According to an article in The Globe and Mail, “nearly half of Canadians feel they are over-qualified for their job,”. So the question raised is how does a company keep these employees from moving to new jobs, what is their incentive to stay? What can the company do to avoid high employee turnovers?

This is a familiar concept in which we have discussed in Comm 101 class, and it seems very much relatable to the class in which we discussed the online shoe company, Zappos. Co-CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, repeatedly emphasized the point of creating a workspace where the employees would want to come to work and where they would want to work even if they weren’t paid. I feel that the workspace that Hsieh wanted to create ties into the topic matter in which this article is talking about. If employees feel that they are over-qualified for their job, that obviously means that the job is not stimulating enough for them, and they feel that their skills could be put to better use. If their position is not a reason for them to stay, then what does the company have to offer that acts as an incentive to these “over-qualified” employees? According to Hsieh, it would be the company’s environment and how the employees interact with each other. The attitude that each employee brings to the company adds up to a positive environment that is an incentive in itself for employees to be loyal to their jobs. It’s also important to have company goals and objectives; if your employee really believes in these goals, then their position shouldn’t really matter as much as their contribution to the company as a whole.

SOURCES:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/are-you-overqualified-for-your-job-join-the-crew/article5285920/ 

http://www.linkedin.com/company/zappos.com 

Corporate Social Responsibility is: the way that an industry integrates economic, social and environmental imperatives into their activities.

Why is it important for us, business students, to learn about how social and environmental factors tie into the business world? There are many points that a company needs to consider, and sustainability is one of the key factors. By learning about how social and environmental issues relate to a business, it gives students an idea of how to successfully manage a business that integrates these factors into the business while working towards an economic profit. Firstly, it gives a business a competitive advantage if they are the first ones to innovate a product or service that benefits the environment. Since more and more people are becoming more concerned about the environment, they are now more inclined to ask questions regarding a company/business and how their company benefits or is concerned about social and environmental factors. Of course, the better your company is to the environment, and the more initiatives you take in helping the environment on part of the company, makes for a better and stronger image of the company. Products and services that help sustain the environment are much more popular to the public than those which are detrimental to the environment. One factor that contributes to the success of a company, is their ability to plan ahead and for the future. This not only means adapting to customers’ needs and demands, but also the social and environmental issues down the road. Being socially responsible as a business will give you a competitive edge over other rival companies. On top of going above and beyond other businesses, it also helps the company develop and change in a more positive way.

SOURCES:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/csr-rse.nsf/eng/home
http://www.research.utoronto.ca/behind_the_headlines/corporate-social-responsibility/ 

When you think entepreneur, typically few people come to mind and it seems like a daunting task that only a select group of people can achieve. So when I read in the Globe and Mail’s article “More Canadians abandoning traditional work,” I was a little stunned at the amount of Canadians who have started their own business ventures. The article states that 15% of the labor-force in Canada is self employed and that a research in June showed that half a million Canadians have reportedly started their own businesses in the past few years. I guess with the rate at which technology and social media is increasing, it only makes sense that the number of entrepreneurs would grow along with it. With such technology at hand, it makes starting a new business so much easier, as you have all the resources needed at the click of a button. How to start a business, where to start a business, and the marketing of it all can be done online as well. Other factors that influence the rate of growth of entrepreneurs would be the age of the work-force; the “over 50” crowd takes up 30% of the current workforce. This percentage is experienced in the field that they work in and therefore have a better chance of starting and sustaining a successful business venture. With this being said, since the rate of entrepreneurs is growing so rapidly.. what will this mean for the non self-employed percentage of the work force? As time goes on and more students/people are educated in the fields of business and entrepreneurship, will it change the way in which business as a whole operates in society? Of course, not all business ventures are successful and many of them fail, but if a substantial amount of the workforce leaves to start their own businesses.. will that create an excess amount of employment in the country? This is a question worth pondering……

SOURCES:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/more-canadians-abandoning-traditional-work/article4565994/

First of all.. what is social entrepreneurship? It can be defined as:  the recognition of a social problem and the uses of entrepreneurial principles to organise, create and manage a social venture to achieve a desired social change. I guess it is sometimes hard to differentiate between a regular entrepreneur and a social entrepreneurs because they do share many similar qualities. A very helpful way to distinguish between the two is how they measure their performance. A regular entrepreneur would measure his performance by profit and return, where as a social entrepreneur measure performance in the positives returns to society. This topic really interested me because before learning about it in class, I never would have thought that there was a title given to people who promote social change. Of course there are various people who have gained publicity for what they do in regards to social change, but it never occurred to me that there was an actual “status” that one could achieve by promoting social change. Another fascinating aspect is that the people who are categorized as “social entrepreneurs” have all the qualities required of an entrepreneur plus more. They have the drive, the vision and the skill to implement their goals.. while at the same time pushing for something that is greater than merely financial return.

SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneurship

In such a technology oriented generation, we often find ourselves surrounded with many different types of technological devices.The article “Taking a break from digital overload”, talks about the benefits of giving yourself a break from these devices.While it acknowledges that digital devices are not only a luxury in present society, but most times a necessity for communication and productivity, it also talks about balance. Sure, our laptops and cellphones provide us with an easy way to communicate and organize our everyday schedules, but how do we know when it’s too much? Personally, I find myself distracted by my cellphone/laptop when I’m doing work, so I have to turn off the sounds in order to concentrate fully on the task at hand. The article also speaks about how technology can help us increase productivity but at the same time it can also get in the way of us being productive. Sometimes, it’s good to have a break from all the digital media around us so that we can discover how much more time we have to use when we’re not solely focused and engrossed in our digital devices. Francine Gingras, VP of global public-relations at Elizabeth Arden, calls this “digital detox”. I find this to be a very interesting term and approach to decreasing the use of digital devices and focusing on “real life” and “real time”, what actually needs to be done.

Sources:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/life-at-work/taking-a-break-from-digital-overload/article5167486/

This article that I am going to talk about goes over many different aspects revolving around the “fiscal cliff”. A quick recap of the article:

• Tax cuts which result in a larger bill for taxpayers
• Raising the debt ceiling
• How it affects Canada

  

Prior to reading this article, I had no idea what a fiscal cliff was. A fiscal cliff is “the biggest tax increase and spending cut in history”. The reason why the fiscal cliff is such a big problem is because the tax increase indicates that government is cutting down on their expenses and if the citizens do that as well, then there will be no money flowing into the economy, which may very well cause the United States to go back into recession- going over the “fiscal cliff”. The US government cutting expenses and raising taxes will certainly be of benefit towards paying off their debt, but the main concern is still that how the economy may react to this. A solution that the article mentions is for the US to raise their debt-ceiling, which is the maximum borrowing power a government entity has, yet again. The current situation of the US also affects Canada because of the large percentage of exports that are shipped into the United States. If the US falls into a recession, this will obviously have a negative impact on exports in Canada and as a result, Canada’s economy.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/09/fiscal-cliff-faq.html