Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR august 11, 2014 10 ExECUTIvE SERIES/NEwS similar skill sets (who are) unem- ployed, and foreign competition, you probably won't be able to find a job quickly if you quit the cur- rent one." Although those on the lower end of the skills spectrum aren't seeing their wages pick up much, they still have an incentive to hold on to their jobs, said Exarhos — once they hit the unemployment line, chances are they might stay there for a long time. "If we just look at the share of people who are unemployed for over 27 weeks, that's been hard to drive down. People are staying unemployed for longer," he said. e looming threat of unem- ployment is made even more dire by the fear there just aren't many good jobs out there, said Jim Stan- ford, an economist at Unifor in Toronto. "e authors interpret the in- creasing inertia of those with work as a sign of a boring, stable labour market. I interpret the same data in another, less benign way — the high retention rates for those who are lucky enough to have a permanent job is a sign of continued fear and insecurity, not stability," he said. "If you have a job and you look around at the labour market and see an absence of good alterna- tives (not to mention hundreds of thousands of desperate people who can't find work at all), then you are all the more likely to hang onto your job." is insecurity and polarization in the labour market inhibits flex- ibility and mobility, said Stanford, adding it is an economic outcome of a labour market marked by chronic weak demand. "e problem is not a mismatch between the unemployed and un- filled vacancies. e problem is a shortage of jobs that is getting worse, not better," said Stanford. "In a truly tight labour market, employers will snatch up avail- able workers and offer them both training and job stability. ere is no sign of that happening." GeNeraTIoN GaP do millennials want 'jobs for life?' An interesting question sparked by the CIBC report is whether "jobs for life" is even on the radar for millennial workers. As a generational cohort, millennials have been accused more than once of "job hopping" or frequently changing employers. But is that a fair assessment? "In terms of, more broadly, the social question of whether jobs for life is what people want… in the frenzy of the 2000s, (people) saw the job as a transaction," said Sharon Irwin Foulon, executive director of career management and corporate recruiting at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ont. "It was sort of like the early days of dating, where it was, 'get in, get out,' that was supposed to be good for your resumé — the more firms you had on it, the better. "I'm not sure that it's like that anymore because there seems to be more discussion on the idea of fit — on both sides of the equation." Younger jobseekers in the professional sphere are beginning to pay more attention to concepts such as organizational fit and culture, she said. "What I find interesting in thinking about this is when I was talking to students (doing their MBAs)… the number of them that are asking questions about fit and firm culture feels like it's on rapid fire right now where, I would argue, five years ago, 10 years ago, they just wanted to know what they'd be doing on a day-by-day basis," she said. "So (it's) the idea that, at the end of the day, this is a relationship and you're going into it with good faith and good intentions. And I think the jobs for life part of that is the recognition and retention. You do a good job for your employer, they reward you, they promote you, they give you new opportunities to stretch — that's the piece that I think jobseekers… are looking for." 'Continued fear, insecurity' JOB STABILITY < pg. 1 Why not? Some experts specu- late it's because these managers don't see the need. As in the "boiling a frog" anec- dote, Canada's business managers have become so complacent that soon it will be too late. ey, and their companies, will be cooked. One only has to contact the customer service department of a company in the U.S. and then do the same with one in Canada to grasp the gap. So, what's to be done? First off, management's performance criteria and compensation must be firmly based on productivity gains. eir objectives have to be clearly defined and management must commit to them. how they achieve them is their responsibility. And if they don't suc- ceed, they are clearly not managers (yet) and should be dealt with im- mediately and appropriately. next, as harold Geneen, former Chairman of Itt, said: "Manage- ment must manage!" how many of our "managers" today spend their entire day truly managing? Lastly, to all you managers: Fill every position with competent players. Clearly articulate the game plan and commit all to the rule book. equip the team with the right gear. train, train and train them some more. en, get out there and play to win. Morgan Smyth is an SCNetwork thought leader and a change management con- sultant who launched his own IT services company which soared to Profit Maga- zine's 50 Fastest Growing Companies. He is based in Toronto and can be reached at msmyth@braegen.com. Truly manage pLAY TO wIN < pg. 9 It's time for Canadian companies to start rethinking their game DoUg WIllIamSon has a compelling message for Canadian business leaders: Canada is falling behind in global mar- kets and is at risk of becoming irrelevant. Conversely, other small countries, such as germany, Denmark, Hungary and new Zealand, are achieving new and continued growth as well as increased job creation. Is it possible Canadian business has become complacent in relying on america for 77 per cent of our trade? Have our abundant natu- ral resources lulled us into a false sense of wealth? are Canadian leaders more conservative, traditional and risk-averse than we want to admit? How can business leaders turn this dismal scenario around and create a strong global presence for Canadian business? e inspiration may be found in a global phenomenon that hermann Simon started to research in the late 1980s where he established that unfamiliar, mid-size, world mar- ket leaders were highly successful in niche global markets — despite economic instability. Simon found these highly innovative, global com- panies, which he called "hidden champions," in just about every type of industry. Statistics confirm there are about 2,800 hidden champions worldwide, with almost one-half from Germany. even more remarkable is these com- panies account for about 25 per cent of German exports and created one million new jobs over 10 years. Is there an underlying message that bigger is not necessarily better or more successful? how does this have an impact if Canadians believe small to mid-size companies are our future for economic growth, stability and job creation? Question — how many mid-size Canadian companies can boast of a 60 per cent global market share or take pride in being the only provider of a specific service around the world? If, as a Canadian business leader, you are still wondering how this is relevant to your business, are you aware of Simon's findings on the power behind hidden champions? ese market leaders see the glob- al market as an open opportunity to systematically grow their market. Could it be their leaders only antici- pate boundless growth? I wonder how their outlook may differ from ours. What's different about their vision and strategies compared to those of our business leaders? What can Canada's leaders learn from them? ere are a few key practices that hidden champions appear to have in common that Canadian business leaders may find worthy of exploring and adopting. One practice that de- viates from north American prac- tices is outsourcing. hidden champions consider their superior quality and uniqueness to be core competencies and, conse- quently, only outsource non-core competencies. Second is their strength and profound commitment to innova- tion. how many times do we hear Canadian leaders asking for greater innovation? Would it surprise you to learn hidden champions report- edly spend twice as much on R&D compared to the average industrial company? Moreover, hidden cham- pions report five times more patents per employee than patent-intensive large corporations. An outstanding customer-centric focus can be considered a third key strength. typically, large compa- nies indicate that employees have between five and 10 per cent regu- lar customer contacts. For hidden champions, however, their employ- ees have regular customer contacts 25 to 50 per cent of the time and expressly with their top customers. Also deserving serious attention is their track record for having a highly qualified workforce along with extremely low turnover and high retention rates. Compare the hid- den champions' statistics to north America, where Simon reports that over a 10-year period, these cham- pions have more than doubled their university graduates intake and have more women in top positions than larger companies. As for turnover, their rates are less than three per cent annually — meanwhile, north America averag- es around 30 per cent. Additionally, they accredit the intellectual power of their employees to their four-fold strategy for creating competitive ad- vantages which are product quality, advice, systems integration and ease of use. Last but not least is their view- point of leadership, which Wil- liamson succinctly articulated. In his words, the three critical and universal leadership competencies that differentiate hidden champions from everyone else are: contextual intelligence, strategic intelligence and decision-making intelligence. hidden champions are proof of the importance of small and mid- sized companies to a country's economic stability in a time when global growth continues to be the challenge. Canadian leaders have an opportunity to be highly innovative, profitable, global market leaders in every type of industry. If we want to be a recognized global brand for superior product excellence, irrefutable customer- centric focus and continuous invest- ment in innovation, then our leaders need to start doing things differently. Trish Maguire is a commentator for SCNetwork on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership develop- ment coaching. She has held senior leadership roles in HR and OD in education, manufacturing and entre- preneurial firms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. trish Maguire Leadership in action hidden champions are proof of the importance of small and mid-sized companies to economic stability in a time when global growth is a challenge.

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