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Succession Planning in the Electricity and Renewables Sector - Are you ready?
Why Is It Important?
The most important resource the electricity and renewables sector possesses is its workforce. These dedicated men and women work day after day to ensure that Canada's electricity grid is well maintained and capable of providing the electricity the country needs to operate. This cannot be accomplished without skilled workers who are ready to take on the roles left vacant as older workers move on to retirement. Succession Planning is a key part of this process as it provides a method to ensure that critical gaps are filled or planned for prior to them occurring.
Succession planning can benefit the organization by reducing staff turnover, reducing the cost and the turnaround time to fill vacancies, mitigate the risk of sudden departures, increase organization's appeal to investors and potential employees and align the staffing strategies with the overall business strategy of the organization.
ESC has developed a number of web-based succession and workforce planning tools. Each is designed to help organizations prepare for the demands of the electricity industry's rapidly changing workforce. These tools, based on industry best practices, include helpful information and guidance on topics such as succession planning policy, skills analysis, communications, and evaluation, with useful worksheets to help you along the way. We are confident that these tools will serve as a valuable resource to industry HR professionals and invite you to incorporate our tools as part of your human resource planning processes.
Take A Look At One Of Our Tools
Coaching and Mentoring Toolkit
Employers that can equip their managers, supervisors, and journeymen with workplace coaching skills enable them to develop talent in their organization and increase performance and productivity. Our online coaching/mentoring toolkit is specially designed as a practical tool to help organizations better understand the role of the manager/supervisor/journeyman as a coach. It provides an introduction into the skills required for effective coaching and takes a reflective learning approach using exercises and practical tips that individuals can apply to the workplace.
Use the toolkit to build your support network and to receive ongoing guidance from more experienced employees. It's also a great way to encourage knowledge transfer and skill development throughout the organization.
To obtain access to the Coaching and Mentoring Toolkit, or any of the Succession planning and Workforce Planning Tools, contact the ESC at info@brightfutures.ca
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Building Partnerships To Address Aging Workforce Issues
Hydro Ottawa was recently interviewed by Electricity Today regarding their recent partnership with Algonquin College which has led to the development of a two-year Powerline Technician diploma program. Through this program, graduates will be ideal candidates for apprenticeships at Hydro Ottawa and will require fewer hours of in class-training to become qualified journeypersons. Hydro Ottawa will deliver safety and core skills instruction while Algonquin provides the classroom instruction.
To read the full article visit: http://bit.ly/PA3bs0
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Energy Specialist Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) Course
ESC's Executive Director Michelle Branigan (centre), with participants of the Certified Knowledge Management Course, Toronto.
The ESC recently partnered with The Knowledge Management Institute of Canada to deliver its first Certified Knowledge Manager Course specifically for the electricity and renewables industry. The course was held June 4th to 6th in Toronto and was attended by 14 participants from around the world. Industry speakers included Hydro Ottawa's Lyne Parent-Garvey (Chief HR Officer) and Lance Jefferies (Director, Distribution Operations), PWUTI's Bob Menard (Executive Managing Director), and the ESC's Michelle Branigan (Executive Director).
"The balance between theory and hands on were beneficial and the opinions and suggestions were invaluable." - Course Participant
"Excellent mix of learning tools and techniques. I appreciate having tools to start using right away." - Course Participant
"The opportunities to address my problems were great!" - Course Participant
KMIC in partnership with ESC will be offering the next course from September 17-19th, 2012. For more information or to register, please visit: http://www.kminstitute.ca/ckm
ESC stakeholders receive a 15% discount when referencing ESC (Use code ESC0015)
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Diagnostic of Aboriginal Procurement Strategies
June 6th saw the launch of the ESC's Diagnostic of Aboriginal Procurement Strategies project which looked at procurement practices and opportunities in the electricity and renewable industry. The final report and accompanying website builds the business case for having an Aboriginal procurement strategy in place, procurement trends and forecasts, case studies of both industry and Aboriginal organizations and how they have employed Aboriginal strategies, and a template for developing your own Aboriginal strategy.
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Did You Know? 
The ESC recently released its most recent labour market research, to look at the labour market for the electricity and renewable energy industry. Some of the results of the study include: - The most distinctive findings are for the IT occupations, where most hiring (85%) is from outside the industry. This implies, among other things, that needed skills are not readily available from internal staff or post secondary grads.
- Nationally, there is expected to be an 18.9% growth over the next five years for Information Systems Analysts and Consultants.
- The highest expected growth in Information Systems Analysts and Consultants is Atlantic Canada seeing 48.4%.
- 10% of the employer survey sample workforce was women, (higher in electricity generation and lower in distribution)
- There is also a low average of immigrant workers in the electricity industry - about 12% of the workforce compared to 21% for all other employers
Power in Motion: ESC 2011 LMI Study
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Attention HR Managers!
Are you still filling out paper Records of Employment (ROEs)? Forget the paper! ROE Web is a secure and easy-to-use Web-based application that allows payroll administrators to create, submit, and amend ROEs online. ROE Web makes it easier for employers to fill out ROEs and simplifies the processing of workers' Employment Insurance claims.
Use ROE Web to increase your productivity and reduce your paper burden and administrative costs. Visit Service Canada's Website or call the Employment Contact Centre at 1-800-367-5693 (TTY: 1-855-881-9874) for more information.
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Stakeholder Profile:
Many of our industry stakeholders are leaders in technical and operational innovation. The ESC is looking to feature some of those organizations in our stakeholder profile series. To learn more contact Kevin Joseph: joseph@brightfutures.ca
EPCOR Utilities Inc.
www.epcor.com
About EPCOR
EPCOR Utilities Inc. (EPCOR) builds, owns and operates electrical transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure. In 1891, a small group of entrepreneurs became the original shareholders of Edmonton Electric Lighting and Power Company Limited. Today, EPCOR is the trusted water and wires company, "providing more" to over 70 communities and 1 million people.
EPCOR places great emphasis on safety and continuous improvement. Employees of EPCOR are proud to work for the organization and as a result EPCOR has received many honours including:
- Canada's Top 100 Employers
- Alberta's Top 55 Employers
- Alberta Venture's Best Workplace for Training and Development
- Western Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures
Most recently, EPCOR was awarded Best Overall Workplace for 2012 by Alberta Venture with praise for its "generous benefits, first-rate safety culture and shared pride and ownership" along with its culture of learning and personal development.
Environment and community are also important to EPCOR. Always looking to reduce their environmental impact, EPCOR is constantly rethinking how to use less, recycle, and reuse more, so that the communities they serve draw on only the resources they need. EPCOR also looks for ways to increase their community impact. EPCOR Community Essentials Council focuses EPCOR's community investment on the things that make strong communities and healthy families. Community leaders and employees came together to provide $300,000 from May to December 2011 in support of charitable and not-for-profit initiatives that provide water (food), energy (shelter and safety) and education.
EPCOR is hiring. EPCOR is constantly seeking skilled, enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals who continually strive to achieve their potential.
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Important Dates Bright Futures Aboriginal Youth Camp - Agassiz, BC - July 16-20, 2012 Agassiz, British Columbia Canadian Utilities Equipment and Engineering Show (CUEE) -September 11-12, 2012 Toronto, Ontario http://www.cuee.ca/ CanWEA 2012 -October 14-17, 2012 Toronto, Ontario http://www.canwea2012.ca/ Quest International Conference & Tradeshow -November 18-21, 2012 Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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Address: 130 Slater Street, Suite 600, Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2
Phone: (613) 235-5540
Fax: (613) 235-6922
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