About

We help organizations navigate the workforce crisis…

For decades, HR leaders focused on easing out KAA-Boomers and bringing in younger workers for less money.

This practice worked well when the majority of workers – the baby boomers — were in their 20s and 30s, and employers had large talent pools.

But in 2011, things have changed.

  • As the KAA-Boomers age, there are fewer workers entering the workforce.
  • Employers find it difficult to attract and retain workers with the right knowledge and skills and their long-term employees are retiring – or planning to retire.

Smart companies know that KAA-Boomers are just hitting their stride. Their combination of skills, education, and experience are irreplaceable and invaluable.

The shift is in progress and retaining KAA-boomers is a key part of the HR matrix.

How the Workplace Institute Can Help You

Our strength is the heart of talent management: Engaging and retaining your most experienced and valuable employees: KAA-Boomers.

Our programs and tools are based on extensive research about the changing workplace.

  1. Our workforce planning training products offer an affordable way for HR leaders to learn and implement best practices that boost productivity and save companies stress and money.
  2. Our research services help position our clients as trailblazers in their industries. We’ve worked with top organizations like Sun Life and The Canadian Government. We’ll do the same for you.
  3. Our consulting service develops customized, in-depth solutions to help your company develop and retain the talent it needs to get through the workforce crisis.

Biographies

Barbara Jaworski, B. Sc MBA, CEO

Ms Jaworski is founder of the 6th annual Best Employers Award for 50 Plus Canadians and chair of the 5th annual Summit on the Mature Workforce produced through the Workplace Institute, an organization that helps companies utilize their entire talent pool. Organizations and governments come to the Workplace Institute for training, research, consultation, and use of best practices in the emerging discipline of managing High Experience organizations. She is the co-chair of the US-based annual World at Work Work-life Innovation Excellence Awards, which are given to organizations that create innovative work-life and health solutions for their workforce. Ms Jaworski is the author of KAA-Boom! How to Engage the 50 Plus Worker and Beat the Workforce Crisis.

Barbara Jaworski is well known as the developer of the most innovative programs in work-life, wellness and disease management services for Canadian organizations. Her programs are available in 4,000 organizations in Canada and globally. In addition, she consults and trains organizations to help them understand and plan for their talent and skill needs to ensure they are still able to meet their business goals when the demographics go KAA-Boom. Her research includes the development of a mature workforce engagement model which may be connected to an organizational brand. Barbara has two e-newsletters, one for employers called KAA-Boom and another for 45+ people called KAA-Boomer.

Ms Jaworski regularly speaks at conferences throughout North America on the topics of mature workforces, intergenerational issues, engagement, workforce planning, talent management, health, healthy organizations and global cultural issues, and is Canada’s expert on the aging workforce. She is a frequent contributor to HR and health-and-benefits publications and is a sought-after subject-matter expert who is often quoted in the media.

R. Owen Parker, CD, MBA, PhD, CHRP, Director of Research

Dr. Owen Parker is the Workplace Institute’s Director of Research. He has over 22 years of experience in managing and conducting employee, workforce, organizational and evaluation studies, in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Owen has been a consultant and research leader at Decima Research, The Conference Board of Canada, Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the Department of National Defence. During his career, he has planned, managed, developed and directed a variety of noteworthy research projects, including a survey on the effects of the aging labour force on Canadian organizations and an evaluation of leading corporations that underwent a strategic human resource transformation. Owen has written extensively on HR issues, producing numerous research reports, client publications and journal articles, and given presentations to senior executives based on findings from various research studies.

While at the Conference Board, Owen was responsible for a national, biennial research study on learning and development in Canadian organizations. He applied an innovative statistical approach to demonstrate the links between learning and organizational performance. He published two groundbreaking reports on the importance of the training function for employers. Dr. Parker holds a number of credentials, including an MBA, a PhD in Organizational Sociology and an MA in Sociology. He is a Certified Human Resource Professional.