Today was the WorkLife BC Forum at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver. This event was a true success with a record number of attendees, many great sessions and the presentation of the WorkLife BC 2007 Awards.
In the morning, we heard from Dr. Linda Duxbury, Professor, Carelton School of Business and Work-Life Expert and from Gordon Huston, CEO Envision Financial. The title of their presentation was Getting It Together: Attracting and Retaining the Workforce of the Future Through Work-Life Balance. If anyone in the room was doubting the impact of work-life issues on today’s workplaces both Linda and Gordon put these doubts to rest! The basic reality is that if organizations want to succeed over the next decade and beyond they will need to do everything possible to attract and retain their talent. We are now in a sellers market for labour and this is not going to change anytime soon. Dr. Duxbury told us that we are facing at least 25 years of labour force shortages.
After lunch, we saw the presentation of the 2007 WorkLife BC Awards my Minister Linda Reid. There were Awards of Merit and Excellence given to organizations from each region of the Province. In addition, two additional Awards were given – the Innovation Award and the WorkLife BC Employer of Choice. Below is a list of the 2007 Recipients. Further information on each of these organizations is posted here.
The North
- Award of Excellence – The Exploration Place
- Award of Merit – Chetwynd Public Library
Vancouver Island
- Award of Excellence – Level Ground Trading Ltd.
- Award of Merit – M.M. Johnson Ltd. and Smart Dolphins IT Solutions Inc.
The Interior
- Award of Excellence – Advanced Safety Management Ltd.
- Award of Merit – Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union and NRI Distribution
Vancouver-Coastal
- Award of Excellence and Innovation Award – Next Level Games Inc.
- Award of Merit – Ernst & Young LLP and Business Objects and MacKay LLP
The Frasers
- Award of Excellence and WorkLife BC Employer of Choice – Envision Financial
- Award of Merit – Advance Corporate Training Ltd, HWW Conference Inc. and TELUS Communications
In the afternoon, there were four breakout workshops designed to help bring practical tools and ideas to the forum attendees. The sessions included:
- Thinking Big but Starting Small: How to Get Going in Your Workplace
- Small and Medium Size Business Savy: Thinking Outside the Box Really Works
- What Exactly is Work-Life Balance and How Can We Get It?
- What’s Their Secret? How Work-Life Balance Options Can Help You Deal With the Labour Crunch
In the coming days much more information, videos and resources will be posted on the WorkLife BC website from this Forum. Please visit it so that you can learn more about the many great initiatives that are happening in organizations throughout BC and review many of super presentations that were made.