Investissement Québec lays off around sixty employees

Investissement Québec (IQ) is laying off around sixty employees in a context where the Legault government is asking state companies to reduce their spending in order to contribute to returning to a balanced budget.

The financial arm of the Quebec state made the announcement late Monday afternoon to all of its staff. The employees whose positions will be abolished were met during the day.

The layoffs mainly affect the Bureau de normalization du Québec as well as consultant jobs in matters of maximization, business strategy and Quebec purchasing. The strategy and communications and information technology departments are also affected by layoffs. Most of the abolished positions are in the greater regions of Montreal and Quebec.

These layoffs result from a review of IQ’s activities in order to be “more efficient, more agile and more efficient” in a more difficult economic environment, indicated the president and CEO of the company, Bicha Ngo.

“We did everything to try to limit the abolition of positions,” she said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday morning.

Expenses related to communications, international activities, representation costs and honoraria were eliminated, and some vacant positions were not filled. With these various measures, IQ estimates that it can generate annual savings of around 15 million.

When tabling his budget last March, the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, called on the various state-owned companies to identify the equivalent of 1 billion in spending reductions over four years in order to help balance the budget. In addition to IQ, this also targets Loto-Québec, the Société des alcools du Québec, the Société québécoise du cannabis and Hydro-Québec.

This request from the government is one of the elements taken into consideration as part of the review of Investissement Québec’s operations, mentioned M.^me Ngo.

However, the manager mainly highlighted the current economic context to explain this restructuring. She also recalled that the number of employees has “grown significantly” in a few years, following the merger with the Ministry of Economy and Innovation in 2020, but also due to the new needs that emerged during the pandemic, leading to the addition of services and teams. Result: the workforce increased from 500 to nearly 1,300 employees.

“When I took office in February, I was very clear with the teams. For me, one of the organization’s priorities is to ensure that we become more efficient, more agile and more efficient. To do this, we had to review our activities and focus on our activities where we have a direct impact on business growth,” she said.

According to M^me Ngo, this exercise “is also part of sound governance management”. Other announcements like Monday’s are not planned, but the organization “will continue to see how we can optimize our operations,” she said.

In his statement addressed to all staff, of which The Canadian Press obtained an extract, Mr.^me Ngo specifies that the recruitment of new talents remains possible.

“However, all requests are studied very closely to ensure that each of our hires meets specific needs, which serve our clients,” she says.

In its 2023-2024 annual report, Investissement Québec reports having hired 222 permanent employees and 57 temporary employees during the last fiscal year. As of March 31, 2024, salaries and benefits represented 73% of the company’s administrative expenses at $192 million, an increase of 27% compared to two years ago.

Despite the cuts, IQ ensures that it maintains free support services to help companies identify and plan their growth strategy and innovation projects. Some activities were also transferred to other teams.