“Take advantage of the crisis to review your ways of doing things”

Guy Cormier

Share October 31, 2020 3h00 Update at 7h00 Share “Take advantage of the crisis to review your ways of doing things”

Alain Goupil La Tribune The coming months will continue to be difficult for the Estrie economy. Overall, the pandemic has hit businesses in the Eastern Townships harder than elsewhere in Quebec. But there is still light at the end of the tunnel, predicts the big boss of Desjardins, Guy Cormier., Who invites entrepreneurs to take advantage of the pandemic to question their ways of doing things.

A study conducted by Desjardins at the start of the month indicated that several manufacturing companies in the Eastern Townships are still having difficulty restocking their stock to meet demand. These difficulties can be explained by the interruption of supply chains during containment and by the restrictions still in force in terms of exports.

According to the study, manufacturing companies will likely have to wait until the end of 2021 to regain pre-pandemic levels.

“The good news is that in 2021, there will be economic growth for the Estrie region,” indicates Guy Cormier. We are talking about 4 to 5% of economic growth. “

Taking this perspective into account, the big boss of Desjardins sends this message to entrepreneurs:

“As far as managing a crisis like this, why not take the opportunity to rethink my operations? Why not take the opportunity to rethink certain dimensions of my business, such as the digitization and automation of my production chain? Why not take the opportunity to review my work organization at a time when I may have fewer orders now? “

According to him, such questioning generally has the effect of translating into productivity gains for companies which devote the necessary time and resources to it.

Workforce

“The other aspect that should not be underestimated in Estrie is the whole challenge of the labor shortage,” says Guy Cormier. We have to work on developing talent, ”he says, recalling that the labor shortage was the main economic issue in Quebec before the pandemic.

However, the key to success will inevitably pass through the training of a workforce that will be able to face the challenges of a post-COVID economy.

“We must ensure that some workers who unfortunately lost their jobs during the pandemic are re-qualified as quickly as possible. We have to do it quickly so that, when growth resumes, we will not have the issue of a labor shortage in Estrie, ”warns the President and CEO of Desjardins.

“The beauty of it is that you have beautiful educational institutions in Estrie that can help train this workforce adequately. “” All the entrepreneurs I spoke to in Estrie are in this state of mind. We must take advantage of the current situation to review some of our ways of doing things, so as to be fully prepared when growth is expected. “