Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 21, 2014 April 21, 2014 NEWS NEWS 3 SPONSORED BY: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT isn't a new concept in HR circles, but it's profi le is growing and more C-suite professionals are jumping on the bandwagon. That may be because engagement has been called a "wonder drug" for customer service, and fi rms with higher engagement scores outperform competitors. Todd Humber, Canadian HR Reporter's managing editor, moderated a special roundtable discussion on employee engagement with a wide-ranging conversation that included: r)PXFNQMPZFSTBSFNFBTVSJOHFOHBHFNFOU r5BDUJDTUPCVJMEFOHBHFNFOU and pitfalls to avoid. r)PXFOHBHFNFOUJNQSPWFTDVTUPNFS service and the bottom line. r)PXUPFOTVSFFOHBHFNFOUQSPHSBNT are delivered consistently by front-line managers across an organization. r)PXUPFOTVSFFOHBHFQSPHSBNTDBO survive tough economic climates. PANELISTS Tammy Van Eck, Director, HR Business Partnering at Shoppers Drug Mart David Wexler, Vice-President, Human Resources at FreshBooks Heather Wyllie, Director, People Development, Cara Operations Ltd. David Bird, Senior Vice-President, Operations at Delta Hotels Jennifer Trant, General Manager, Financial Services, Aimia Ian Hendry, Vice-President, Human Resources and Administration, Interac and president of the Strategic Capability Network. Canadian HR Reporter presents an exclusive roundtable on employee engagement's impact on the customer experience Welcome to the future working world Welcome to the future working world Students imagine school-like workplace, 'telepathy' in Focus 2040 competition Students imagine school-like workplace, 'telepathy' in Focus 2040 competition BY LIZ BERNIER NE ARTELEPATHIC com- munication, robotic arms and a workplace that's more like a uni- versity — these are just a few of the trends we can expect to see in the workplace of 2040, according to the winners of this year's Focus 2040 student competition. Created through a partnership between the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and the Strategic Capabilities Net- work, the competition asks stu- dents to imagine the workplace of the future. "(It's) focused on the idea of having students envision what the world of work will look like in the year 2040, and to think through what the implications of that vi- sion might be for employers and for their employees," said Rick Hackett, a professor at McMas- ter University in Hamilton and Canada research chair in orga- nizational behaviour and human performance. ere are three phases to the competition: Phase one is a writ- ten essay, after which the top 20 students are selected for phase two. Phase three narrows it down to 10 fi nallists and involves an oral presentation before a panel of judges, said Hackett, who was faculty advisor to the competi- tion's student organizers. It's quite a useful exercise for the students who can potentially land themselves an internship with one of the competition's sponsors — but the contest can be invaluable for employers as well, said Hackett. "Business organizations can benefi t from that perspective and get some really unique, creative ideas as to what the future might look like, which may help them with their own planning," he said. "But secondly, and more imme- diately, a number of our sponsors off er summer internships — and they really like the idea that they have fi rst-hand access to the 10 fi nallists." 'More like school, less like work' So what were some of the cre- ative ideas employers may even incorporate into their own busi- ness plans? One was that the workplace model will evolve to be "more like school, less like work," according to Matthew Armellin and Nadine Shantz of McMaster University, who won fi rst place in the contest. "Going into 2040, generation Y is going to be very educated. A lot of them are going to have univer- sity degrees, they're going to have master's degrees — what do they value in school that can translate into the workforce of 2040?" asked Armellin. "For example, autonomy. Stu- dents go to school for maybe 10, 15 hours a week. e rest of the time, they have the fl exibility to do their work where they want, when they want. So in the work- force, (this will mean) giving em- ployees a due date but giving them the fl exibility to do the work when they want — as opposed to a nine- to-fi ve, structured workday." Company-sponsored housing — similar to university-style "resi- dences" — will also be an emerg- ing trend, said Armellin. "A lot of the larger companies, maybe in downtown Toronto, may purchase condos or resi- dence-style buildings, like school. But it will serve the purpose of attracting young workers to the company. ey might not be so focused on buying that house right when they get out of school," he said. Social networking will also have a major impact, said Shan- tz — fi nding a job will be less about physical resumés and more about networking and personal branding. "People (will be) their own brand. So instead of Sam, who would currently be known for working for company XYZ, he's going to be 'Sam, the information technology manager.' He has all of these credentials and he belongs to these associations, and this is who he is and who he's really built himself to be, instead of just this person who works for a company," she said. "We also talked about how the resumé is going to be disappear- ing — how it's really about net- working and building those con- nections and fi nding out about opportunities through those networks." A strong focus on health and well-being will also be important, as will a trend away from health risks such as shift work, said Shantz. "Eliminating things like shift work — right now people might think that's crazy, especially with globalization and staying com- petitive — but it's going to cost companies so much money with the side-eff ects and negative im- pacts it's causing that it's actually going to actually outweigh the (benefi ts)," she said. Obviously, there are going to be some fi elds where shift work is necessary, such as health care, said Armellin. "But we're starting to really re- alize the eff ects of shift work and the damaging eff ects that it can have for people in terms of psy- chological health, sleep sched- ules… so we're predicting a shift away from that." Technologically savvy e workplace structure isn't the only thing that will see dramatic changes — so will the technology, said Naureen Qazi Mushfi que, an MBA student at Lakehead Uni- versity in under Bay, Ont., and the second-place winner. New communication tools will revolutionize the way organiza- tions and individual employees transmit information, said Mush- fi que, who off ered specifi c exam- ples of some of these tools. "One of them was 'telepathy' — and I don't mean telepathy in that you look at someone and you know what they're thinking. It was based on this thing called Telepa- thy One that's being created right now. It's very similar to Google Glass but much more advanced, which kind of lets you integrate all your networking-based or computer-based applications and software, and it lets you commu- nicate," she said. "I predicted that it would be used to open up a lot of communication SURVIVING > pg. 6

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