Canadian HR Strategy

CANADIAN HR STRATEGY/15 preciate quicker." On the same note, many mining companies are struggling to fi nd mining engineers as there's been a signifi cant retirement bubble within that group, said Boudreau. And while this mine was managing to run OK with 15 to 20 per cent fewer mining engineers, while recognizing the dedication and productivity of its workers, was this ideal? "In the context of the mining trucks, you really realize that the organization didn't have measurement of mining engineer fatigue, burnout, depreciation, etcetera. So we began to coin the phrase, what would total productive maintenance for min- ing engineers look like?" he said. "And you can see how that might lead to saying, 'In the same way that you're expected as a leader not to run a mine with four trucks instead of fi ve, even though it makes you look good in the short run, we would have that level of precision and that level of analytical dedication to making sure the employment relationship is the same." So, are the C-suite and HR ready for all these developments around the next corner? Education, certifi cation and other sys- tems are going to need to catch up, said Boudreau. "It's not that the profession isn't doing great work now, it's not that the education of the profession and the development of HR professionals isn't very valuable, but I think they're all conclud- ing that to tackle issues like this will require an acceleration and, in a way, a kind of infl ection point in the profession, kind of a step change." premiums or health-care costs or absentee- ism, when the big payoff may be in the day- to-day improvement of work. "For example, if (employees are) medi- tating, they seem more focused, they seem calmer. If they're living a healthier lifestyle, they are more productive at work, more fo- cused, etcetera," said Boudreau. "Once you begin to incorporate things like wellness and maybe meditation and mindfulness at work — and a lot of organi- zations have done that very successfully — I think around the next two corners, there start to be some real questions about the balance of work and leisure. And so prob- ably CEO-level thinking is about what is a sustainable work relationship and how hard can we push people before we've gone over the limit of what we should do?" As an example, Boudreau talked about some strategic HR work he did with a mining and extraction company. He learned the company had a number of measurements when it came to monitoring and managing its big trucks. It had come to realize fi ve trucks was better than four when it came total productive maintenance, even if four was cheaper in the short run. "There's a certain level of optimal maintenance and opti- mal truck use that pays off in the long run, even though you could conceivably run a mine with fewer trucks, but they de- produit : Group retirement savinGs ForMAt : 7,25'' x 4.25'' To learn more, watch a short video at yourwayplainandsimple.com. desjardins insurance refers to desjardins Financial security Life assurance company. proud partner of Your way, plain and simple ® 's E 3 approach evolves. Our new E 3 nergy Module fast forwards employee engagement with their retirement plan. Entice • Encourage • Engage ACCEL ER ATE PL AN ENG AGEMENT FEATURE/FUTURE OF HR

• Cover