Isarta partnered two major HR conferences at the start of the year: CPHR Canada in Vancouver (May 11-12) and HRPA 2023 in Toronto (May 16-17). This was an opportunity to meet recruitment professionals from the west to the east of the country… and also to get a feel for current trends in human resources.
Clearly, there has been a before and after to COVID for the HR world. In the corridors, notions of reinvention or major change were very much in evidence. This was reflected in the titles of the events: “Rewriting the rules of the HR game” for HRPA in Toronto and “Giving meaning to work” for CPHR in Vancouver.
At the opening conference of the latter, speakers stressed the growing importance of building a solid business case and return on investment for every HR initiative. Human resources more than ever at the service of the business model.
Inevitably, ChatGPT and artificial intelligence were at the heart of the discussions too, with one watchword: better to embrace the technology than try to resist its emergence. Generative AI will have a lasting presence in the professional world, and will help recruitment professionals… provided they make it an ally rather than an enemy.
Another hot topic: flexibility and the 4-day week, again a subject to be analyzed from a strategic point of view. What may seem like a fad to some, often meets a new need on the part of employees, and a necessary adaptation of the workplace. The challenge is to step back and look beyond the purely organizational aspect.
Of course, these rapid upheavals directly raise questions about change management… and the leadership strategies needed to manage them, in these pivotal times! On this subject, we can only invite you to revisit the intervention by Sheh Shojaee and Neha Mohan, who commented on a study on the future of work conducted by CPHR.
Finally, we’d like to single out one of the event’s closing lectures from British Columbia. Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer of VaynerMedia, reminded us that to unleash the potential of his teams, it was necessary to abandon traditional methods and refocus on human connections:
Be the person everyone in the room wants to see. Your energy is what you bring when you walk into the room”, she insists.
Two major events during which Isarta was able to showcase its strengths as a leading pan-Canadian specialized recruitment platform… but also as a supplier of comforting treats!
