Skilled inmigrants in Canada, requieres lots of patience!

Diversity at work: 77 employees, 27 languages

VIRGINIA GALT

MISSISSAUGA — ProMation Engineering Ltd. produces sophisticated robotics for the automotive and nuclear industries. Its operations require extraordinary teamwork and precision. Effective communication is crucial to its success.

So, with a work force of 77 employees hailing from 25 different countries, founder Mark Zimny's greatest challenge – and greatest source of pride – comes from ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Mr. Zimny, a Polish-born mechanical engineer, knows first hand how difficult it can be for skilled immigrants to find their bearings in a new country. “I'm aware of their expectations and their barriers,” said Mr. Zimny, whose first job upon arriving in North America in 1985 was to work an overhaul of the Disneyland monorail system in California.

Now, 22 years later, as president and chief executive officer of ProMation, Mr. Zimny has just landed a multimillion-dollar contract to work with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. on the refurbishment of Candu power plants, using radiation-proof robots to safely perform welding and other functions in nuclear facilities.

He credits his company's success, in large measure, to the wealth of talent that resides within its walls and ProMation's openness to hiring engineers who received their training outside of Canada. “There are a number of good universities scattered around the world.”

Many of his employees' university diplomas are prominently displayed in ProMation's front lobby. Their alma maters include Universitat Zu Koln, Germany; Universidad Distrital Frandisco Jose de Caldas, Columbia; Maziupol Metallurgical University, Ukraine; Politechnicaka Krakowska, Krakow, Poland; Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India; University of Sarajevo; Colegio De Ingenieors Peru; University of Toronto; University of Waterloo.

Between them, ProMation's employees speak 27 languages, including English.

“We take the best of all the people and try to find one common base for all of us in one small shop and we have discovered, actually, that it's very easily done.

“It requires a lot of patience, but the results are fantastic, because we are getting a lot of enthusiasm,” Mr. Zimny said in an interview after receiving an award for his company's diversity efforts.

Allison Pond, executive director of Toronto-based ACCES employment services, said her agency gave the award in recognition of ProMation's “leading-edge work in building diversity.”

Inadequate language skills and lack of Canadian experience are the major barriers to skilled immigrants seeking work in the fields they trained in, Ms. Pond said.

ProMation gives them that crucial first job in Canada – usually through subsidized internships at the outset – and also supports them as they gain more proficiency in English, she said.

“Within a year, we have a full-time employee capable of solving the engineering problems for me,” said Mr. Zimny, who improved on his own English-language skills by taking business courses at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, where he had no choice but to master new vocabulary.

His company also encourages, and fully reimburses, any employee who continues his or her education, he said. Their wages go up as they acquire more experience and knowledge, he added.

To succeed in Canada, immigrants have to work hard and be willing to learn, Mr. Zimny said.
At the same time, as the labour market tightens, employers have to learn to recruit and manage Canada's increasingly diverse labour force.

ProMation's employees come from all over the place: Canada, Poland, India, China, Romania, Ukraine, Colombia, Peru, Serbia, Afghanistan, Angola, Belarus, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Croatia, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Macedonia, the Philippines.