Labor shortage | The harsh reality of a florist

Forced to close one of its two boutiques even if its business is going well, a Montreal florist deplores the serious shortage of labor affecting the sector.

Six and a half years after the opening of its branch on avenue De Lorimier, in the Plateau Mont-Royal, florist Manuel Perez, owner of Le Jardin de Mathilde, will officially close on January 31.

The florist entrepreneur claims to have no other choice in the face of the recent departure of a dozen employees, including two on the same day, in mid-December, whom he could not replace for lack of manpower. work available.

“I can advertise, make videos on social networks, contact florist schools […]I can’t get a CV, ”he laments, from his shop on rue Masson, which will remain open.

And yet, business is going well for Manuel Perez’s company, which makes all its bouquets by hand in its Plateau Mont-Royal workshop.

Unlike other areas hard hit by the pandemic, the company saw its sales increase by 25 to 30% while Quebecers were confined, a figure that has returned to near normal since the lifting of health restrictions.

A job artisanal

Manuel Perez agrees, in the profession of florist, we are not going to “earn hundreds and thousands”. However, he tries to remunerate his employees according to their work, that is to say an entry-level salary of $17 an hour, in addition to certain social benefits, sales bonuses and annual bonuses.

“It’s a beautiful job, but perhaps not enough considered. He should be given more consideration, because it is a craft job, ”insists the man who has been doing this job for 25 years.

There is training in floristry in Quebec. This diploma of vocational studies (DEP), which can be obtained after 1,000 hours, is taught in nine establishments in the province. Between 2015 and 2019, however, the number of graduates decreased by 26%, indicated the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEES), in 2020.

A trade in peril

In addition, few of these graduates decide to work in the field, confirms an employee of the Jardin de Mathilde, Laurence Quard, who herself took this training.

“We were 15 in the course, then out of 8 who finished it, I’m the only one to be a florist”, explains the one who chose to reorient herself in this field after having followed her daughters from Indonesia who came to study at Montreal.

Laurence Quard said she was “surprised” to find that such a shortage of labor in the field could “endanger the future of a business”.

Manuel Perez, for his part, trains some of his employees himself, but it is a time-consuming and sometimes daunting task. “I’ve been in business for seven years and I hire people that I train, but they end up looking elsewhere. I no longer have the energy to train people, with my two or three employees who are florists by trade, for three or four months,” he sighs.