National Adult Literacy Database

A new employment program designed to bridge a growing skills gap, counter a looming labour shortage and help older Canadians get back into the workforce has hit the ground in Victoria, B.C.

Among the common complaints about workplace email, people say they either don’t understand the emails they receive because they contain run-on sentences or grammatical problems, or the tone of the message comes across as being offensive or annoying.

It is well documented that Canadian firms are falling behind in investing in skills development. However, it is also well documented that learning has a positive impact on key business measures such as job performance and productivity.

The Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's ICT Skills has launched CareerMash, a spectrum of outreach initiatives designed to challenge and change perceptions about the technology-related careers that Canada's economy needs today and tomorrow.

Overworked, under-rewarded, disengaged and looking for a way out -- that's the state of the average Canadian worker these days, according to a recent survey by Mercer, a global consulting and outsourcing firm.

Free Essential Skills Day tools and resources are now available for download. Access posters, brochures, web banners, fact sheets and case studies to help you make the most of Essential Skills Day (September 23) and raise awareness of the importance of workplace education.

Offering revealing insights on effective work-related learning programs, the report profiles 45 Canadian and international small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have used workplace learning programs as opportunities to effectively reach some of their business goals.

A majority of Canadian employees are living paycheque to paycheque and report they would be in financial difficulty if their pay were delayed by even a week, according to a new survey on the financial health of the country’s workers.

The National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) Inc., a national non-profit organization employing 12 people at its office in Fredericton, N.B., has an opening for a Bilingual Web Designer.

Between 1987 and 2009, the proportion of women in senior management has changed little. Men are still more than twice as likely to hold a senior executive position, according to a Conference Board report.

The survey helps illustrate where baby boomers and their gen Y offspring believe companies can do more. Nearly one in three boomers does not feel companies treat workers nearing retirement with respect. Both generations cite better management, and improved organizational structure as changes they’d like to see. However, despite their workplace concerns, 75 per cent of young people, and 82 per cent of boomers say they are satisfied with their current job.

The Workopolis website says that allowing the Canadians who spend just one day a year driving to work alone would save about $120 million in out-of-pocket expenses and eliminate more than 60 million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions.

In 2009, The Conference Board introduced the SWP Maturity Model, a framework that shows a fairly typical evolutionary path of strategic workforce planning. The Maturity Model gives companies a yardstick for assessing their current SWP practices and knowing what the next stage of SWP maturity looks like.

Smart Sessions are participatory workshops designed to address the skills-related challenges that Canadian employers face. Each session focuses on an issue of priority to local business communities.

The federal government announces further measures to improve processes and modernize the delivery of Employment Insurance (EI) to Canadians.