Vancouver Cheap City

A recent blog post by Rochelle Grayson highlighted a dirty little economic secret that’s been hampering BC for some time.

We want to attract talent so we can fulfill our economic destiny. But we don’t want to pay them.

Grayson, an American who grew up around the world, is a digital media and entertainment executive who chose to move to Vancouver a few years ago because of the city’s burgeoning digital media scene. She has some significant credentials: Nineteen years experience evaluating the strategic, financial, and marketing potential of projects and organizations in Silicon Valley, Chicago, Germany and Vancouver.

Grayson has long said publicly that Vancouver has the potential to become a global business centre because of its unique combination of technology, culture and entertainment such as games, film and TV.

But she’s constantly running into one problem: Someone presents her with an interesting opportunity, and talks go swimmingly until it comes to the matter of compensation. Suddenly the parties diverge considerably, with the presenters offering roughly what she made 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, she’s also being courted by companies in other cities that are offering her two or three times as much.

Grayson’s not alone in this. The city’s cadre of executives, local and foreign, often  joke about meeting at the airport as they’re on their way to jobs that will “value us” more.

And that’s the dirty secret about Vancouver. It has a growing digital industry, and ambitions to be a world centre (it just signed an MOU with Seattle to create a Cascadian Creative Corridor that would bring it a step closer to that goal).

But, despite the new-age mouthings that come with the digital era,  the industry isn’t much different from the rest of the BC business culture's exploitative view. Business has been exploiting the land, the sea, and the people here for more than a century.

Basically, unless they’re unionized, it treats its people like crap. The thinking is that they should be satisfied with being allowed to ply their craft in this beautiful paradise.

For example, it’s not uncommon for games or entertainment companies to go on a hiring binge, locally and offshore, and pay new hires relatively low wages for the privilege of being in the industry. Then, as soon as there is a wobble in the business, they’re cut loose.

In 2008, a Technology Industries Association study showed that there was a severe shortage of managerial talent in this city and thousands of jobs were going begging. It called for better recruiting and messaging to attract top workers.

Clearly beauty and recreational opportunities aren't enough. So, here’s another suggestion.

Pay them what they’re worth. Then the industry may grow into its ambitions.