May 02nd, 2013
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.
April 30th, 2013
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.
Author: Dawn Longshaw, Managing Director Professional Recruitment
October 15th, 2012
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.
June 26th, 2012
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
August 16th, 2011
Hiring authorities often say that hiring the top performers is at best a 50/50 chance.
When job descriptions are written they usually list requirements for years of experience, education, industry of experience, functional skills and personality traits in addition to outlining the duties to be performed, in essence – creating a template for ‘experience based’ hiring. Read more
June 23rd, 2011
More importantly whose fault is it? Sound familiar…if it does you are not alone!
One of our clients is fighting to change a culture of creating vague expectations, not measuring performance and not holding people accountable. Trying to make this shift feels like trying to move a glacier with a toothpick! Their biggest challenge is that the business owner is taking over from his father and has inherited a culture of acceptance “as long as you are not costing the business money you’re ok”.
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May 03rd, 2011
It’s not enough to find the right candidate; you must be able to land them. If you consider all of the costs involved in recruitment – not just in physically replacing an individual (out of pocket costs) but also those of lost productivity – it makes sense that once you find someone, you will want to up your odds of being able to make them part of your organization.
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April 20th, 2011
I am working with three clients in very different sectors all of them struggling to figure out the answer to the same question… ‘in order to achieve our long term strategy we need to figure out who to promote and who’s already in the right ‘seat on the bus’.
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March 22nd, 2011
Third party recruiting is as old as business itself and during good times recruitment firms flourish along with the economy and during bad times, they regroup and restructure just like the businesses they serve. At times there seems to be thousands of them competing for an opportunity to fill an open position.
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February 25th, 2011
Recently I had a conversation with one of our consultants about the issue of “Succession Planning” and how critical this is becoming for organizations with the commencement of the retirement of the “Baby Boomers”.
We talked at length about how many organizations are ill-prepared for the major void that will be left when their key senior people start to retire. The following is an excerpt from a Wikipedia article I read recently about succession planning and I thought you might find it interesting.
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