The Empowering Futures Program is Canada’s Student Work Placement Program for the electricity industry. Aimed at preparing students for the future of work, the program will create new work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities in electricity by providing subsidies of up to $7,500 per student position to the employers who create these new opportunities.
COVID-19 Update
Empowering Futures continues to provide wage subsidies during COVID-19 with additional flexibility to program restrictions. Employers, please see here for the latest updates as of May 26, 2021. Employers are encouraged to follow all health and safety guidelines at this time to ensure student workers remain safe on job sites.
Learn more about Empowering Futures
CEWIL & EHRC: Empowering Futures
Watch a webinar from EHRC’s Director of Programs that explains in depth how Empowering Futures works.
How Empowering Futures Supports Employers and Students
Professional Skills Training Program
We know that career success takes more than technical and specialized know-how: it takes professional skills like active learning, time management, collaboration and more. That’s why we’ve developed the Professional Skills Training Program, a suite of resources to suit different knowledge levels and learning styles. These resources can help students starting their first placement, recent grads entering the workforce, or even career professionals that could use some support. The program is made up of four complementary components that can be used on their own or together to sharpen professional skills.
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Empowering the Next-Generation Workforce
Work-integrated learning (WIL) is an essential step to transition from school to work, and the best way to learn how to put education into practice. To show how WIL contributes to the talent pipeline and career growth in Canada’s electricity sector, we’ve published Empowering the Next-Generation Workforce, a thought paper informed by experts with practical recommendations on how we can increase WIL uptake and best prepare the next generation of electricity workers.
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Skill savvy
From the boardroom to the front line, careers in electricity take more than technical skills—they require professional skills: the ability to communicate, work together, and organize work effectively. To explain these skills and the value they have to any worker or employer, we’ve published Skill savvy. Based on research and international best practices, this paper identifies 10 professional skills that all electricity sector workers need, where they fall short, and how they can be fostered by educators and employers through work-integrated learning.
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Empowering Futures Testimonials
We’ve collected stories from across Canada, from both employers and students, about how Empowering Futures is building the workforce of tomorrow.
Employer Testimonials
Eric, CIO at Spark Power
Jon, Field Manager at Hydro One
Nirav, HR Director at Ontario Power Generation
Student Testimonials
Zoee, Electrical Engineering Student
Tristan, Nursing Student
Natalie, Chemical Engineering Student
Alyssa, Business Finance Student
Abine, Environmental Sciences Student
Participating Employers
Participating Educators
The Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)
The Student Work Placement Program gives post-secondary students across Canada paid work experience related to their field of study.
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program.
