Businesses

Written in plain language, this brief guide outlines the steps required to start a business. The authors discuss developing an idea; thinking of a name; finding money to get the business started; writing a business plan; and where to go for help.

They also explain how each of the nine Essential Skills can help with establishing and running a business.

The guide includes a crossword puzzle that uses business-related words.

In this document, The Alliance of Sector Councils (TASC) offers practical tips to help businesses minimize the impact of tough economic times on their organizations.

The suggestions are divided into three categories: holding on to the employees the business needs; avoiding layoffs altogether; and, as a last resort, handling layoffs in the best manner possible.

This report, commissioned by the Canadian Plastics Sector Council (CPSC), provides an analysis of best practices in worker retention and knowledge transfer strategies. It contains both a review of the literature on best practices and a number of case studies of best practices in Canadian plastics manufacturing firms.

In this report, the authors point to a combination of factors that add up to difficult times for the plastics industry in Canada. Some factors may be temporary, like the overvalued Canadian dollar. But others, like increased competition from China and India, are part of a new reality the sector must deal with.

In 2010, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) surveyed employers about such issues as how workplace training benefits employers; the level of demand for training in the private sector; incentives necessary to meet the demand for workplace training; and the ideal model for training that works in all regions of the province and in all sectors of the economy.

This report summarizes the Essential Skills for the Changing Workplace project, undertaken in 2008 by the Centre for Education and Training with funding from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

In this study, carried out by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) during 2008, almost 1,000 employers in 16 different trades in a variety of sectors completed a survey on the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training.

Canada’s preparedness to compete in the increasingly competitive, knowledge-based, global marketplace appears to be in jeopardy because of a lack of awareness that investing in the human capacity of Canada’s workforce is paramount to success.

This document reports on the first of a series of regional roundtables on employer investment in workplace learning.

In 1998, the Canadian Labour Market and Productivity Centre (CLMPC) surveyed Canadian business, labour, and public sector leaders to explore their views on major economic issues and potential solutions, alternative work arrangements, demographic issues, and the current state of labour/management relations in Canada.