The IT Nerd

As wide-spread closures and social distancing continue to affect business in Canada, confidence among Canadian workers remains low. But sentiment is not outright negative according to LinkedIn’s latest Workforce Confidence Index, a biweekly snapshot of how workers are feeling about their job security, financial situation and their career in both the short and long-term.

So far, the index has polled 2,000+ LinkedIn members covering the weeks of April 1 – 7 and April 13 – 19, and uses a scale from -100 to +100 to reflect the sentiment of respondents and their expectations about the labour market.

Here are some of the major findings from the second edition of Canada’s Workforce Confidence Index:

• Those working in the energy and mining industry were the least confident, driven largely by concerns over their personal finances and broader career outlook. The sector has recently faced mass layoffs as the industry grapples with a fresh plunge in oil prices. 

• By contrast, members working in the software & IT services, public administration, and health care industries reported the highest confidence (+30), lifted by high scores in their current job security. 
• Workers in construction were among the most likely to expect their companies to be worse off in six months. 
• By contrast, members of the media and communications industry had very low confidence in the present, but were more optimistic about their companies’ short and long-term futures.
• Active job seekers continue to feel less confident (+5) than the broader workforce, but there are signs their pessimism about recruiter response and job availability is bottoming out.
• More Canadian companies are offering support for their employees’ emotional wellbeing (44%) than in the last poll (39%), and 31% are offering online learning resources, up from 27% previously.

Workforce Confidence Index Methodology

LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index is based on a quantitative online survey that is distributed to members via email every two weeks. Roughly 1,000+ Canada-based members respond each wave. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. Students, stay-at-home partners & retirees are excluded from analysis so we’re able to get an accurate representation of those currently active in the workforce. We analyze data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy.

Data is weighted by engagement level, to ensure fair representation of various activity levels on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership & overall market population are not accounted for. Confidence index scores are calculated by assigning each respondent a score (-100, -50, 0, 50, 100) based on how much they agree or disagree with each of three statements, and then finding the composite average score across all statements. Scores are averaged across two waves of data collection to ensure an accurate trend reading. The three statements are: [Job Security] I feel confident about my ability to get or hold onto a job right now; [Finances] I feel confident about my ability to improve my financial situation in the next 6 months; [Career] I feel confident about my ability to progress in my career in the next year.

LinkedIn recently launched LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2020, a composite measure that seeks to understand how people around the world perceive opportunity and more importantly, the gaps in getting to those opportunities.

According to the research, which surveyed over 30,000 respondents in 22 markets globally, people want to find opportunities that allow them to pursue their passion, have work-life balance, and job security. Canada is ranked as number 10 of the 22 markets with an overall Opportunity Index score of 98. While Canada is generally more confident about gaining access to and pursuing opportunities, Canadians feels cautiously optimistic in their search for opportunities.

Key findings include:

• Confidence is highest in developing economies and among younger generations.
  • The United States and Canada appear to display cautious optimism. For both North American countries, the measure of opportunity that they are most and least confident about are the same: both believe that in-market opportunities are available but feel that their quality of life has dropped in comparison to their parents’.
• Age is a multi-faceted challenge for different generations, but contrary to popular belief, people are united in embracing change, regardless of age.
  • While working hard (81%) tops the list of what people perceive it takes to get ahead in life, a willingness to embrace change (80%) comes in a close second.
  • For 43% of Boomers, age is their biggest opportunity gap while 25% of Gen Z struggle with a lack of work experience, which is age-related as well.
• Stronger, more diverse professional networks boost overall confidence, but few are actively networking.
  • Globally, 76% respondents believe that knowing the right people and having the right connections is key to getting ahead in life, yet only 22% are actively looking for networking and mentorship opportunities — likely because a majority of respondents (51%) believe that the lack of a network is a difficult challenge to overcome.

If you’re interested in reading the report in full, you can access it with the following link.

The 2020s will be defined by a human centric approach to business. Empathy is reshaping the way talent is hired and retained, as companies work to understand their people more deeply than ever before in order to better serve them. As the corporate purpose evolves to consider more than just shareholder returns, companies are investing in their employees — not only to attract in-demand candidates, but to retain their workforce amid changing expectations.

This overarching theme can be seen in each of the four trends in LinkedIn’s latest Global Talent Trends report:

• Employee experience – The emergence of employee experience offers new ways to cater to employees and is being used as a measure to increase retention which is why 84 per cent of companies focus on EX.
• People analytics – Analytics are factoring into hiring practices, 70% of talent professionals predict people analytics to be a major priority for HR/TA over the next 5 years. Yet, more than half (52%) say they need help putting basic people analytics into practice.
• Internal recruiting – Internal recruiting is undergoing a revival with a focus on advancing people’s careers from within. HR professionals identified improved retention (84%), productivity (69%), and maintaining institutional knowledge (70%) as key drivers of this increasing importance.
• The multigenerational workforce – Harnessing the power of age diversity and celebrating everyone’s strengths means companies are seeing more age diversity than ever. Nearly 90% of HR professionals agree that a multigenerational workforce makes for a more successful company.

You can have a look at the report here.

LinkedIn has launched its inaugural Emerging Jobs Report, revealing that if you’re an engineer, your job prospects are pretty desirable in Canada. Findings show that more than 50 per cent of this year’s emerging jobs consist of roles related to engineering or development. Moreover, these roles are appearing in abundance across Canada’s growing tech hubs including Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Kitchener.

LinkedIn’s Emerging Jobs Report identifies the jobs experiencing tremendous growth over the last 5 years, as well as the skills uniquely associated with them, and how these trends will continue to transform the Canadian job landscape through 2020. Here are the top 3 engineering and development jobs to look out for:

1. Site Reliability Engineer: Responsible for ensuring that development and operational processes are running smoothly, the demand for this job will likely continue to rise as long as we continue to adopt technology. As a bonus, the skills required are transferable to many different engineering roles. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Kitchener are where this job is in highest demand.
2. Data Engineer: This role has seen more than 50% growth in hiring annually since 2015 and with the deluge of data showing no signs of stopping, this role is here to stay. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary are the hubs driving demand for data engineers.

DevOps Engineer: While the job definition of a DevOps Engineer varies per role, they hold the expertise and knowledge in developing and operating software applications to implement next-generation infrastructure. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Kitchener and Calgary are driving demand for this occupation in Canada.

To view the full list of emerging jobs in the Canadian market and read more on the trends, visit here.

Today LinkedIn released the Canadian edition of the 2019 Top Startups list, featuring the most sought-after startups where professionals want to work and stay. The top five startups in Canada are Element AI, Wealthsimple, Clearbanc, Cannabis Compliance Inc. and League.

This year’s list is comprised of companies operating in a diverse range of industries such as financial services, healthcare and cannabis, to name a few. In the race for talent, an ever-evolving fundraising landscape and industry rife with unprecedented innovation, these startups are cutting through the noise.

The three trends for this year’s list are democratizing access to health practitioners for patients, honing-in on niche audiences to cater to their financial needs and servicing cannabis users in Canada.

These are the top five most sought-after startups on LinkedIn right now by professionals:

1. Element AI builds artificial intelligence-powered software for enterprises, including its first publicly available product that helps automate document reading and processing for businesses.
2. Wealthsimple aims to make investing simple and accessible to everyone by combining human financial advisors along with a low-fee, diverse portfolio that minimizes risks.
3. Clearbanc, which aims to invest $1 billion across 2,000 companies this year, provides anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million to help young companies expand their marketing efforts and, ultimately, revenue.
4. Cannabis Compliance Inc. is one of Canada’s first consulting firms to advise on regulatory issues around cannabis. The startup not only helps companies gain government approvals and stay compliant, they also offer training for professionals who want to break into the industry.
5. League has built a one-stop app for employees to access their lifestyle and health care benefits, streamlining everything from insurance details to unique company perks in an easy-to-use hub.

The complete Canadian Top Startups list can be found in the following blog post.

Methodology:

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over one year, which must be a minimum of 15%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from LinkedIn Top Companies, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019.

*For fairness, we have removed LinkedIn and Microsoft from consideration for the LinkedIn Top Startups list as we do with all other lists in the editorial franchise.

Today, LinkedIn released its new Global Language Matters Gender Diversity report, highlighting how men and women react differently to language used both in the workplace and during the hiring process, and what this means for recruiters, hiring managers and business leaders, alike.

LinkedIn took an in-depth look at the words men and women use in the world of work: from their LinkedIn profiles, to interactions on LinkedIn, to the language used throughout the recruitment process and in the workplace itself.

Although we may not think about it often, we know that language can have a huge impact on how we act, influence and are perceived by others. We also know that men and women tend to be more inclined to use and react to language differently.

Findings revealed a stark contrast between Millennials and Gen X when comparing how gender diversity is perceived in an organization. Nearly three quarters of respondents aged 25-34 (72%) say gender diversity is important to their organization, compared to just under 3 in 5 respondents aged 45-54 (58%). This trend will only continue to grow in importance as younger generations bring these convictions with them into increasingly senior roles.

Other key findings include:

• Language is a consideration when reviewing job postings: Nearly half of respondents (47%) who were involved in the hiring and recruitment process say their job postings always have to go through a review to ensure they aren’t using biased language, whilst just under a quarter of respondents never have to (24%).
• When drafting copy for job advertisements: A quarter (25%) of respondents who were involved in the hiring and recruitment process say they always consider gender when drafting copy for job advertisements, compared to half who never do (50%).
• Consider tracking which gender your job posting appeals to, to ensure a gender diverse set: Three quarters of respondents who track which gender their job posting is appealing to (75%) say they in some capacity amend the language if there is a gender skew

You can access the global report with the following link.

Methodology: Online surveys were conducted to a panel of potential respondents – comprising of those who were not involved in the hiring and recruitment processes in Canada and those who were. A total of 1,003 full time employees in Canada who were not involved in hiring and recruitment processes completed the survey between May 10, 2019 to May 31, 2019. A total of 253 respondents who were involved in the hiring and recruitment process in Canada, completed the survey between May 16, 2019 to May 21, 2019. The research was conducted by Censuswide. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles.

Today, LinkedIn released the second Canadian edition of Top Companies 2019: the list that ranks the most sought-after companies where people want to work in Canada. RBC takes the title of most desirable company, with 17 Canadian companies dominating the list, including household names like Shopify and Bell.

From financial services to technology companies, the results are based on the actions of LinkedIn’s more than 600+ million professionals (over 15+ million in Canada alone) and looks at four main pillars: interest in the company, engagement with the company’s employees, job demand and employee retention.

Canada’s Top Companies realize they must find new ways to woo professionals and set an example for the way corporate Canada treats employees. Among the themes emerging this year are harnessing technology in the workplace, building inclusive and diverse teams, and investment in upskilling talent.

Here is what the highest ranked LinkedIn Top Companies are doing to attract and keep talent:

1. RBC launched a new retirement match program that matches a portion of employee’s RBC student loan or mortgages for their retirement accounts.
2. TD’s asset management arm can now boast that it is Canada’s largest investment manager.
3. Scotiabank is scoping out employees beyond traditional finance roles and is hiring data scientists, an algorithmic trading developer and a fraud officer.
4. CIBC is moving up, all the way up to the tallest commercial building on the Toronto waterfront. CIBC’s head office is relocating to a new campus called CIBC Square.
5. BMO Financial Group considers inclusivity a top priority and is Canada’s only bank featured among the top 25 companies in Thomson Reuters’ 2018 global Diversity & Inclusion Index.

The complete Canadian Top Companies list is:

LinkedIn Top Companies 2019: Where Canada wants to work now

1. RBC
2. TD
3. Scotiabank
4. CIBC
5. BMO Financial Group
6. Deloitte Canada
7. National Bank of Canada
8. Shopify
9. Desjardins
10. PwC Canada
11. Bell
12. KPMG Canada
13. Manulife
14. TELUS
15. IBM
16. Amazon
17. Salesforce
18. EY
19. Loblaw Companies Limited
20. Intact
21. EllisDon
22. WSP
23. Suncor Energy
24. BOMBARDIER
25. Alphabet

Methodology:

The Top Companies list is determined by the billions of actions of our 600M+ members to unveiling where professionals really want to work. The lists are fueled by proprietary LinkedIn data on job seeker reach and interest, engagement, and retention paired with an editorial lens.

*For fairness, LinkedIn has removed LinkedIn and Microsoft from consideration for the LinkedIn Top Companies list as we do with all other lists in the editorial franchise.

Today, LinkedIn released its annual Global Talent Trends report, that provides information into the trends that are impacting HR leaders today. Focused on the changing relationship between the employee and the employer, the results are based on a survey of over 5,000 talent professionals in 35 countries, including 287 professionals in Canada, and looks at four main trends: pay transparency, soft skills, work flexibility and anti-harassment practices.

Here’s a closer look at the top trends transforming your workplace:

• The future of work relies on soft skills. Nearly all Canadian respondents (94%) agree that soft skills are an important trend for the future of hiring.
• Companies adapt to workplace flexibility. Research reveals that 69 per cent of HR and hiring professionals believe that allowing employees to work remotely improves employee morale, but with these benefits come their own unique challenges. Only 49 per cent of respondents believe that it’s an attractive perk that helps to hire talent.
• Harassment prevention takes the front seat in the modern workplace. Talent professionals are putting policies, practices, and work cultures under a microscope to create safer workplaces. Nearly half (49%) of Canadian HR and hiring professionals have noticed that employees are more empowered and willing to say something when they feel uncomfortable and only 22 per cent have seen no changes in workplace dynamics and culture.

LinkedIn surveyed 5,164 talent professionals and hiring managers, including 287 non-staffing professionals in Canada, who self-identified as either talent professionals who work in a corporate HR/TA department or hiring managers who have some authority over hiring decisions for their team. These survey respondents are LinkedIn members who were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted via email between September 18th and October 10th, 2018.

You can read the blog post featuring key global findings here.

LinkedIn launched its Generational Learning Study, revealing that Canadian L&D leaders are preparing for two simultaneous pressures: the changing world of work, and the shifting expectations accompanied by Gen Z’s debut in the workforce.

The future of work is being shaped by disruptive technologies like automation and these advances bring with it a shift in skill sets. As the first cohort of workers that grew up with the internet, these digital natives are keen to learn, so how should L&D leaders prepare for their debut in the workforce?

Here’s what L&D leaders know:

• Technical skills are changing faster than ever. Ninety-five per cent of L&D leaders said the skills necessary for today’s workforce are different from those of previous generations. Over half of which (57%) said the biggest differences in skills is the focus on technical proficiency – using tools like email, Office, or shared file systems while only a quarter (17%) believe the biggest changes are among hard skills like cloud computing and data mining.
• Soft skills may be Gen Z’s Achilles heel. Sixty-nine per cent of L&D leaders expect Gen Z will need extra support around the development of soft skills – communication, teamwork and time management.
• Financial incentives are a motivator to learn. Thirty-two per cent of L&D leaders expect Gen Z will learn professional skills to earn more money.
• Gen Z want to learn on their own terms: Forty-six per cent of L&D leaders believe Gen Z will have a shorter attention span than other generations. Twenty-four per cent of L&D leaders plan to offer a self-directed approach to learning.

You can read the blog post featuring key findings here.

LinkedIn has announced LinkedIn Pages – the next generation of LinkedIn Company Pages and Career Pages, to help empower companies to build active communities. LinkedIn also announced new integrations with 3rd party partners including Hootsuite, which enables admins to receive notifications when there is activity on their LinkedIn Pages and Crunchbase, which provides funding insights and key investors on LinkedIn Pages.

Pages have been rebuilt from the ground up to make it easier for brands, institutions and organizations, from small businesses to large enterprises, to foster constructive conversations with LinkedIn’s community of more than 590 million members.

Key new features to LinkedIn Pages include:

• Join the Conversations that Matter: Community managers, also known as admins, can now post updates and respond to comments, on the go from the LinkedIn mobile app for iOS and Android. Admins can also associate their Page with hashtags, so they can listen in and respond to conversations happening about their brand or relevant topics on LinkedIn.
• Know and Grow your Audience: We’ve built Content Suggestions, a new feature that surfaces the topics and content trending with their target audience on LinkedIn. With these insights, admins can now curate and create content that their audiences are sure to engage with.
• Engage your People: LinkedIn introduces a suite of tools to help organizations engage their people by introducing the ability to discover and reshare their employees’ public LinkedIn posts from their Page. Organizations can also respond to and re-share any posts on LinkedIn where a company’s Page is mentioned, like customer testimonials and product reviews.
• Enhance your Page with Career Pages: The new Career Pages gives companies and organizations a way to engage potential candidates with a Life tab and a Jobs tab that provide a customized look into an organization, culture, and jobs.

You can read more about Pages at the blog post here, and you can also read about how the new Career Pages makes it easier for companies and organizations to engage and connect with candidates here.