A multinational business services company will be creating 200 new jobs in New Brunswick, and will be getting financial help from the provincial government to do so.
Deloitte will be hiring the new employees as it expands its Canadian delivery centre to outside of Montreal, said Sheri Penner, managing partner for Deloitte in Atlantic Canada.
The company already has offices in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton, but the new employees will primarily work from home, she said.
As Deloitte hires them over the next five years, the company will be eligible for $1.9 million in payroll rebates from the provincial government.
Penner said the company negotiated the incentive after already choosing New Brunswick, adding it offers some assurance that the company will get help as it hires new employees.
“I would say that it’s a smart business move on New Brunswick’s part to want to attract this kind of investment, and it takes money to make money, and this is a win-win for both New Brunswick and Deloitte and for the people that we’re going to be employing.
“So I think, you know, some things don’t happen until you bring the right players to the table, and I think it’s a good move for both of us.”
Deloitte offers businesses audit, consulting, risk advisory, financial advisory, legal and tax services.
According to a media release it issued last September, the company reported aggregate global revenue of $50 billion US for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2021, which was a five per cent increase over the previous year.
Quality of post-secondary schools
Penner said one of the main draws for the company growing its New Brunswick staff base is the quality of its post-secondary institutions.
“So we knew we needed certain technical expertise and certain training programs, and there was an abundance of those in New Brunswick and in Atlantic [Canada].
“We also had the benefit of the bilingual population in New Brunswick to help us serve in both official languages across Canada.”
As employees under the company’s Canadian delivery centre, Penner said the new staff will be working on large projects with corporate clients looking to change the digital systems they use.
She said job types will include technical fields like computer science, programming and design.
Other roles will be for those who have “functional expertise” and will work with clients to figure out their business needs.
She said the jobs will not involve call-centre type work.
Using local and foreign talent
Penner said the plan is to hire people who are already in New Brunswick, but also foreign talent, who they’d hire through immigration programs.
“We have a lot of confidence in the diversity of our hiring processes to ensure that the type of talent that we attract has both the technical skills and the diversity that would attract people to want to be in New Brunswick, whether they’re there already or whether they’re looking to enter into Canada.”
The province’s economic development agency, Opportunities New Brunswick, in a news release, said it will be working with Deloitte to attract newcomers to the province.
ONB also said Deloitte will be working with post-secondary institutions to hire new recent graduates and help retain the province’s talent.
The new jobs are expected to have a $52.4 million impact on the province’s GDP, ONB said.