What Québec Wants™

Employee loyalty in Québec

The Canadian workforce is apparently growing increasingly disloyal.

According to recent findings from Ipsos Reid’s Build a Better Workplace syndicated study, 22% of Canadian employees are expressing decreased loyalty to their employer. The report claims that ‘the figures are consistent nation-wide, with the exception of Québec, where only 10% of the workforce shares this attitude’ but it doesn’t offer possible explanation.

The explanation might be found in what Timothy Keiningham, global chief strategy officer at Ipsos Loyalty, says in the study report: “As workers, all too often we find ourselves considered disposable. Not surprisingly, our loyalty as employees to the firms where we work has responded in kind. For us as individuals, constant economic change means that we feel always on the brink of losing control. We are forced to live in the moment, and leave tomorrow for the future. What this teaches us can be summed up in the phrase, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ This is the antithesis of loyalty. Loyalty requires a commitment to the future”. 

Being forced to live in the moment and leave tomorrow for the future – that’s what Quebeckers are more likely to do whether or not there’s a recession. Ask Canadians whether they agree or disagree with the statement “I try to have as much fun today and let the future take care of itself” and Quebeckers are significantly more likely to agree than Canadians in the ROC. Their more individualist approach to things makes them more likely to look after themselves first. And, when it comes to work, they’re more likely to view it as a ‘job’ than a ‘career’. 

Perhaps the findings actually highlight the fact that employees in Québec are not becoming less loyal simply because they weren’t as loyal in the first place. That’s probably why more Quebeckers says that their ‘sense of loyalty’ has remained stable – it just wasn’t very high to begin with.

Funemployment

A recent article published in the Los Angeles Times  discussed a trend among young adults: funemployment.

According to the Urban Dictionary, funemployment is about taking advantage of being out of a job in order to have the time of their life. Instead of sending resumes and actively seeking a job, the “funemployed”, mostly singles in their 20’s and 30’s, are living for today by traveling, going back to school, volunteering, partying or hitting the beach. Many use social media like Facebook and Twitter to find “funemployed” partners and make plans.

The L.A. Times quotes Jean Twenge, co-author of " The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement" and an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State who is an expert in generational surveys. "For many younger people, work is less central to their lives. These days, more people than in the 1970s are saying they want jobs with a lot of vacation time. Younger employees today also are less willing to work overtime.”

Here’s a short video of Mike Van Gorkom, funemployed, formely Director of User Experience Design at Yahoo! – He shares his epiphany: how he now enjoys life and realizes how his stressful job affected his life.  He now says he will eventually seek  “a job that won’t take over my life like this last one did”.

What seems like an epiphany to Mike might not be so for many Quebeckers – unemployed or employed.

They are generally less likely to let their work or career take over their lives insisting instead that pleasure be central to their lives.

Yankelovich asked Canadians ten years ago if they agreed with the statement “there is too much emphasis on accomplishment and not enough on pleasure for its own sake”. French Quebeckers were significantly more likely to agree than Canadians in the ROC.

More recently (2006), Leger Marketing surveyed Canadians about the relative importance they attach to their work, social and family life. Again, they are more likely to adopt a balanced approach.

Looking more closely at young Quebeckers working in the marcomm industry, a recent survey from the Bénévolat d’entraide aux communicateurs (National Advertising Benevolent Society) shows that 51% of Gen Y Canadians (18-29) living outside Quebec consider their professional life to be as important or more important than their personal life while it’s significantly lower among young Quebeckers (38%).

It looks like “funemployment” in Quebec is as much about fun and employment than fun while unemployed.

- Posted by Manon Varin, Project Manager at Headspace Marketing Inc.