In today’s Calgary workplace, there’s good news and quirky bad news about HR.
It is a resounding positive that so much overdue business attention is focusing on the heart and soul, and the key driver, of business – people! The quirky HR industry is scrambling through a glut of adjectives and word games to best reflect the company focus on people as key factors in business’ bottom line.
A generation or so ago, when the people factor started to get deserved credit, Personnel was rebranded to Human Resources. Ever since, the rebranding has continued, with newer ways for companies to assert their people strategy.
Chief People Officers manage People Resource Centres and Employee Management Care Units. The HR department can now be anything from Talent Management, People Operations and Employee Experience to Team Member Services, Employee Success Teams and more.
Besides, it is business-healthy, encouraging and positive. It puts proper emphasis on business’ people-centric strategies, company culture and the employee experience rather than lumping together employees as resources.
It is a more strategic approach to managing workforce dynamics as well as cultivating a positive company attitude, better connecting workers to employers.
According to Tina Wang, division vice president of HR for ADP, the landscape of applicants looking and employers finding is constantly changing. “There has been an ongoing shift in the labour market where employees are not just looking for a job and employers do not want someone who is just looking to clock in and out. Attracting the right people requires more than just posting a role.
“Organizations need to understand what employees value most, while also highlighting how they can support their employees at work and outside of it.”
She cites ADP Canada’s most recent Happiness at Work Index, that the primary contributor to workplace happiness for Albertans are work-life balance and flexibility. “Local employers who want to attract and retain top talent must determine the right balance of flexibility as part of their value proposition for candidates.”
“Recognition and support are also priority areas for what employees are looking for from their employers. Employees want to feel that their leader, their team, and their organization are there to help them succeed and recognize those accomplishments.”
Calgary’s Brett Young, the high-energy co-founder of Groundwork, a staffing and workforce solutions partner dedicated to connecting the right people with the right organizations, enthusiastically mentions that today’s Alberta workplace is defined by a push and pull between employer realities and employee expectations, set against shifting market conditions.
“On the employer side, there’s pressure to run leaner, prioritize productivity and keep margins strong, especially in an uncertain economic environment. On the employee side, expectations have risen. Pay is more important than ever, but workers also want flexibility, purpose and alignment with their values.”
Although the cliché that ‘some things never change’ is still occasionally valid, the wants, needs and expectations of Calgary employers and employees are in transition.
“Applicants want everything fast,” says Laura Jones, manager of Career & Student Experience at Haskayne. “Career growth, flexibility and mentorship. That workplace hunger sometimes comes across as impatience, expecting to climb the ladder quickly.
“Job seekers are becoming more selective, sometimes cherry-picking employers rather than applying broadly. Skills-first recruitment is growing. Applied projects, extracurriculars and co-op/internship experience is increasingly outweighing credentials alone.”
Although workplace trends are consistent, Brett Young explains that Alberta’s rapid population growth has expanded the labour force faster than employment, creating more competition for many jobs. Entry-level roles are seeing crowded applicant pools, while skilled professionals still hold more leverage and choice.
“Calgary is experiencing some of the fastest population growth in Canada, growing by more than six per cent in 2023 alone, and nearly 18 per cent over the past five years. That surge has put enormous pressure on housing supply and driven a boom in residential and supporting infrastructure construction.
“While oil and gas still sets the tone for Calgary’s labour market, employers in construction and the trades are scrambling to keep up, with demand spanning labourers, project managers, engineers and skilled trades.”
The stats and the trending underscore that, particularly due to constant economic shifts, Calgary employers remain cautious, especially in energy and construction.
The result is a workplace that feels more complex. “This tension between what employees want, what employers can deliver and the realities of the market is the defining backdrop for Alberta’s workplace today,” he says. “It shapes every other trend we’re seeing.”
While the disconnect between what job hunters want and what employers are looking for is narrowing, the are various relatively new factors to consider.
In addition to the infinite number of ways technology continues to redefine everything-business, technology is vital for job hunting and for finding good workers.
Jones emphasizes that access to the right HR technology helps businesses stay competitive for talent through data-driven insights and streamlined processes, and that organizations attracting the top talent are those that embrace new technologies while maintaining human connection.
While technology is critical, resumes, interviews, qualifications, references and across-the-desk or face-time interviews remain the foundation of the hiring process.
“Technology (especially AI) has changed the hiring process dramatically,” Brett Young points out. “It is easier than ever for candidates to apply for jobs, which means postings often receive hundreds of applications. Employers use applicant tracking systems and AI tools to filter those resumes, mainly by scanning for keywords and criteria. That makes the process faster, but it also means there’s far less human interaction at the early stages.”
He admits that the risk is strong for candidates to be overlooked if their resume isn’t formatted for the system, and job seekers are sometimes discouraged, getting only automated rejections or no feedback at all. “Recruiters and employers are relying heavily on automation, which cuts down on interviews and reduces opportunities to apply human judgment and gut instinct – qualities that AI can never replicate.”
The sometimes-sacred catchphrase ‘company culture’ is blending with ‘company attitude,’ and the flexibility to embrace changes. Workplace flexibility has changed workforce expectations. Flexibility is no longer a perk but an expectation for many employees.
Wang suggests that looking beyond just location-based flexibility, employers should consider how they can offer flexibility to workers, especially if the nature of the business does not enable full-time remote work. For example, can businesses provide workers with more autonomy in how they structure their daily workflow or how they manage projects?
Groundwork’s Brett Young cites Calgary as a case in point for the transforming workplace. “The result is a labour market that is diversifying but uneven. In Calgary, construction is booming thanks to population-driven demand, tech and professional services are growing steadily, but oil and gas remains the anchor, pulling wages upward and shaping how both employers and workers behave.”