Firms see an opportunity to invest in HR

The Calgary Herald
April 27, 2009
By Derek Sankey 

Roger Jewett of Twist Marketing and A Fresh Approach believes that investing in the workforce now will help companies be better positioned for success in the short and long term. Photograph by: Paula Trotter for Canwest News Service
 

As Roger Jewett travels between Edmonton and Calgary to speak with corporate clients, he sees the way some companies are failing to make the most of their workforce in the troubled economy.

As chief executive of the human resources and business consulting firm A Fresh Approach, and CEO of Twist Marketing, Jewett has a unique view on the positive results companies can achieve through their people while the majority of firms slash and burn budgets.

"If all your competitors are pulling back (and) entrenching, it's an opportunity to gain some ground and take advantage of the fact everybody else is slowing down," says Jewett.

His view is that by investing in your people now, while competitors trim training and human resources budgets, firms will be better positioned for success in the short and long term.

People make the difference in tough times, he argues, and having the right ones will make companies more likely to make it through challenging times and better able to benefit from an upswing.

"It's a great opportunity to position yourself as an employer of choice," says Jewett, who is expanding his own workforce as he moves into a new office in Calgary.

"When things heat up again, you want the buzz to be out there that you're the place to go work."

He's well aware of the financial realities facing many companies in Alberta. But he believes strategic and intelligent investments in people now will boost morale, productivity and create bottom-line benefits.

He's not alone in this view.

Marty Park spends his days coaching business leaders and doing corporate training. All his clients to date have seen an increase in their business over 2008, he says.

"The first thing people do is pull back in the areas that are really going to pull them out of things," says Park, founder of Evolve Business Group.

"It seems to me that now is the opportune time to spend more money on key, effective things that are going to drive sales and give you more visibility."

What's been happening over the past few months is "fear-driven decision-making," he calls it.

"People just look at the biggest expenses and slash them, but they don't look at the things they spend money on that generate business versus things that don't, like a lot of overhead and administrative costs."

When the boom was at its peak two years ago and business was growing at the rate of 30 per cent annually, many business leaders didn't have the time or resources to pay attention to what was really driving that growth.

"They presumed it had to do with their exceptional ability, and then things get tough and they realize it's a little more complicated than they thought," says Park.

John Simpson, manager of human resources at industrial equipment manufacturer Standen's Ltd., knows business has suffered as a result of the economic downturn but is meeting the realities head on.

"When you're in challenging times, you have two choices: You can bury your head in the sand and wait it out or you can look at how to create an opportunity," he says.

"Absolutely, you have to do things differently, but you can certainly go after these new opportunities and that's exactly what we're trying to do."

Instead of laying off workers, his company is using a federal support program and investing in new training initiatives.

The federal government's Work Sharing 2009 initiative--which must be agreed upon by employers, workers and approved by Service Canada, -- allows companies to reduce permanent and part-time employees' schedules so they work 20 to 60 per cent of their regular schedule (one to three days for a regular full-time worker).

The workers then recoup about 80 per cent of the remainder of their wages through employment insurance. The program runs a minimum of six weeks and a maxi-mum of 52 weeks, with some additional restrictions.

"If you're going to be reducing the work hours and keeping people employed, then you'd be silly not to take advantage of the opportunity to increase training," says Simpson. "We've seen a good reaction from our employees."

Companies must also not forget the reality of an aging workforce awaiting them around the corner, according to Elsbeth Mehrer, manager of workforce development for Calgary Economic Development.

"The demographic reality is still going to come right up behind us," she says. "The time to plan for that isn't when you're staff is retiring en masse."

Simpson, meanwhile, says aside from the business case, it's also just the right thing to do to invest in your people.

"Let's see how we can take advantage of the tough times, keep everybody employed, keep the business successful and raise the bar so that when we come out of the recession, we've got a much stronger workforce," says Simpson.

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