www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 9, 2016 | 16 Keeping pace with change on the road to success by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff Local business leaders, politicians and members of the public heard the digital revolution would demand we adapt to change if we want to stay competitive, according Innovative Technology Expert Don Duval. Duval was keynote speaker at the recent Halton Industry Education Council (HIEC) annual Spring Breakfast with the Mayors. A crowd of approximately 100 people heard the ability to change and adapt will be key for future economic prosperity. "I can tell you, from a national policy perspective, the federal government is thinking long and hard about where it places its bets, where it makes its investments. One of the questions was, `Do we place bets on industryspecific threads? Do we say Canada will compete and invest in clean tech, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, fisheries or, do we focus on building capacity and competency in our economic Don Duval institutions to ensure students have the ability to pivot," said Duval, CEO of Norcat, an organization focused on skilled labour training ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners will be holding it's Annual General Meeting and information session on Saturday June 18, 2016 at 2pm, registration opens at 1pm at the Sir John Colborne Recreation Center, 1565 Old Lakeshore Road in Oakville Ontario. The meeting is open to the general public. If you ever worked in the United Kingdom, you may be entitled to a British State Pension and you may be able to increase the payout even if you live in Canada. You are welcome to attend the meeting to find out more. Pension advisors will be in attendance to answer your questions. www.britishpensions.com and development. "Why? Because the world is changing so quickly, if we don't have the skills, the capacity, and the know-how to change on a dime, we will lose from a competitiveness perspective on the global stage." Duval also spoke to the changing motivation of the workforce. He noted in the next 15 years, half of Canada's workforce will be millennials, young people who, Duval says, do not want desk jobs and who, in many cases, cannot be enticed to take a job by money alone. He pointed to Downtown Toronto where, he said, large banks, insurance companies and tax audit firms are having difficulty recruiting and retaining employees, as an example of this changing workforce. Even a signing bonus, retention bonuses and a series of other monetary incentives have done little to motive people to take a job where they work 15 hours a day, seven days a week, said Duval. He said this new generation is driven by employment opportunities that provide opportunity to be creative, impactful and autonomous. The Norcat CEO said he is currently working with a company attempting to tackle this issue by giving more time and opportunity for workers to brainstorm ideas to benefit the company. "They don't want to have a situation where it is just coffee shop conversations. It is still about getting business done. So, they put time boxes in these corporate innovation policies to say, on a weekly basis, you are going to report back to the entire organization to show what you are working on and the progress you are making. After between eight and 12 weeks, the company decides if it is an idea worth pursuing," said Duval. "Most of those ideas will fail, but the individuals will be more inspired, more interested." Duval said giving employees these brainstorming sessions is how Google came up with Gmail. Where employees work is something else that is changing and Duval said thanks to technology, in Australia, it is now possible to manage large construction vehicles operating in open pit mines from a person's home. Duval looked to many major companies, particularly within the mining industry, that have discontinued their research and development departments in favour of outsourcing the work. He said it has resulted in the creation of numerous flexible tech companies that can quickly change, adapt and develop solutions to problems their clients from various industries are throwing at them. This trend is important, said Duval, because these tech companies are helping drive job creation at a faster rate than the larger companies that hire them. Bateman MacKay LLP Welcomes a New Partner! Bateman MacKay LLP is proud to announce and welcome Richard Rizzo as the Firm's newest Partner. Richard has over 20 years of professional experience and will continue to service Bateman MacKay clients with an emphasis on their tax, estate and succession planning needs. 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