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.
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
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?
Engaging Across Generations
Facilitated by Sandra Reder, CPC
Who are the Gen Y’s, X’s, Boomers and Traditionalists? Learn how to work across diversity to promote collaboration, engagement, retention, and optimization of resources. Explore communication strategies working for different types of organizations and leave with realistic practices you can use to engage and retain a multi-generational workforce in a flourishing workplace. Register at cstudies.ubc.ca/wellness or call 604-822-5042
The Legalist reminds us that competent HR staff members can add value to companies, protect employers from lawsuits and cut costs in the long run.
My practice frequently involves helping companies with actual or potential claims against or from former employees. Unfortunately for these clients, by the time a claim arises, their options are limited to “damage control,” — essentially just controlling the costs and consequences.
X, Y and Boom! Will inter-generational tensions blow up in the workplace, as baby boomers stay on the job? HR Expert Sandra Reder discusses her views on CBC Radio. Listen to the interview…