Canada’s private businesses are optimistic about the country’s economic outlook but less so about a recovery in 2010, according to a poll.
A Grant Thornton International survey of 300 senior executives of small and mid-size businesses across the country finds that 72% of respondents were “very” or “slightly” optimistic about Canada’s economic outlook over the next 12 months, with 35% believing that the economy will turn around in the second half of 2010 and 22% believing that recovery will take place in 2011.
“Privately held businesses across the world are starting to see the results of aggressive government stimulus spending and low-target interest rates, and that’s creating a sense of optimism,” says Bill Brushett, national leader for privately held business in Canada. “Canada has weathered the recession better than most due to its manageable government deficit and strong banking system, and that’s put us in a better position for an early recovery.”
Fifty-one percent of Canadian executives surveyed expect to see an increase in revenue in the coming year, while 49% expect to see an increase in profitability and 41% plan to invest more money in plants and machinery.
The accessibility of financing was another area that reflected a sense of optimism, with 37% of those surveyed expecting it to remain at the same level of accessibility over the next 12 months and 34% expecting it to become more accessible.
When it comes to areas that executives believe will likely remain the same in 2010, 56% of those surveyed believe that employment levels at their respective companies will remain stagnant and 51% said they would keep selling prices the same. Many said they would not increase their investments in new buildings (34%), research and development (39%) or exports (23%).
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Innovation linked to wellness
Research by Right Management suggests that organizations that promote employee health and well-being are significantly more likely to reap the benefits of a creative and innovative workforce.
The talent management firm’s study of 28,000 employees found that 72% of respondents who gave their organization high marks for actively promoting health and well-being also rated it highly for encouraging creativity and innovation. Of the respondents who did not rate their organization’s health and well-being efforts highly, only 20% had a favourable view of their organization’s encouragement of creativity and innovation.
According to the data, employers that focused on health and wellness were three and a half times more likely to encourage creativity and innovation.
“We found that less than half of the more than 28,000 employees who participated in our worldwide study reported that their organizations actively promote health and wellness,” says Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier, senior vice-president for global solutions at Right Management. “Yet we now have persuasive evidence linking health and well-being to greater employee engagement, organizational productivity, talent retention and—of utmost importance in today’s post-recession economy—creativity and innovation.”
According to Schroeder-Saulnier, the top drivers for promoting health and well-being at work are the following:
• “I work in a safe and healthy environment.”
• “My organization allows me to maintain a reasonable balance between my family and work life.”
• “You can balance work and personal interests at my organization and still progress.”
• “I have an appropriate workload.”
• “The amount of pressure I experience in my role is reasonable.”
“Of all the individual actions an organization could take, these five would do the most to improve the well-being of employees.”
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Mercer launches global HR online training service
Mercer has teamed up with a band of Oxford academics to deliver a new online training and certification program with worldwide peer networking for HR professionals.
Led by Professor Gordon Clark from the University of Oxford, Mercer’s Global Online Training program consists of 33 online training sessions. Topics covered include global policy-making and governance, global growth and performance drivers, global mobility, and specific regional and country HR, employee benefits and compensation trends, and best practices in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, and the Americas.
“The online aspect of this Global Online Training program allows flexibility in the learning process. There are no time constraints,” says Clark. “The flexible modular program design provides an opportunity for HR professionals in specialized roles to access only the training modules and sessions appropriate for the scope of their responsibilities.”