Lunch break is on the house, courtesy of the Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce and the Southwest Newcomer Welcome Centre.

Tomorrow, both the chamber and newcomer welcome centre are putting on a lunch event for employers here in Swift Current.

This lunch is to help promote the new 'Economic Recovery Workplace Initiative' that the province has initiated in an effort to help businesses recover their workforces in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Icashana de Gala, the executive director for the Southwest Newcomer Welcome Centre, was able to explain the goal of inviting local employers to the lunch.

"There might be some employers that are still not sure of the skills of newcomers," explained de Gala. "So this lunch and learn we'll have two employers who will present on that and we as a welcome center will also explain about this new program."

A big part of the program is that the government will be paying a salary supplement for newcomer highers for the first four months they are on the job.

"This is a program by the province of Saskatchewan," elaborated de Gala. "We match newcomers to an employer and the government provides supplement salary for the first four months. It's based on minimum wage, and it's 100 per cent on the first month, 80 per cent on the second month and 60 per cent on the third and fourth month."

To be clear, this is only a supplement to the wage that would regularly be paid to those working in the position. The government will not be paying the full salary owed to hired newcomers.

de Gala explains why the chamber is partnering with them on this event and initiative.

"Any program that has to do with employment, we always reach out to them for partnership," revealed de Gala. "And of course, in order to be able to reach out to as many employers as possible, really the main contact would be the chamber of commerce."

The lunch will be hosted at Houston Pizza from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Any and all employers are invited.

If anyone has any questions about this event or the hiring program, de Gala encourages them to call the welcome centre for further details.