Businesses happy in Airdrie
Airdrie Economic Development recently completed the 2018 Business Satisfaction Survey and was told that 86 per cent of respondents are happy doing business in Airdrie. Quality of life, location, community growth and access to customer bases were listed as the top benefits of doing business here.
Over the past few years we have heard how challenging it has been for our local businesses. From tax and minimum wage increases to carbon tax, businesses have had to get creative and persevere. From these challenges we were happy to hear that over the next 12 months businesses were optimistic about their current workforce. Fifty seven per cent of respondents expect their workforce to grow or expand, while 76 per cent expect to hire or maintain staff over the next year. Hearing that the local economy is moving in the right direction and that businesses are either hiring or retaining their current employees is exciting!
This year, 47 per cent of our homebased business respondents reported that they are interested in moving to a storefront location; this is a huge increase from 26 per cent in our 2015 survey. With such a large increase, our department will start looking at how we could possibly ease this transition for homebased businesses and help create a strong business ecosystem for them to be a part of.
Overall the responses from this survey didn’t reveal any surprises; instead, they leave us feeling excited for the next few years. It’s encouraging to know that businesses selected Airdrie as their first choice and that in that choice they are happy. Going forward, this survey provides us with an opportunity to measure and compare feedback on the local economic environment, current business operating environment and business-related programs, processes and services offered by the City.
