bcbusiness.ca december 2015 BCBusiness 35
The B.C. Advantage
We might not love our jobs, our paycheques or our benets—
but for many of us, there's nowhere we'd rather work than
here in B.C. Behind the results from our exclusive workplace
survey, done in partnership with Ipsos and the
Human Resources Management Association
R
etirees and students excluded,
British Columbians spend
most of their waking hours at
work—or getting to and from
the o¤ce, thinking about that
presentation, bitching about
their boss. So it should come
as no surprise that when we
surveyed you on your employment situa-
tion, many expressed some pretty strong
opinions. And surprisingly—at least for
this ink-stained wretch—you're a pretty
contented lot.
Fully 73 per cent of those British
Columbians surveyed (an Ipsos study,
conducted between August 13 and Sep-
tember 2, of 874 adult Canadians—302
from B.C.) said they "tend to agree" (43%)
or "strongly agree" (30%) with the state-
ment: "I am satis-ed with my current
employer." That's about the same as the
rest of Canada. Where there's a noticeable
divergence is on the question of "are you
actively looking for employment oppor-
tunities elsewhere?" Outside B.C., about
a third of Canadians (34%) either strongly
or somewhat agree with the proposition.
Here in Lotusland? Just 19 per cent.
Michael Rodenburgh, executive
vice-president for Ipsos in Western
Canada, thinks he knows why.
"British Columbian workers
are willing to sacriªice to
stay in the region. That's
absolutely atypical when
we compare it to the rest
of Canada. It's that con-
nection to lifestyle—that
unquantiªiable element
that makes your life more
pleasurable." Rodenburgh
also thinks that this
province's relatively high
rate of unionization
(35% compared to 25%
for the rest of Canada)
is a contributing factor:
"When you think about
it, a union provides much more
security. If you don't have that security,
it might mean that you're more mobile."
Using data from surveys such as this,
Ipsos also creates something called the
Engagement Index (factoring in every-
thing from compensation and bene-ts
to "pride in work") that gives a sense of
T HE F U T URE
OF WORK
b y m a t t o ' g r a d y
