Recently, a BC Stats report developed by Statistics Canada stated that “Despite recent economic downturns across the country and around the world, British Columbia’s small-business owners continue to report relatively high expectations for the future.
“The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reports that business confidence in British Columbia is higher than the Canadian average and above that of several other provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, which have the country’s two largest provincial economies.”
Is it any wonder that Canadians are looking toward the business practices espoused by the province’s best?
The Workforce Consultants surveyed businesses in Vancouver and the surrounding area to determine exactly which “people practices” and human resource strategies bring an organization to the top of its game. Organizational participants included Elastic Path Software Inc., Coastal Contacts Inc., Annex Consulting Group Inc., Disc-Go-Technologies Inc., WebTech Wireless Inc. and Peer 1 Network Enterprises Inc., among others.
When probed to disclose their robust “people practices,” clear winning themes emerged. A full 84% indicated that their “understanding of how each section of the business relates” was either “very good” or “excellent” – the four- and five-point rankings on a five-point scale.
Remarkably, 100% of respondents also indicated that “the ability to realize the implications of HR interventions” was “very good” or “excellent.” What these results indicate is a willingness to develop and hone systems thinking and knowledge across the various business functions.
As the COO of Annex Consulting Group, a Vancouver-based company that provides high-quality IT solutions, Tom Dutta has 25 years of HR experience and also sits on the executive, helping to shape the strategy and direction of the company. It seems that greater alignment and integration across business sections will produce desirable results.
Organizational development and change management also seems to contribute to success. Over 80% of organizations indicated that their “understanding of organizational goals and organizational culture” were “very good” or “excellent.”
Reasonably, this finding suggests that the further removed you are from your organization, the more difficult it will be to grow and manage change.
To better enable growth and successfully handle change, Warren Wong, vice-president and chief talent officer with Elastic Path Software, has worked with the management team to develop a talent strategy. Their approach includes numerous aspects of “talent organization, talent cultivation, talent acquisition and talent retention.”
His concern around the shortage and scarcity of workers is well founded. The Canadian Occupational Projection System BC report developed by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development (in partnership with Service Canada) maintains that “876,400 job openings are expected to be created in the B.C. labour market over the 10-year period from 2007 to 2017. Over 60% (or 546,500) of [this] projected growth will be accounted for by replacement demand due to permanent attrition.”
Within the high-tech industry this shortage is intensified as the BC Stats report reveals that “in terms of GDP, the high-tech sector continues to grow faster than the rest of the economy. Its share of GDP has risen to more than 6%, up from less than 4% in 1997.”
Unsurprisingly, two of the three fastest-growing industries (i.e., business services and computer system design) are related to the high-tech sector.
The other notable findings from the Workforce Consultants survey concerns responses surrounding “interpersonal relationship building and collaboration.” Over 80% of organizations indicated having “an understanding of the goals and objectives of other people,” “an understanding of the informal structure of the organization” and “the ability to respect the values of others.”
Increased awareness will be required within this area given that in recent years, immigration, especially from Asia, has been a major source of population growth, according to BC Stats. “As a result, the Vancouver area, along with other parts of the province, is becoming more culturally and ethnically diverse,” the organization said.