Talent Management: Accelerate in 2017

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Canada is turning 150 in 2017.  Looking back to Canada’s centennial year, 50 years ago, one can only marvel at how much has changed since 1967.  There was no digital technology.  No email; no internet; no cellphones.  There was no truly globalized economy.  White-collar offices operated on a “9 to 5” schedule, and tended to be relatively stable, homogenous, and hierarchical.  Blue-collar workers still dominated the workforce with factories and manufacturing plants often operating three shifts each day.  Career progression was more defined, commonly taking place within a single organization.

The drivers and realities that shape the workplace of today would be unrecognizable to someone magically teleported here from our centennial year.  As business models have changed and technology has begun to dominate, the nature of the workforce itself has altered.  A “non-traditional” workforce now plays an important role in influencing the way in which employers manage talent. Read more

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CANADIAN TERMINATION & SEVERANCE PRACTICES – PART 2

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In our previous blog, we discussed a survey by VF Career Management on Termination & Severance Practices In Canada (2016), which was presented at an event hosted by Verity on September 30, 2016.

In this blog, we will discuss another presentation from that event by guest Speaker Madeleine Loewenberg, co-founder of Loewenberg Psarris Workplace Law LLP.  Madeleine reviewed some of the statutory and case law in Ontario regarding notice of termination and severance pay.  In the process, she also responded to questions from the attendees which reflected specific real-world concerns.  The following are only selected points from Madeleine’s well-considered review of the law. Read more

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Termination & Severance Practices In Canada: Part 1

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While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence about how organizations deal with issues of termination and severance, VF Career Management, Verity’s national partnership, has gone one step further by gathering survey data from over 270 Canadian organizations of varying sizes and involved in all industries: Termination & Severance Practices In Canada (2016).

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Facilitating Knowledge Transfer Across Generations

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Why are so many employers becoming more concerned about effective knowledge transfer?  After all, there have always been retirements within organizations, and employee turnover is nothing new.

Moreover, it has always been the case that much of the institutional “know-how” within organizations is never committed to paper but instead resides within the brains of its most experienced senior staff, who – ideally – pass it on to those who will follow them.  Essentially, that is the definition of knowledge transfer:  training or learning that passes on the knowledge of an organization’s most experienced people.  Read more

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Trends in Employment Termination as Presented by John Carruthers

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While there are basic legal principles that apply to employee termination, the law does not remain static as it is continually being reinterpreted by the courts.

This reality was made clear to those who attended a presentation by John Carruthers which was hosted by Verity this past May: “Remember the Bear: Five New Traps to Avoid in an Employment Termination”. John is a lawyer with Cattanach Hindson Sutton VanVeldhuzen LLP. His practice focuses on litigation, dispute resolution and dispute prevention. Read more

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Blended Outplacement Support Buoyed by Human Touch

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Verity is known for our high-touch, face-to-face approach to career transition, and today’s technological advancements allow for useful supplemental support as well. We invite you to read “Blended Outplacement Support Buoyed by Human Touch” which is written by our fellow VF Career management member, Peter Saulnier. Originally published on HRVOICE.org on May 25, 2016 this article demonstrates VF Career Management’s shared philosophy in all our offices across Canada. It shows the importance of embracing technology, but understanding that to get maximum effect, it is a supplemental tool to face-to-face support – a blended approach!

While technological change has a lengthy history of disrupting the workforce, the scope of our current technologies is facilitating the career transition phase as never before. Read more

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What’s a parent to do? Let your child go it alone in the workplace

With graduation season now in full swing and twentysomethings entering the workforce, and on the heels of our recent Student Job Search Workshop, we thought we’d share a very timely article written by our fellow VF Career Management member, Eileen Dooley. Originally published in the Globe & Mail on May 2, 2016.

Realistic expectations. This seems to be a focal point of many discussions today involving Generation Y and millennials, specifically those entering the life of independent adulthood. These are twentysomethings who want a good paying job, and a great place to live – and all at once.

Today, many parents are involved in their adult child’s life more than ever. They don’t just help them pick a post-secondary school, but do the research for them, and even talk with academic advisers and individual instructors. Some take that to the next step, engaging career coaches to work with their adult child, or talking with friends who may be potential employers. They even scour job boards to find roles for their adult child to apply for. Read more

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Failure is the Flipside of Innovation

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True ingenuity and innovation require organizations and their people to have the courage to fail.  Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”.  To continually fear making mistakes is detrimental to success and progress.

Most of us are comfortable with the notion of experimentation under controlled conditions, “in the lab” where the archetypal great inventor works amongst his or her test tubes, the contents of which sometimes must blow up on the road to producing the perfect formula.  Yet, outside of the science lab or classroom setting, where not every experiment is expected to succeed, people tend to want to avoid the potential for failure. Read more

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Middle Managers – Feeling Stuck With No Place To Go

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Why do many middle managers feel so disconnected and unhappy?  This is an important question for companies to address because middle managers, who may already suffer some prejudice regarding the importance of their role, play an essential part in the success of any organization.

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More than Good Intentions: Resolutions to Keep in 2016

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Despite the fact that many people feel as if September marks the true beginning of a “new year” in the sense of returning with fresh energy to work or to one’s studies after a relaxing summer vacation, January is still the time when people traditionally form new year’s resolutions.

On a personal front, we may resolve to become more fit, to read more “serious” books, to spend more time with family and friends, or to finally clean out the basement. The resolution bug usually hits around January 1st but, with the possible exception of one or two positive new habits which may be formed, by February or March our busy lives overtake our good intentions and it is business as usual once again.

Business as usual may be the preferred option for those of us who would just as soon put off eating more vegetables or going to the gym, but it is not a sound option for any organization that aims to stay on the competitive cutting edge in its field. Business leaders know that good intentions are never enough. Read more

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