Why HR Still Matters
Who cares about human resources? Companies have bigger fish to fry right now: cash flow, lowering overhead, rebuilding sales. Right? Wrong. If there’s one thing the response to our Alberta’s Best Workplaces program proves, it’s that employees still matter. Never mind that a significant number of past years’ participants chose not to apply last fall, perhaps fearful of a backlash for grandstanding during a year when there were widespread layoffs. New applicants stepped forward to take their places, such that we were very close to last year’s record of 75 submissions. Moreover, the content of those submissions indicates employers are trying as hard as ever to attract, retain and add value to their workers.
by Michael McCullough
Who cares about human resources? Companies have bigger fish to fry right now: cash flow, lowering overhead, rebuilding sales. Right?
Wrong. If there’s one thing the response to our Alberta’s Best Workplaces program proves, it’s that employees still matter. Never mind that a significant number of past years’ participants chose not to apply last fall, perhaps fearful of a backlash for grandstanding during a year when there were widespread layoffs. New applicants stepped forward to take their places, such that we were very close to last year’s record of 75 submissions. Moreover, the content of those submissions indicates employers are trying as hard as ever to attract, retain and add value to their workers.
With unemployment at a five-year high, though, shouldn’t those things take care of themselves? Aren’t there lots of employees out there to take the place of any ungrateful malcontents on your staff? The fact is there aren’t and the reason relates to the continued mismatch between available and needed skills that plagued Alberta, and Canada for that matter, at the height of the labour shortage. It’s still with us, meaning that there are still jobs that are hard to fill, even while tens of thousands sit at home on EI.
It’s easy to blame governments for failing to prepare young adults entering the workforce for its 21st-century demands, but I believe it goes well beyond that. Alberta has probably the best trades apprenticeship program in the country, but it is undersubscribed. Vocational training of all kinds is hugely subsidized, but (until recently, anyway) it has been hard to attract applicants. Meanwhile, I know a young grad with great marks who recently applied to the completely private-sector Vancouver Film School – annual tuition approximately $40,000 – and was lucky to be accepted. Most aren’t.
Does the country really need that many more film and TV directors? Of course not. It illustrates a prevailing problem where our culture has taught young people to aspire to be an auteur, and nurture creative talents that in all likelihood don’t make the cut, as opposed to settling for unglamorous but stable, well compensated and adaptable careers that the economy really needs. Maybe a loose job market for a few years will help pop that bubble.
Employers themselves have a role to play too, in giving meaning to the jobs they provide and investing in employee training. After all, how many of the skills you use today were learned in grade school or post-secondary? I know information technology managers who studied marine biology in university. Almost all of our applied hard and soft skills come, unwittingly or not, on the job. So it is employers, not governments – I personally feel governments should concern themselves more with creating good citizens than good workers – that need to shoulder more of the burden of setting that skills mismatch aright.
The winners and finalists of Alberta’s Best Workplaces have taken up that challenge. We all could learn from them.
Publisher’s Note
by Ruth Kelly
One of the most significant rewards that I have garnered from publishing Alberta Venture is the opportunity to work with gifted, intelligent, thoughtful individuals. And one of the hardest things I have to do is to say good-bye to them.
Michael McCullough has served as editor of Alberta Venture since June of 2005. He has been instrumental in the success of the magazine and through it, I believe he has brought value to the entire business community. Mike and his family are returning to Vancouver where he will serve as western bureau chief for Canadian Business magazine. His tenure at Alberta Venture has given him unique insight into Alberta’s role in the Canadian economy and I am confident that we will see that perspective more fulsomely presented in the national magazine. While I am very sorry to see Mike leave our fold, I am grateful for the time we have worked together and deeply appreciate the outstanding contributions that he has made at Venture Publishing.
Next month, this space will be filled by Paul Marck, the new editor of Alberta Venture. Paul is one of Alberta’s most respected business journalists and I know he is looking forward to building upon the platform created by Mike and his team. Feel free to send him a welcome note – I know he is looking forward to hearing from Alberta Venture’s more than 160,000 readers (though perhaps not all at once).
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