Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 August 11, 2014 INSIDE PATRIOTIC PROFITS Canada is a brand that isn't being fully utilized by our homegrown organizations Empty pipelines Few successors are lined up for top roles: Report page 3 The bottom line Sitting on your bottoms is bad for business page 11 A new high score Gamification makes tedious tasks palatable page 12 page 8 Corporate Outplacement Services CMScareers.ca Leaving made Easier HR_Reporter_SmallAd_2014_Layout 1 1 3-day workweek? Credit: Valentin Flauraud (Reuters Mexican telecommunication and retail tycoon Carlos Slim Helu thinks the modern workweek needs an overhaul. He's advocating for a three-day workweek, where employees may need to work longer — possibly 11 hours per day. And the notion of retirement at age 50 or 60 would also disappear, with employees staying on the job until age 70 or 75. Death of 'jobs for life' greatly exaggerated Counter to widely held projections, job stability hits all-time high: CIBC By Liz Bernier It's not what most of us would expect in the wake of a global recession and sluggish economic recovery, but here's the news: Job stability in Canada is stronger than ever. at was the central finding of a CIBC World Markets report, which found there is a 60 per cent chance Canadian workers will stay with an employer after completing their first year on the job. at re- tention rate hit 95 per cent for em- ployees with tenure of five years or longer with the same company — a record high, according to Nick Ex- arhos, co-author of the study and an economist at CIBC in Toronto. "Though it does appear that people are sometimes strug- gling to get jobs, once they enter through those narrower gates, they enter a career that features more stability," he said. "We're finding that the current shifts in the labour market are making the likelihood of maintain- ing employment after getting a job a higher probability." e CIBC report also took a look at wage data, which showed significant discrepancies between high- and low-paid sectors, said Exarhos. "In past recoveries, high-paying industries and low-paying indus- tries — their wages would move in tandem. So there wouldn't be one particular segment of salaries that would accrue all the gains," he said. "In this recovery, however, we're seeing high-paying industries have their wages increase much faster than low-paying industries." Those in high-paying indus- tries, or highly skilled and qualified individuals, are being compensat- ed well — so they have no incen- tive to leave, said Exarhos. "Employers aren't able to find the labour they need so… they're incentivized to keep the workers they have. And the most effec- tive way of doing that is through compensation," he said. "at also spills over into tenure, so if you're being paid well, you're likely to stay in your current role, on the upper end of the spectrum." On the lower end of the skills spectrum, we are seeing a large overhang of unemployed and for- eign competition in certain indus- tries that didn't exist 30 years ago, said Exarhos. "On the lower end of the spec- trum, if there's a lot of people with CONTINUED > pg. 10 'Cyberloafing' not always a negative Surfing the Web could improve employees' concentration and productivity, finds study By Liz Bernier an employee whose screen seems permanently stuck on his Facebook feed can be a significant source of frustration for his man- ager and co-workers. From raised eyebrows to direct discipline, there are often nega- tive repercussions to wasting work time online. But, in small doses, web surf- ing on company time can actu- ally boost concentration on work tasks, according to a study. A university researcher found non-work-related Internet brows- ing — often considered "cyberloaf- ing" — actually replenishes atten- tional resources, enabling greater concentration on work. "We need breaks in our work- day, much like we need to take breaks when driving a long distance," said Brent Coker, lecturer at the University of STILL > pg. 2 Designation war brewing south of border SHRM splits from HRCI, launches 2 new HR designations By Sarah DoBSon DeclarIng that it wants to focus on competency-based cer- tification, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in the United States has unveiled plans to offer its own HR designa- tion. e move is making waves south of the border, with HR pro- fessionals uncertain about their ac- creditation and questions around the certification process overall. As of 2015, SHRM — which has more than 275,000 members in 160 countries — plans to offer the SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) and SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM- SCP). Previously, the association worked with the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) in offering vari- ous HR designations, including the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). SHRM has been working on HR competencies for three years and felt it was important to examine which skills, traits or behaviours distinguish the best HR profession- als, said Robert Carr, SHRM's se- nior vice-president of membership, marketing and external affairs. "As we began to move that pro- cess along, it became evident to us that in order to really get that competency model entrenched in TESTING > pg. 6

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