Millennials front and centre at Workplace in Motion Summit

No pressure or anything, but a respected HR player says it now falls to millennial workers to take their organizations to the next level.

There is no greater resource for growth in the workplace than millennials, said a HR veteran at Thursday’s Workplace in Motion Summit, suggesting those young people will lead corporate Canada into the digital age.

“There will be less time to do things and a higher level of expectation on innovation and creativity in the workplace so we’re talking about designing an organization to encourage that, especially with new people and millennials entering the workforce,” Paul Juniper, director of the Queen’s University IRC, told HRM.

“People who are old like me won’t be around too much longer so it’s about the new generations of workers who are bringing a lot of creativity in the way they approach their jobs.”

The director’s comments came during the Workplace in Motion Summit held at the Allstream Centre in Toronto, with HR professionals gathering from across the country to share their information on how they are helping drive productivity and streamlining processes to establish seamless communication and recruiting systems.

The meeting is seen as a tactical gathering for HR industry professionals to stimulate new ideas and perspectives while learning from others to bolster new strategies. It also focused on best practices to harness and find talent.

One of the professionals speaking was Brittany Forsyth, VP of Human Relations, at Shopify. She discussed her strategy for better engaging employees, encouraging them to take pride in their work. That kind of exercise pay dividends for an organization, with something called Hack Days.

Shopify gives employees two days every three months to drop everything and work on whatever project they want – work that eventually gets presented to management.

“It’s about creating the right environment for people to grow, learn, experiment and innovate. We want people to challenge themselves,” Forsyth said.

“Learning, continuing to grow and evolving our practices to make sure that people come first, is pivotal for us

“Our culture is strong and that we surround ourselves with individuals who will help Shopify get to the next level.”

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