Another dispatch from the boom-in-progress >
When he was younger, Max Fawcett wanted to make a mint in the markets. Now as the managing editor of Alberta Venture he gets to write about them. Close enough, right? He can be reached at mfawcett@albertaventure.com
Not only are immigrants inclined to become entrepreneurs, they bring an innate selling proposition: the flavour of home >
Lots of business magazines celebrate the biggest companies or richest people. I’m not aware of any other that celebrates regular employees, as Alberta Venture does with its eAwards. The reason we so cherish the people who make the province tick lies in the accompanying feature story. Writer Andrew Nikiforuk tackles what has become without doubt the most vexing problem for business hereabouts, the ever-worsening labour shortage. In the urgency of the situation, employers and governments can’t help but throw money at the problem. Throughout history people have migrated in search of a higher standard of living, and we can offer that. >
There are many solutions being floated to Alberta’s labour crisis, some logical, others more radical. The ultimate fix, just beginning to be spoken in the halls of industry, sounds deceptively obvious: slow down the growth >
Attractive incentives, creative recruiting strategies and unique career development programs are the marks of leading HR practices.
by Will Gibson
Human Resources Practices: Recognizing a company that fosters the healthy commitment of its workforce, through innovative reward practices and the implementation of policies that provide for an enlightened, progressive work environment.
Alberta’s oilsands have proven profitable for companies such as Suncor Energy Inc. But the bitumen sitting below the vast expanse of muskeg in northeastern Alberta remains inconveniently located in terms of access to skilled labour. To solve its labour headaches, Suncor has come up with some innovative solutions to the problem of recruiting employees for its Fort McMurray operation. The company aggressively recruits and trains local residents, specifically targeting aboriginal communities in the area. “We’ve set up a couple of courses at Keyano College designed specifically for aboriginal workers, such as our mine operators” course,” says Don Heath, Suncor’s vice-president of human resources. As a result of setting up these courses over five years ago, aboriginals now account for about 11% of Suncor’s 3,200 workers in Fort McMurray.
In addition to hiring locals, Suncor – ranked as the third Most Respected Corporation in the human resources category – has also made investments to improve life in the city by financially contributing to institutions such as the YMCA and Keyano College. “By making sure amenities are available in Fort McMurray that people have come to expect in other parts of Canada, it will make a more desirable destination for employees,” Heath says. “People have the same expectations, whether they live in Fort McMurray, Toronto or Calgary.”
In addition to employee recruitment, Suncor has succeeded in retaining employees that it wooed to Fort McMurray, where the super-hot economy has put certain trades in high demand. Heath credits performance-based incentive programs, where employees reap the rewards of Suncor�s bottomline success over the long term. “We just finished one that ran from 1997 to 2002, where every employee received a financial reward when the company achieved some very precise and performance metrics,” Heath says. “For our current one, it’s a combination of share price, outperforming the Toronto Stock Exchange and return on capital. Subject to Suncor meeting those targets at the end of 2008, each employee’s shares would vest at a strike price established at the start of the program.”
Keeping skilled professionals is not a problem confined to companies in Fort McMurray, as labour shortages exist across the province and country. PCL Construction Group Inc. has regularly taken the pulse of its employees in order to find ways to improve on-the-job happiness through in-house surveys. “You have to pay real close attention to the needs of your people and we work hard at that,” says CEO Ross Grieve, whose company finished fourth in the human resources category. “We try to react to their feedback and implement new procedures and measures.”
Through its PCL College of Construction, the company also invests heavily in training and career counselling. Established in 1990, the college helps chart out career paths for every PCL employee by providing potential career choices and training. “A young project engineer can sit down with their supervisor and look at a written down career path that outlines the choices of positions available in the company along with the competencies and experience levels that they need in order to advance,” Grieve says.
The company’s investments have paid off, both in terms of employee satisfaction as well as public plaudits, with PCL showing up on prestigious lists such as Mediacorp Canada Inc.’s Canada’s Top 100 Employers and Report on Business magazine’s Best Companies to Work for in Canada.
More important than media accolades, in Grieve’s eyes, is the personal stake that 1,400 of 1,700 salaried employees who are shareholders have in the success of PCL, which expects to hit $3.3 billion in sales for 2004. “These people who are working here are also owners of the company and feel very much a part of the goals and successes and challenges of our organization,” Grieve says. “That’s an important element of our success.”
That same egalitarian spirit is reflected in the incentive package at EnCana Corp., where every employee – from roughnecks on the rig to president and CEO Gwyn Morgan – has the same framework for compensation. “It is highly performance-oriented, with bonuses and other incentives in addition to salary,” says Drude Rimell, EnCana’s executive vice-president for corporate services. “This year, we’ve supplemented or partially replaced stock options with performance share units that will pay out after three years if we do as well as at least half of our competitors in North America.”
The Calgary-based company – which placed fifth in this category – also provides flexibility with its benefits packages so employees can tailor their plans to suit their individual circumstances. That spirit is also reflected in EnCana’s career development programs for employees. While EnCana invests heavily in training, it leaves the decision on individual employees to chart their own path. “People are very much responsible for their own development. It is not something that we deliver to people,” Rimell says. “We provide the tools, environment and opportunity for people to grow on the job and develop their skills and capabilities.”
And the company’s hands-off approach has found favour with employees, who have accorded EnCana high marks on employee satisfaction surveys, something that Rimell attributes to a spirit of self-reliance that is part of both EnCana and Alberta. “It is very much an Alberta value, but it is a culture that I would want to work in, anywhere that I worked,” says Rimell, whose more than 30 years in Alberta have not completely erased her Norwegian accent. “I think we all appreciate being treated like adults and there is a tremendous sense of freedom really.”
Human Resources Practices – Top 5
1. WestJet Airlines Ltd.
2. Syncrude Canada Ltd.
3. Suncor Energy Inc.
4. PCL Construction Group Inc.
5. EnCana Corp.
Alberta’s education system is still reeling from the aftershocks of a labour dispute that pitted teachers against the province and left school boards holding the bag for massive wage increases. >
Favourable settlements early in 2001 don't appear to have set a precedent as the province begins contract negotiations with teachers >
Alberta high-tech firms lost their appetite in 2000. The ferocious hunger for capital and human resources of 1999 was expected to continue, but the needs were satiable, according to the second annual Alberta Technology Report 2000 sponsored by Ernst & Young, TD Bank, Ipsos Reid, CompCanada Atlas and Silicon Valley North.
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