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Butchart Gardens raises wages for staff, stages early hiring blitz

Butchart Gardens is aiming to get out ahead of other seasonal employers by staging a job fair in February and boosting wages from last year. The starting wage is $15 an hour — $3.65 above the current minimum wage in the province. That’s up from $12.
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Sophia Jonassen rides the Rose Carousel at Butchart Gardens in 2016.

Butchart Gardens is aiming to get out ahead of other seasonal employers by staging a job fair in February and boosting wages from last year.

The starting wage is $15 an hour — $3.65 above the current minimum wage in the province. That’s up from $12.18 in 2016, Jeannie Christison, director of human resources, said Monday.

“We want the best and we are hoping that this will entice the best to come to us,” she said.

“Most of those $15 [per hour] jobs are entry level so they don’t need experience, but they do need the right attitude.”

The job fair is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the coffee shop at Butchart Gardens, 800 Benvenuto Ave.

Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate was ultra-low at 3.4 per cent in December, leaving employers with a difficult time finding staff. The hospitality sector has been hard hit when it comes to finding enough workers.

B.C.’s minimum wage is currently $11.35 per hour.

Last year, 140 new employees were hired for seasonal work at Butchart Gardens, Christison said.

The starting wage rose this year “because it is a tough market,” she said.

Jobs include visitor and food services, gardening and working in the gift store.

The shoulder season is running longer, so additional workers will be needed starting in early March and into October, Christison said.

Everyone from seniors to university and high school students work seasonally and typically put in full-time hours while there.

At the peak of the summer season, more than 600 staff are on the job at the Gardens. At the start of January, there were 338 staff, she said.

Past employees are being contacted to see if they will return this year, Christison said. “We are pretty proud of our staff. We have a pretty good training program. We want to retain them.”

Each year, returning staff are moved into new positions with greater responsibility, she said. “There is a lot of opportunity for advancement,” said Christison.

She said you can speak to any long-time staff member at Butchart Gardens and you will find “they almost always started as summer seasonal work.”

The attraction offers special activities for staff and offers free parking.