With Canadian corporations losing over $4 billion a year to employee absenteeism, the well-being and satisfaction of employees cannot be overlooked. Dr. Linda Duxbury, Canada’s most accomplished researcher, writer and speaker on work-life balance, has influenced policy and attitudes to help create supportive work environments in both the private and public sectors.
She has influenced government policy-making and significantly advanced the practices and attitudes toward work-life balance, technology, flexible work arrangements, generational differences, the development of supportive managers and work environments in Canada.
Dr. Duxbury has written hundreds of papers, journals, and books, and is the co-author of a series of Health Canada reports about work-life balance in Canada. She has published widely in both the academic and practitioner literatures in the area of work-family conflict, change management, supportive work environments, stress, telework, the use and impact of office technology, managing the new workforce and supportive management. Her work shows that work-life strategies benefit the business bottom-line, by gaining a competitive advantage in a marketplace that will become increasingly driven by worker needs and wants.
Currently a Professor at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Dr. Duxbury received her M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Duxbury has been recognized for her engaging, enthusiastic communication skills and teaching practices. She received the 2003-04 Canadian Pension and Benefits National Speaker Award, the 2002-03 Carleton University Student’s Association 2002-2003 Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2003-04 Sprott MBA Student Society “Best Teacher Award”.
Dr. Duxbury has been awarded the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Award, and was recognized as one of Deloitte’s Women of Influence in 2009. She delivered the Hallman lecture on Work and Health at the University of Waterloo and the Hawke Lecture on work and Health at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, SA. She has also given speeches as part of the distinguished speaker series at the Molson School of Business, Concordia University in Montreal and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Always an enlightening and popular speaker, Dr. Duxbury’s ideas and research are highly valued by major corporations and government agencies.
These demographic changes will have profound impacts on employers as they enter a “sellers” market where there are fewer employees with the necessary skills than there are good job. Human resource management will become a critical success factor in the new millennium, as companies have to focus on recruitment, retention of employees of all ages, succession planning, work-life balance and career development.
We are currently in an unusual position in Canada in that we have four generations in the workforce at the same time: the Veterans (59 +), the Baby Boom (1947 to 1964), the Baby Bust (Generation X) (1961 to 1972) and the Echo Boomers (Nexus) (1972 to 1990). Each of these generations have different attitudes and values with respect to work and life. Managers in organizations today need to understand key generational differences in order to both attract, motivate and retain good employees.
Dr. Duxbury’s talk will address these following issues. She will look at the formative influences shaping the different generations and look at possible sources of generational conflict within the workforce. She will also give employers information on how to adapt to meet the needs of these different groups of employees.
