As Research and Motion continues to shed jobs and its market share shrinks, many are left wondering about the lasting impact on the one-time mobile giant’s home base in Waterloo, Ont.
RIM is Waterloo’s largest private sector employer, with about 8,000 local staff.
With 1,000 positions lost locally last year and another 5,000 planned cuts in the works, the impact on Waterloo’s economy can already be felt, according to a former RIM director.
“RIM has already cut back substantial costs and there are many industries here locally who have been quite successful thanks to RIM, whether that was landscaping companies, legal and accounting to transportation or even construction,” said Mike Kirkup, a former RIM software director who now leads an entrepreneur initiative at the University of Waterloo.
Kirkup told CTV’s Canada AM on Monday that the local construction sector has been hit the hardest by the company’s slowdown, following a huge construction boon as Waterloo’s RIM Park grew from two buildings to more than 20 in a decade.
“They’re already starting to feel a bit of the pinch as they’re looking for work elsewhere,” he said.
As for the highly skilled employees that have been and continue to be let go from RIM, Kirkup said he’s confident there’s more than enough work available.
“There are some incredibly creative and talented people at RIM and they’ve been solving very difficult mobile-focused problems, which is an incredibly hot market right now,” he said. “A lot of the people who are at RIM right now would be incredibly desirable employees at just about any company.”
In his new position as director of the University of Waterloo’s VeloCity, a program that helps students enter the world of entrepreneurship, Kirkup is hoping to see a surge of smaller, start-up companies in the area.
“The hope is that we’ll build the next RIM or even many RIMs here in the Waterloo region.”
Waterloo is already home to an increasing community of small start-up tech firms and a number of larger companies including Open Text Corporation, Sybase and tech giant Google have opened offices in the city.
RIM’s stock, which closed at $7.41 on the TSX Friday, has fallen more than 50 per cent this year alone and in terms of the company’s future, Kirkup said “it’s still very much up in the air.
“Especially as they plan out their strategy around BlackBerry 10,” said Kirkup.
The new BlackBerry operating system release has been delayed until early 2013.
Despite the series of setbacks the company has endured, Kirkup said the Waterloo community will continue to support the BlackBerry-makers.
“People are a little nervous and cautious as they watch one of the largest employers in the region struggle…the flip side of that is it’s an amazing and special community,” he said.
Kirkup said much of what Waterloo residents value in their community is a result of RIM initiatives.
