This one-day event will be held on May 28th at the Roundhouse in Vancouver, and the theme is “From Workplace Tension to Intergenerational Collaboration”. Participants will walk away with strategies and insights for solving and managing intergenerational workplace tensions. Panelist members include innovators and change makers like James Palmer, VP Marketing & Sales at Great Little Box Co. (recently highlighted in Globe and Mail), Lynell Anderson, Senior Researcher at UBC and team member of Gen Squeeze, Iglika Ivanova of the Canadian Centre for Policy initiatives, and more.
Last year’s attendees included Coast Capital Savings, City of Burnaby, University of British Columbia, Sentis Research, Grant Thorton, Worksafe BC, Right Management, Simon Fraser University, Service Canada and many more.
You’ll meet like-minded individuals who are facing similar issues with intergenerational tensions in the workplace and are currently seeking solutions. The organizing committee has curated a list of case study topics with the intent of addressing some of the most pressing and pertinent generational issues affecting diverse workplaces today, as well as the career trajectories/decisions of each generation. These issues have been categorized into 5 themes – Attraction, Recruitment & Hiring, Engaging & Retaining, Succession Planning and Transitioning. The conference day will all be documented by various mediums including note-taking, graphic recording, photography and videography to create the ultimate takeaway package that all participants will be able to apply to their own individual workplaces.
Ever wonder why some people get ahead and others don’t? Who’s managing your career? Just as your company judges your performance on a regular basis, you need to scrutinize your company to make sure your career is on track and your employer is providing the tools you need to do a good job and learn new skills. It’s in your best interest to ask not only what you are doing for your company but also what your company is doing for you. Here are some questions that may help you evaluate your employer:
- Do you know where you want to go? Continually assess what you are doing now that meets your needs and what you want to be doing one, three and five years from now. Put together a list of goals as well as the skills and experience you will need to achieve them. then make your plans known to those who have authority and power.
- Does your company offer career guidance? Ideal employers nurture their employees’ careers and go out of their way to make sure they know it. When was the last time someone with influence gave you an honest assessment of your prospects? Ask them specifically where they see you in 2 and 5 years and what you can do to get there.
- Does your company encourage career development? Think about whether you get the kinds of assignments, equipment and training that will keep your skills sharp and make you attractive to another employer if you’re laid off or you choose to move on. If appropriate training programs are available, have you been encouraged to apply?
- Does your company offer equal opportunities and challenges? Are you getting visible assignments, in on key meetings, getting the kinds of things that build a broad track record such as participating in start-ups, new product launches, foreign postings? If you haven’t been given developmental assignments, ask your boss if there are any in your future and what you need to do to get them.
- Is your company or division financially fit? A career that’s humming along can easily be derailed by financial setbacks in your industry. Stay tuned for news of mergers or buyouts – pay attention to your company’s bottom line, announcements of cost-control measures or initiatives aimed at re-engineering are often harbingers of lay-offs.
- If you are a woman, how far can you go with your company? Sad to say, even in today’s employment world no matter what your company’s policies say, the best reality check is a look around. Count the women in senior management and consider what titles they hold and the scope of their responsibilities.
- Does your company allow you to balance your professional and personal needs? Weigh factors that might effect balance in your life: Are you satisfied with company policies on vacation, sick leave, overtime, parental/maternity leave? Is it worth it to continually work 10 hour days and 6 day weeks? Are returning mothers taken as seriously as they were pre-pregnancy?
- Are you happy? When bottom line issues have restricted salaries and bonuses, other forms of compensation have become more important. Does your work environment resemble a dysfunctional family, or is the atmosphere crisis ridden?
- What if your company fails this review? Focus on what needs to be addressed even if that means changing jobs. At worst you will detect early signs of an imminent downsizing and determine whether you could be a target. Bear in mind however, that what bothers you at your current job may be typical of your industry so compare what you’ve got with what you are likely to get.
If your company does earn high marks, you can carry on with renewed enthusiasm, knowing that you’re in the right workplace.
With so many generations in one workplace, the office petri dish is rife with conflict and resentment.
BY PAUL LUKE, THE PROVINCE
An alarm rang in Jennifer Gerves-Keen’s head as she heard another tale of different generations in the workplace messing each other up.
A woman from a Vancouver law firm was telling Gerves-Keen, an organizational coach and consultant, how her company’s succession plan had gone off the rails.
In what seemed to be a sensible approach, younger lawyers were to be groomed to become law firm partners to take over as boomer bosses retired. But there was a problem – the youngsters weren’t putting their hands up.
“They could not find younger lawyers who wanted to go on the partner track,” says Gerves-Keen, a Richmond-based trainer who works with organizations across Canada. “They literally had no candidates.”
The woman sharing this workplace crisis, a human resources manager, was worried. She even wondered if the firm could survive if no one wanted those jobs.
Gerves-Keen suspected that the firm’s young lawyers were ambitious but had rejected the rigours of a partnership model created by older generations. Being a boss beset by time-sucking demands may not have promised the work-life balance the younger generation wants, she thought. Read more
While people have always used social networks to find jobs through referrals, the move online has changed the recruitment process considerably. Social media in particular, connects organizations with vast networks of people across a wide range of industry sectors and companies.
It starts with the bigger question – why are they doing what they’re doing? It’s not about providing pool tables, yoga classes or funky offices. While these may be indicative of your corporate culture, this is not what ultimately engages your employees.
Dawn Longshaw, Managing Director, Professional Recruitment at Vertical Bridge Corporate Consulting will participate on an all-star panel, moderated by UBC Journalism professor and CBC radio host Kathryn Gretsinger in a no-holds-barred discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing higher education in the 21st Century.
Presented by McGill University, the Passport to the Future Tour is a unique series of events taking place in McGill’s key alumni cities around the world. Each event features a panel discussion with experts from the academic, business and technology fields exploring some of the key issues transforming teaching and learning. The Vancouver panelists will discuss what role universities can play in helping students tackle real-world problems, how to find the best balance between book-smart and streetwise learning in the 21st century, how technology is impacting how we teach and learn, and the struggles universities face in finding new sources of funding.
We are pleased to partner with the BC Human Resources Association and the Burnaby Board of Trade for this first ever HR Cafe event for small to medium sized businesses. Come and meet with 7 of our HR experts and talk to them about such topics as succession planning, how to better utilize social media when recruiting, corporate culture and more. Click here to learn more about this event or to register.
Vertical Bridge announces Canadian market rights for PeopleAssistant HR software. An innovative tool that in addition to providing complete HR management capabilities has the unique advantage of tying corporate strategy to individual performance. Read Article
In this CBC Radio interview Sandra Reder discusses the positives and negatives associated with being “perpetually connected”. Is technology really making our lives better?