Something I could never understand... if an employee is a long term asset, or at least should be considered a long term asset... then why is this never accounted for in the financial statements? I think it should and could be if national accounting standards were changed, but are not likely to be changed in the near future because government wants it that way I think (bankster corpocracy thing).

We have things such as 'goodwill' and 'amortized depreciation of assets' among other arbitrary figures that are used to account for the net worth of a company, so why can't this be extended to employees?

I've always thought employees should have a tax value that could be amortized against tax obligations like any other asset employees are competing against. If you had this the employee would factor into financial decisions and have a value pegged to their contribution to the company. Companies in limbo would have a far greater incentive to save jobs....

Its debatable how it could be done, but a simple way would be to give the employer a tax credit for each employee that would be 50% claimed in the year employed, and the other 50% accumulative till their natural retirement... if an employee is let go prior to retirement the employer would loose their accumulated tax credit for that employee. A long term employee would have a lot of accumulated tax credits tied to their employment thus changing significantly the decisions made by the employer on that employees worth to the company.

I think in the future this will be the case in some form or another, but we just haven't got there yet. Hopefully by the next great depression we will see the value in promoting employees within the business world? This is a key requirement IMO to discourage the harvesting of otherwise stable businesses for the financial potential they posses for the financiers of the short term banking world.

Time Will Tell

right on, Frank. I still hear employers say, "I'll just find someone else", when employees balk at extra workloads, extra hours, giving up weekends or evenings, and pay cuts or no increases. when are they going to realize there is nobody else in the pipeline, and start treating employees with respect?

"The young people coming into the job market reject that generational addiction for long hours and poor work-life balance."

That is the type of general statement that was made about the "flower children" generation as well. Did not turn out to be true.

Not only do people change over their lifetime, but the people being "seen" and talked about in the media are perhaps not a good sampling of the general population.

How many members does Frank's USW have compared to what the IWA used to have? Is the membership increasing or declining? Are jobs in the forest industry, and related support industiries increasing or declining?

About 20 years ago a close relative of mine was encouraged to study to be an electrical engineer by her brother, who already was one.

It was then a growing field, with good prospects for well-paying, long term employment. The business press was touting Northern Telecom as Canada's premiere company, and its leadership of the world in the field of telecommunications.

They were leading our way into a new "high-tech, value -added" world. One which would be beating an ever wider pathway to our shores in search of our advanced products of such technological excellence.

Additionally, the dot.com bubble in the US was in full swing, and "Silicon Valley" promised endless growth, and employment oppotunities galore for anyone qualified who wanted to head south.

She followed her brother's advice, enrolled in university and completed the six year course that graduated her, and thirteen others, (of a much larger number that originally set out to follow the same occupation, but fell by the wayside ~it's a difficult course of study), as an electrical engineer.

Of those thirteen, only three, including her, found work in their chosen profession. She, with that premiere Company, Northern Telecom itself.

The rest couldn't secure employment in that field with anyone, anywhere. They had to go back and be re-trained, in some other field, where there MIGHT be better prospects. Maybe.

She worked for NorTel just long enough to pay back her considerable student loans, and get enough of a stake ahead to make a down paymeent on a condo, when the "bloom came off the rose" there, too. By that time electrical engineers, a profession with a previously gold-plated future, one not 'everybody' had the mental wherewithal to become, were a "dime a dozen".

She went back to school, for another three years, and emerged as a qualified teacher. Her math and science skills gleaned from her previous engineering studies qualified her to teach science and advanced mathematics in High School or University. Courses few new teachers are qualified in, or generally want to be.

Just in time to be greeted by falling enrollments, and the only 'demand' for any new advanced maths and sciences teachers occuring when one of their number retires or dies. When there is a profusion of other applicants to compete with, many displaced teachers with well-established 'seniority' in the school system.

Surprisingly, she has not lost hope, and makes the best of her years of study through private tutoring of mostly Asian kids, whose parents have a culture that still sets great stock in "education". Undoubtedly, they are right.

But "economically" there are still only going to be very few 'winners' in the "employment" game, and the odds are getting worse all the time. And the 'losers' still have to 'eat'. And be 'clothed', and 'sheltered'. We, those of us who ARE 'working', as PRODUCERS, need them. As CONSUMERS. Or we won't be.

While not as glamourous as other careers, a trade has always proven to provide employment, with ups and downs of course. I guess because we don't always need someone to design new bathroom fixtures, but we will always need someone who knows how to fix a toilet. Mr. Everitt is right on with at least some of his comments, our society started experiencing a drain of skilled, experienced people some years ago, and we did not react soon enough to the problem. Of course it means job security now, for those middle aged and older who wish to continue working.
metalman. ;)

Actually I think our biggest need will be unskilled workers. An aging population that's going to need extended care and a population base beneath them that would rather do anything but change adult diapers. Added to that is plenty of jobs available due to the shrinking workforce. Who are these unskilled people going to be ? They won't be Canadian born since we have negative population growth.

Oh, and the reason goodwill ends up on a balance sheet and workers don't, is goodwill has been paid for, workers haven't. You also can't sell a worker but you can sell your good will. Internally generated goodwill can't be placed on a balance sheet either.

Despite you having loyalty to your company, alas, they have no loyalty to you. Just threaten to quit to find out how important you are. Kinda like taking yer hand out of a bucket of water.

In anything high tech, a long term employee generally doesn't keep pace with emerging technology, and their employer will not provide training on new standards being adopted unless they absolutely have to.

For example, say you got a diploma 20 years ago from BCIT and knew how to work with tapes, switching systems, video editing equipment, etc.... and immediately got hired at CKPG. It's doubtful they will provide any training on HDTV, digital editing, etc... They'll just wait until you can't do the job properly any more, and hire someone fresh out of BCIT who has current training, and marginalize you until your hours are cut, or you quit.

This also happens in computer fields. Someone who has been loyally serving their bosses after getting training with Windows 98 and Windows NT will eventually find themselves taking a back seat to a new hire who has the training required to get the job done with Windows 7, meaning the direction of the business is being set by strangers.

The argument can be made a person in that career should be training themselves to keep up with emerging technology, or in other words, spend your free time keeping yourself useful to your job. Kind of like indentured servitude, without an end date.

Unions are completely and utterly worthless in protecting a workers rights in this regard. If you know any unionized high tech workers, ask them how much training they get. Sure, unions might ensure you get to take a course on bullying or workplace safety once in a while, but you'll never get any training which will help you with your job.

"In anything high tech, a long term employee generally doesn't keep pace with emerging technology, and their employer will not provide training on new standards being adopted unless they absolutely have to."

Well, I'm not so sure about that. Employers will generally weigh the cost of training vs. going out and finding someone new and all the unknowns that come with that. When you hire someone, you are taking a risk and hope that the person will do the job and generally get along with their fellow employees. If they have someone who fits in well, they will generally keep them trained.

Employees also have a responsibility to keep up with technology and changes as well and be pro-active. If you have someone who isn't interested in personal and professional development, it might be worth the risk to find someone who is.

The training issue is an important one. A colleague of mine mentioned he "laid off" a woman (baby boomer) who had been with him for nine years and hired a 23 year old temp just out of college to take on a piece of her work which was growing in scale (social media marketing), which the 23 year old did twice as fast as the baby boomer and ended up eliminating the remaining job responsibilities of the baby boomer. I asked him about retraining and reassigning and he said it would have taken too long and cost him twice as much even though she had excellent interpersonal skills.

Contrast that with the story of CEO Denice Kronau, whose years of knowledge were so valuable to her boss that when she pleaded exhaustion and burnout and quit, he encouraged her to take a 6 month unpaid sabbatical, which she did and came back to a more satisfying position with more energy and is still doing it today.

You can read more about Denice's story at

Guess I need link retraining! Here's Denice's website: http://www.denicekronau.com