Held on 27 April, EHRC’s Western Roundtable was well-attended by representatives from Manitoba Hydro, ATCO, IBEW 424, IBEW 353, McElhanney Ltd., Workforce Strategies, WFSI, Enfinite, EPCOR, TransAlta, Manitoba Power, Fortis Alberta, Newfoundland Power, Heartland Generation, Yourbizfast, BCIT, Graybridge Malkam, & AESO.
Michelle Branigan provided updates on various EHRC initiatives such as: EHRC’s LMI Report: workforce planning, curriculum development, provincial and federal government planning, succession planning and knowledge transfer; the 2023 LMI Survey; Key informant interviews: regulations, inflation, geo-political turmoil, SMRs, etc; EHRC’s micro-accreditation program for training in emerging occupations; Wage subsidy programs; & the EHRC Competency Framework.
Sam Brown, AASAS, our guest speaker began by outlining the primary approaches and engagement strategies to stop sexual harassment. She highlighted the various training and education programs available to create healthier and safer Alberta workplaces and pointed out that a positive and safe workplace culture is built one moment at a time.
This is important as gender-based harassment and violence (GBHV) costs society, organizations, and individuals $2.6 Billion annually. Additionally, those who have experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault in the workplace experience increased stress and anxiety, deteriorating physical and mental health, decreased job satisfaction and are more likely to leave their position.
There are resources and tool kits available as well as best practices for teaching and learning. They can be found here.
Our second speaker was Jeff Griffiths from Workforce Strategies International, who spoke on the benefits to organizations of competency frameworks. Specifically, within the realm of talent development, knowing what competencies are required to execute a particular task or solve a problem is the first step in identifying the skills required to for a particular job. It helps the employee to see what training would assist them to do their job better as well as enabling them to take part in their own talent and career development.
And finally, the Roundtable discussions centered on how to create a positive culture and building consistency within that culture, how to onboard new people and show them that there are processes in place to facilitate and foster a positive culture, how to find a balance between many people wearing many different hats, how to identify individuals who no longer align with the company’s values or culture, how to address different expectations of the board and what stakeholders expect, what senior leaders expect, and what staff expects.