More than a third of Canadian biotechnology companies are dealing with skills shortages — a worrying trend that is predicted to continue. Access to skilled professionals is essential for biotech companies to execute their innovation agendas and to drive new products and services to market. It also helps secure and build Canada’s global leadership and…
Several recent court cases in the United States focus on trade secret misappropriation by employees departing technology companies. These high profile American cases are a reminder that Canadian companies face the same issues. Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, have held that an employer’s trade secrets are valuable commercial assets that employees must…
Before change occurs, a pro-active step is the formation of a transition team headed by a transition manager to direct the process of change. Their responsibilities include developing and communicating transition best-practices as well as executing the day-to-day transition activities. The transition team should include people from HR; department managers and supervisors. It is important…
The performance management cycle (see below) shows the stages involved in the process of planning, monitoring and evaluating employee performance. Performance Planning The planning stage provides an opportunity for one-on-one goal setting between the supervisor and employee based on work unit objectives that are aligned with organizational goals. It is a way to ensure individual…
Did you know?? Less than 50% of employees report being fully present in the workforce on any given day 87% of Canadians will be affected by one of the chronic diseases HealthPartners represents in their lifetime (list of our members can be found here). Illness in the workplace leads to absenteeism, and lost productivity, not…
Organizational behaviours, practices, values, beliefs and assumptions evolve over time. Training and communication management are the two key instruments that bring about positive change. You may even discover the existence of a sub-culture that management is unaware of. This sub-culture may be used as a positive influence in the event of change, and plans should…
Immigrants to Canada can now get a head start in preparing for their careers in their new homeland – before even landing here. The most common skills internationally educated professionals (IEPs) possess coincide with the skills most needed by Canada’s bio-economy, according to Paving the Way, a recent labour market report by BioTalent Canada. However,…
Employee retention and engagement is critical for companies in the biotechnology sector undergoing change. The key challenges for employers include: how to engage the talent at hand; how to retain the talent; and how to effectively acculturate new employees Commitment to the organization is reflected in the positive way employees speak about an organization to…
If you are a medical, health or science professional new to Canada and you have foreign credentials and experience, you may have the skills to work in Canada’s bio-economy, but how do you prove that? How do you land that first foot in the door? Earlier this year, BioTalent Canada asked its followers on Twitter…
Tapping into under-utilized talent pools, like new graduates, women and newcomers, to tackle skills shortages within biotech is a widely discussed subject. As soon as you add persons with disabilities to the mix of under-utilized talent pools, everyone walks on eggshells. All of a sudden, the little we know becomes apparent and often uncomfortable. During…