, within a few weeks, an entire cohort of people who are discovering the working language, the hygiene standards and the pace of production all at the same time.
Faced with high turnover mid-season, the reflex is to question individual motivation, when the real gap lies in a welcome designed for one person rather than for a compressed cohort.
An orientation session on the first morning does not close that gap unless it is repeated with every wave. What has to be built is a welcome capable of absorbing a peak rather than a steady trickle.
A seasonal production cycle leaves little time for an improvised welcome.
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Temporary foreign workers come back from one season to the next only if their first experience was a good one.
Read →When a cohort of temporary foreign workers arrives, the welcome structure has to already exist: the training schedule, the safety reference points, the designated contacts. An employer who improvises the welcome at the moment of arrival loses precious time in a cycle where every production day counts.
The language barrier, combined with a fast pace, directly increases the risk of error and injury: an onboarding journey that is designed and repeatable from one season to the next, rather than rebuilt each year, reduces that risk from the first days.
Unlike a local workforce, retention here does not play out over years, but over a single decisive season: the one that determines whether the person will agree to come back the following year. A botched welcome cannot be made up for in the next cycle; it simply translates into a cohort that does not return.
The employers who stabilize their cohorts best treat each season as part of a continuing relationship with the same people, rather than as a recruitment exercise to start over from scratch each year.
A program that equips your own trainers to pass on professional reference points, at the pace of your production seasons.
Speaking engagementsTalks delivered to managers to decode the issues raised by a seasonal and international workforce.
Tools and materialsTools designed for a cohort arriving all at once, not for one person at a time: training schedules, safety reference points and designated contacts ready before arrival.
DiagnosticA diagnostic that tracks what makes a cohort of temporary foreign workers choose, or not, to come back the following year.
International recruitmentRecruitment engagements adapted to the seasonal cycles of agri-food, from sourcing through to arrival on the job.
Whether you are preparing a cohort of temporary foreign workers or a growing local team, let's discuss what could be put in place before the next hiring wave.
