Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (MIT) is the government department responsible for managing and ensuring the long term sustainability of a diverse provincial infrastructure network with an estimated replacement value of over $10 billion. Of MIT's 2,500 staff, approximately 1,600 are located in the department's Engineering and Operations (E&O) division. A large percentage of these staff are engineers or in a related discipline and oversee the maintenance, repair and renewal of thousands of culverts, bridges, drainage ditches, 19,000 kilometres of roads and over 2,000 kilometres of winter roads on an annual basis. The E&O division has a high demand for professional and paraprofessional staff due to most of the engineering services being provided in-house, using methods based specifications. Historically this has sustained a strong expert and knowledgeable core of technical staff. This workforce is now reaching a critical stage due to retirements and a lack of staff with 10 to 15 years experience. To address shortages and changing demographics in Manitoba's workforce, and their impact specifically on MIT, the E&O division is developing unique and creative methods of training, developing, recruiting, and retaining the skilled employees needed today and into the future. This concept provides an aggressive and coordinated approach through presentations in high schools, post-secondary institutions, rural and northern communities, conferences, symposiums, and career/job fairs throughout the province. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E217481.
Abstract