Journal Entry Number 1 Off- Ramps and On- Ramps
From this topic, I learned a new word “opt-put revolution”, it means a trend that large numbers of highly qualified women dropping out of mainstream careers. It shows nearly 40% of high qualified women have taken off-ramps, and the majority of women off-ramps to attend to responsibilities at home, and women who return to the workforce after time out earn significantly less than their peers who remained in their jobs. As a HR, we have an obligation to worry about and do something about the challenges of women. We can adopt some strategies for women to improve the status of women and the balance between work and life, such as, create reduced-hour jobs, provide flexibility in the day, provide flexibility in the arc of a career, remove the stigma, equity principles in recruitment, selection and promotion processes.
But for the brain drain, it is not only focus on women, men also take off-ramps, so an organization should take measures to keep every highly qualified employees. As a HR, we should adopt some strategies to keep and attract our highly qualified employees. First, provide a positive and equity working environment. Second, develop skills and potential, an intranet-based development and career coaching program for all employees. It can promote employees’ ambition to explore advancement and promotional opportunities. Third, Recognize and reward employees for a job well done. Finally, improve communication within the company, through the interviews and do questionnaire to realize the job satisfaction and understand employees’ problem, make corresponding measures in time.
Journal Entry Number 2 Managing a Multicultural Workforce
For this seminar topic, I will focus on the following discussion question to show what I have learnt from this presentation.
1. How do you think organizations benefit from a multicultural workforce?
First, broader service range, a diverse collection of skills and experiences allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis. Second, variety of viewpoints, employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting a larger pool of ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.
2. Why are diversity programs so important to organizations?
Workplace diversity has become an increasingly important part, and businesses benefit in many ways from having employees with differing backgrounds and perspectives.
3. In what ways has the focus of diversity programs changed through the years?
Training, communication, task forces, and mentoring.
4. How can organization ensure there diversity programs are successful?
Strength in numbers, metrics and statistics can be clear measures of success in workplace diversity initiatives.Increase productivity, successful diversity workforce motivate employees to make effort.
5. Hoe do you manage and motivate a multicultural workforce?
Embrace Diversity, Open Communications, Intercultural Training
Journal Entry Number 3 Labour Market Trend
Key labour market trends is very important for HR to forecast and take corresponding measures, it’s a part of HR planning. From this presentation, I know three labour market trend in Canada: aging workforce, increasing women in workforce and imbalances between labour demand and skill supply.
The first one, aging workforce, government change the age of retirement from 65 to 67, it shows increasing workers past 60 years old, and also the statics show more than 1 in 5 workers were over 55.
Second, increasing the number of women in workforce, there are a lot of signals, including increasing employment rates of women, more employed mothers, increasing numbers of women are self-employed, women have higher level of educational attainment, and even in an economic slowdown, unemployment rate lower for women than men(because women are more likely to work in services, men in manufacturing. The industries hardest hit
