The Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation is conducting its first ever "collaborative" business survey to support business in the area.
Director of Business Retention and Expansion Lee McGrath says the survey will gather data to determine where the region is, and where it's going. It will guide many future decisions.
She says the survey will also indicate who is hiring, what expansions are going on, what the business climate is, and if there are any gaps in skilled labour.
McGrath says companies don't have to be concerned about sharing their information and can skip questions if they want.
"We are looking at it regionally, and by municipality, by sector potentially, but not in a way that any one company's information would be looked at individually," McGrath says.
Economic Development Week runs from March 27-31.
A report should be done by the end of April.
Economic Development Officer for Leamington Jeanine Lassaline-Berglund says the survey should help create a better business environment in the area.
"I think a lot of people don't understand where we play a role. It's not economic development that creates jobs," says Lassaline-Berglund. "It's businesses that create jobs, and our role is to make sure we facilitate a good business environment."
Heather Gregg of Workforce Windsor-Essex says the survey should show trends.
"Is the same thing happening with small business as large business? Are the same things happening sector to sector? And, what challenges does that present and what larger conversations need to happen following that analysis," says Gregg.
