Daryl-Lynn Carlson, Financial Post
Taking a year off work to travel, staying home on Wednesdays or requesting
special terms of employment in a contract before accepting a job are
becoming
real options for employees as the North American labour shortage grows.
Already for some types of professionals, workplaces are beginning to make
significant concessions to keep good ones on board in a market where there's
more choice of jobs than ever.
"The whole paradigm has shifted," observes Janice Rubin, a Toronto-based
employment lawyer at Rubin
Thomlinson LLP. "It is soon going to be a requirement for businesses, in
order to be competitive, to accommodate
employee needs and flexibility."
That includes a range of concessions that contradict the traditional notion
of work, Ms. Rubin says. "These are
things they're not entirely comfortable with," she says of employers.
Ms. Rubin points to advertising campaigns some companies have launched to
"brand" their organizations as great
places to work.
But that 's not going to be enough. "Employers are going to have to get
beyond that," she says.
"To be absolutely competitive, they'll need to focus on a workplace culture
and have a strategic human resource
initiative to build a better workplace with policies that will have to come
alive."
The new and prosperous workplace on the horizon will have a positive work
culture complete with diligent recourse
for bad behaviour such as harassment and discrimination, Ms. Rubin says.
It will accommodate workers who want employment flexibility, such as
attendance on a per-project basis or taking
time off for family.
"Family responsibilities these days are not just accommodating children, but
elderly or ailing parents as well," Ms.
Rubin says.
Presented by
Kaz Khara for National Post
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Employment contracts will also have to be more flexible. "There are
provisions that typically are used such as a
non-competition clause that limits activities should the employee leave or
maybe a rigid probation period that, with
employees having more power, they are able to just say 'no thanks.'
Employers are going to find that with those
types of golden-oldie chestnuts, the best employee might not be prepared to
sign on the dotted line."
Graham Lowe, a psychologist and president of The Graham Lowe Group workplace
consultancy, says Baby
Boomers currently have the most leverage in the workplace as they choose to
remain employed into their
retirement years.
"What older workers are looking for is working for a few months and then
taking time off. "So we're looking at a
much more customized approach to work arrangements," he says.
Large organizations are more able to accommodate such requests; the federal
government, Canada's largest
employer, already has a policy in place to hold open a job if an employee
wants to leave for up to one year, Mr.
Lowe says.
"That kind of flexibility is very difficult for a company with just 50
employees."
Mr. Lowe, who is based in Kelowna, B.C., but advises employers across the
country, says some workplaces are
responding to employee requests on an individual basis, although that can
raise issues about fairness throughout
the organization and is also time-consuming.
Workplaces will inevitably have to consider more sweeping revisions to their
policies, he says. "The flexibility that
both younger and older workers are looking for is challenging the very
concept of a job."
Dwayne Chomyn, an employment lawyer with Neuman Thompson in Edmonton, says
organizations in Alberta
competing for personnel have begun investing creatively in their retention.
Companies large and small are providing retention bonuses, which can amount
to a few dollars hourly in a pay
raise for a six-month commitment at a retail business, to a lump sum bonus
of nearly $100,000 for five years of
service with an oil project.
Moreover, he says, employers are investing in the community, providing
grants to top employees to donate to their
local hockey league, days off to volunteer at a charity or outright funding
the construction of an entire sports
facility.
"In some towns north of here, they have facilities we in Edmonton can just
dream of," Mr. Chomyn says. "It's a very
calculated business strategy but also one that fundamentally speaks to
community values.
They realize whether you're an engineer or heavy hauler operator, you don't
want your children hanging out in the
shopping mall. It's easier to build hockey arenas than jails.
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"Employers are beginning to recognize that money will get people in the
door. But once they're in, retention is
difficult. A good wage rate will not keep them happy and productive. They
find they have to appeal to a higher
purpose."
The trend empowering employees is exactly the message human resource
professionals have been touting to
employers for some time, says Lynn Palmer, chief executive of the Canadian
Council of Human Resource
Associations.
"People are looking for choice and a better environment," Ms. Palmer says.
"They want employers that will
accommodate that, help them learn and achieve something for themselves
rather than just produce for the
organization.
It's not one size fits all and it's not just about money, she says. "These
are things we've been talking about for a long
time but their relevance has increased."
While some employers are embracing the new workplace thinking, it needs to
permeate all levels of management; it
will be particularly challenging for companies rife with old-school managers
strict about clock-punching and timing
people's breaks until the organization's financial performance suffers, Ms.
Palmer says.
"This is not touchy-feely, conceptual stuff, it's about a business outcome.
Those who focus on their employees and
their customers will do better overall in terms of their investment."
