Vishal Mittal says upskilling, people practices will help aquarium thrive amid employee challenges
Looking back on his career in HR, Vishal Mittal says his proudest moment is when he moved with his family from India to Canada in 2019.
He had originally pursued an MBA specializing in human resources management back in India, having realized that every business problem has a people problem connected to it, so unless you solve the people problem, you can’t solve business problems.
And Mittal was successful in HR, working for a couple of employers — until Canada beckoned.
“I was at the top of my profession back in India, leading HR for a medium-sized enterprise for more than five years. And, before that, I led HR for a TV channel, which is one of the most popular TV channels in India.”
But he was running out of challenges.
“I thought to myself: ‘What is it that is going to motivate me further to continue in this profession?’ And I thought, ‘Let's see a different geography and see if things change.’”
However, Mittal was determined not to shift countries unless he found a job in the HR field.
“I see a lot of immigrants coming to the country doing jobs that they don't intend to do long term. I intended to do HR in the long term.”
That meant he undertook three trips to Canada in 2018, networking and giving interviews. And his persistence paid off, as he landed a job at BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA).
“That's when I decided to actually move with family to a different country.”
Joining Vancouver Aquarium
Talk about challenges – Mittal became director of HR at the Vancouver Aquarium in May 2021 after two years at the BCFSA. Why? For one, the tourism spot had been closed for almost 18 months due to the COVID pandemic and was almost near bankruptcy, he says.
But in April 2021, Herschend Enterprises, a U.S.-based tourism company, had acquired the aquarium.
“I saw that as a great opportunity, because I knew that the aquarium is going to be in startup mode, and there'll be a lot of ramping up — there'll be new processes that will need to be built, new teams that will need to be established,” says Mittal.
“I like those kinds of challenges, where you get a blank canvas to paint on, and you can paint it the way you want, and build culture the way you want.”
Of course, this also means adapting good practices from the parent company, and then molding the organization culturally the way you like, he says.
“I don't regret the decision. It's been an amazing, amazing almost four years now with the aquarium.”
Changing immigration rules
Also a challenge, and a priority at the aquarium? Changing immigration rules. As of Jan. 1, 2025, only spouses of certain international students and foreign workers can apply for a family open work permit (OWP).
In addition, the foreign worker must have at least 16 months remaining on their work permit when their spouse applies for the OWP. Dependent children of foreign workers are longer eligible.
About 30% of the aquarium staff are on short-term contracts based on open work permits and some closed work permits, says Mittal, plus there are a lot of people on post-graduate work permits.
“[That means] we are ending up actually losing a lot of people because they cannot renew their work permits and they're having to go back to their home countries,” he says.
“It’ll be tricky but… one of the things that we will focus on is to try and develop skills in our existing workforce who are permanent with us, and making sure that we do not face the shortage of staff in the next two years.”
Managing volunteers ‘more difficult’
The Vancouver Aquarium also has about 300 employees, along with more than 200 volunteers, says Mittal – and that’s a whole different kind of challenge.
“It is very difficult to motivate people who do not work for you for money. That's an easy motivator — intrinsically, people get motivated by money, and when they are not working for money, it is a challenge to actually find things that will keep them engaged, that will keep them retained with the organization.”
“Understanding what motivates them is a challenge,” says Mittal, calling the engagement of volunteers “more difficult.”
What might help is the aquarium is focusing on promoting its HR capabilities.
“Why do we have great HR and people practices, but no one's talking about them so much?” says Mittal. “One of my key priorities for myself and my team is to go out there in the market and tell people about the great culture that we are building here and the great organization that we're building.”
