Canadian leaders need to prepare now for the future, yet Deloitte finds they do not feel ready

Toronto, May 11, 2017 — Faced with immense digital-driven disruption and continual shifts to the workforce, workplace, and nature of work, Canadian leaders need to prepare for the future now. However, they don’t feel ready for the transformation that is required. Deloitte research found that only 28 percent of Canadian respondents feel ready to build the organization of the future. In its 2017 Canadian Human Capital Trends snapshot, A new future for Canadian organizations, Deloitte issues a call to action, not just to HR, but rather to all Canadian executives, to take the lead in enabling their organizations to become organizations of the future, and avoid being left behind on the world stage.

"The rules of business are changing. Canadian business and HR leaders are already faced with changing expectations and demands that are transforming the way businesses work," said Karen Pastakia, Toronto Human Capital Leader at Deloitte. "Canadian organizations must focus on increasing their overall organizational readiness, and transforming through this intense period of disruption so that they don’t fall behind."

Canadian organizations must balance the needs of their current priorities with being ready for future demands. However, they feel less ready than global respondents with respect to several of the 10 trends from Deloitte’s global report. Deloitte found that only 25 percent of Canadian respondents feel ready to develop the leadership they need for the future, down from 33 percent last year, and below global readiness of 32 percent.

“If organizations want to remain relevant, they need to rethink their leadership and management practices and adopt a new mindset that is driven by the new future of work,” said Kate Morican, Partner, Strategic Change and Transformation at Deloitte in Canada.

Canadian organizations recognize the importance of technological change as they plan to shift their attention, with an increasing number of organizations making technology-focused trends (digital HR, the augmented workforce, and robotics, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence) a top priority in the future. However most Canadian organizations do not feel ready to meet the demands of these technology-focused trends, with readiness ranging from 8-29 percent of respondent for these trends.

"Canadian organizations are at a crossroads where they will need to sustainably evolve and adapt their businesses to become the organizations of the future, and keep pace with their global counterparts," said Pastakia.

Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Trends survey explores the top talent challenges facing organizations today, and companies’ capacity to deal with these challenges. With more than 10,000 HR and business leaders in 140 countries weighing in, Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Trends survey is the firm's largest and most extensive to date. The Canadian trends are based on the responses of more than 300 Canadian leaders that took part in the global survey.

The full report and additional resources related to these findings are available at: www.deloitte.ca/hctrends2017

About Deloitte
Deloitte, one of Canada's leading professional services firms, provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services. Deloitte LLP, an Ontario limited liability partnership, is the Canadian member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.