By Sharon Aschaiek


Over the last generation, the world has witnessed the growing co-operation between, and convergence of, international markets, known today by the popular label "globalization."

This shift, which has metaphorically "shrunk" the world's markets through increased trade activity, has led to seismic change within the modern workplace.

Worldwide, companies and the people who work in them are being forced to keep up with change in order to stay competitive. Businesses are investigating new functional strategies, incorporating new and innovative technologies into their operations, and are otherwise reinventing themselves through restructuring, downsizing and reprioritizing their goals.

The results of the 1999 Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), developed jointly by Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada to examine the workplace perspectives of employees and employers working in four broad industry groups, is particularly revealing.

It states that, between 1998 and 1999, almost half of Canadian businesses introduced a product or process innovation, 29% adopted some form of new technology, and more than 40% implemented an organizational change, primarily by re-engineering the work processes or by downsizing.

As economic flux continues to drive companies to change the way they do business, they are adopting new human resources policies to meet their needs.

WES results show that close to three quarters of Canadian businesses report human resources management as an important aspect of their overall business strategy.

Change

In today's workplace, an employee is only as valuable as their ability to change. Change in this context encompasses many things: the ability to diversify one's range of skills; to be flexible to different work arrangements, such as telecommuting, job sharing, and contract work; and to be able to continue to improve one's skills through continued education, training, seminars and self-education.

Self-improvement in particular takes on special meaning in a knowledge-based economy, with a labour force that is becoming increasingly educated. According to Statistics Canada, during the 1990s there was a 47% increase in the employment of university graduates, compared to a mere 2% increase for those with a high school education.

It's clear that workers today must continually update their skills and knowledge to stay current. Canadian businesses have stepped up to the plate, with 57% of establishments having reported sponsoring classroom and/or on the job training for their employees in 1998 to 1999. More than half of workers reported taking training during that period.

Just as the labourforce continues to experience massive change, so, too, has Career Connection evolved to meet the growing information needs of today's workers.

A larger, more versatile and highly innovative Career Connection, with a mandate to keep a pulse on evolving employment trends and educational opportunities, is what readers can expect each Wednesday in their Sun. Also, look out for the online debut of the section at www.torontosun.com.

Dream job profiles, job hunting resources, provincial co-op student programs, a closer look at innovators working in the trades, and top HR advice from Sun Media manager of people development Ellen Goldhar -- it's all here in Career Connection, to keep you informed, and to give you an edge that's so critical in today's workforce.



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