|
The Best Companies edition of Progress is our annual synthesis of HR-related issues that affect business growth. Every HR expert I have talked to or read about lately cites retention as the No. 1 issue facing business today, with the aging workforce and impending wave of retirements providing the demographic imperative for action. But retention is about much more than hanging on to your talent.
The real issue is engagement and how to get the most out of your people. According to the Conference Board of Canada, in future it is “the quality of people and their engagement [that] will be critical factors in corporate vitality and survival.” In its recent roundup of hot HR issues, the Board warns that corporate strategies that aren't aligned with people strategies are most likely doomed to failure.
We asked some of the region's top employers by reputation why their approaches to such critical issues are unique and exemplary. The 10 Best Companies featured this year, ranging
in size from 20 employees to more than 3,000, find many different ways to engage their workforces. Their stories are inspiring and I would go so far as to suggest that their approaches are quite possibly unique to this part of the world. I say that because the Best Companies'
HR styles are commonly shaped by the communities in which they operate and demonstrate simple neighbourly values such as caring for the well-being of others.
Other Best Company practices are
as basic as—wait for it—listening. As Armour Transportation Systems' Dave Emeno says of his large company's ongoing efforts to retain a small-company feel, “It's not magic, it's just who we are.” To learn how they and other great employers do it, turn to
page 43. |
It's a coincidence that Jim Meek would choose to riff on Gordon Pitts' recent book, The Codfathers, in the same issue of Progress that would include a story about Bayside Power, a Saint John company that is owned by Irving Oil.
On the back page Jim makes the point that the family's legendary reputation
for keeping a low profile seems to be working for them, as the fourth generation of owner-operators continues to demonstrate a knack for strategic acumen in competitive global markets.
With respect to Bayside Power, it's the owners' hands-off approach that is progressive. Bayside is Atlantic Canada's first merchant power plant, but its uniqueness is its management style, which is as far removed from command and control — another characteristic ascribed to the Irvings in Pitts' book —
as you can get. Writer Michelle Porter produces a compelling case study of
the 17-person operation that is variously referred to as a high-involvement,
participatory, or self-directed workplace, depending on whether you are talking to an organizational theorist, an HR consultant, or its non-traditional plant manager, Rainer Malcharek. Whatever you call it, it might just be the workplace of the future.
Not everyone toils in progressive workplaces, however, and in cases like that you've gotta find ways to lighten
up. Writer Paul Grant, who has a PhD
in humour, knows that. The Scottish-born writer is a newcomer to Halifax, and I'm glad he suggested that we meet a few months ago to discuss what we find truly funny. Besides a shared preference for dry British wit, we talked about how humour is an essential part of modern workplace survival. Apparently it's even a growing area of HR con-sulting. Who knew? |
