Linda Duxbury

The upcoming century will see a fundamental shift in the change in the nature of the employer-employee relationship as organizations seek to attract and retain good employees in a declining labour market. This labour force shortage will arise as the massive baby boomer generation retire and companies compete to hire the small pool of “baby – bust” employees. Dr. Duxbury will look at the formative influences shaping the different generations and look at possible sources of generational conflict within the workforce. She will also give employers information on how to adapt to meet the needs of these different groups of employees.

Many employers implement family friendly polices such as flextime and compressed work weeks – but do not get the desired results. This talk focuses on the reason why many of the family friendly practices just do not seem to work – they are implemented into a culture which focuses on hours of work not output: where “presenteeism” is equated with productivity. This talk begins with an examination of why employee workloads, especially at the managerial and professional level, have increased over the past several decades. It then presents evidence on why employers should care – the impact of high workloads on the employer’s bottom line. The talk ends with a number of suggestions on how workloads can be decreased – without hiring more staff.

This talk is a follow up for the talk on “Managing a Changing Workforce”. It provides a critical analysis and overview of key disconnects that may be contributing to a disengaged workforce and difficulties with respect to recruitment and retention. Issues covered in this talk include work-life balance, reward and recognition, respect, trust, communication, performance management, and talent management/succession planning and offers suggestions on how organizations can make positive changes in each of these areas. The talk ends with a summary of how the different generational cohorts view each of these issues and a number of suggestions on how employers and managers can use the information covered in the talk to adapt to meet the needs of employees today.

Capable Managers: The Scarcest Resource of All
This talk uses data from Duxbury and Higgins’ research on supportive management (n = 100,000) to discuss the role of the manager within the organization. The talk starts by outlining the behaviours associated with good and poor management and then looks at the difference having a supportive manager makes to key employee and organizational outcomes. The discussion then turns to why many managers are having difficulty with the “people part of the job” and outlines a number of solutions. The final section of the talk offers suggestions to managers on how to manage upwards and what kinds of things they personally can do within their own section.

This talk uses data from Duxbury and Higgins’ research on supportive management (n = 100,000) to discuss the role of the manager within the organization. The talk starts by outlining the behaviours associated with good and poor management and then looks at the difference having a supportive manager makes to key employee and organizational outcomes. The discussion then turns to why many managers are having difficulty with the “people part of the job” and outlines a number of solutions. The final section of the talk offers suggestions to managers on how to manage upwards and what kinds of things they personally can do within their own section.