QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Bill Davidson, President, chaired the meeting.

Tom Crean led us in the singing of O Canada.

 

Chair's Announcements:

 

Secretary's announcements provided by Parisa Adrangi:

 

Special announcements and members' moments:

• For the Sergeant-at-Arms elect, to take office July 1, 2020 and to become Sergeant-at-Arms July 1, 2021:   Jill Pennefather

Additional Nominations are possible as follows:

 

Any 10 members in good standing may nominate an eligible member of the Rotary Club of Vancouver for any position requiring election at the next Annual General Meeting.  Such nominations shall be delivered to the Secretary, Parisa Adrangi (secretary@rotaryvancouver.org) prior to December 3, 2019 so that they can be announced at that meeting and an election by secret ballot take place.

 

The persons elected at the AGM of the Rotary Club of Vancouver on December 3, 2019 for the offices/positions set forth above will join the following individuals who, if they remain members in good-standing, will carry over as members of the Board of Directors from July 1, 2020 to June 30 , 2021:

1.     Bill Davidson, who will become Immediate Past President;

2.     Gerry Glazier, now President-Elect, who will become President;  

3.     Mark Start-up who will continue for his second year as Director;

4.     Kayo Otake who will continue for her second year as Director;

5.     Min Kuang who will continue for her second year as Director;

6.     The new Club Secretary appointed by Gerry Glazier;

7.      The Club Treasurer who we hope will continue to be Kaz Kadono.

 

The Sergeant–at-Arms, currently Peter Clarke, is a Rotary Club Officer but not a Board member.  On July 1, 2020 his position will be taken over by Milton Kiang, at which time the person elected at this year’s AGM will assume office as Sergeant–at-Arms Elect where she or he will assist Milton and fill in for him in his absence until taking over the position July 1, 2021.

 

The Nominating Committee believes that it is important that the nomination process of Rotary Club of Vancouver be perceived not only as open, but also welcoming.  To that end, it hopes that the results of its deliberations are reflective of the diversity of the Club’s membership and reflect a balance of experience and knowledge of Club history and traditions, on the one hand, coupled with youthful energy and exuberance of new members, on the other hand.  We encourage all members of the Rotary Club of Vancouver, who would be interested in serving on the Board of Directors in the future, to speak to Brian Street or Phil Webber (as Chair and Vice-chair respectively of the Nominating Committee) so that the committee can ensure they are considered.
 

Program:

Rhianon Chow introduced Nabil Sabet from their company, M Moser Associates, who are corporate members of our club.

 

Nabil spoke about how the workplace design has changed over time and how the focus is now how best to motivate staff. M Moser works mostly with tech firms, however, this encompasses most industries – even finance companies are considered tech: FINtech. The younger workforce is having a huge influence over workplace design. These are those workers who were born in the late 70s and younger.

 

It has been recognized that staff motivation has become more of an issue as companies become more employee focussed versus employer focussed. The nature of work is changing from repetitive tactical approaches to super adaptive approaches.

 

Office buildings have been around for a very, very long time. Open office plans have been around since the 1930s when SC Johnson introduced the “new” open office concept. In the 1960s the open office plan was reintroduced – the Burolandschaft (literal meaning is ‘office-landscape’) plan designed in Germany to mimic nature changing straight lines to roving, flowing floorplans.

 

After many times of replication, the original ideas and plans tend to degrade. Now the average space a worker has is 70 sq. feet. The result is that employees feel disposable. That lends itself employee dissatisfaction and high turnover.

 

Behaviour-based design ensures that the environment you are in nudges you to act in a certain way. It enables you to do your life’s best work.

 

In closing, the question needs to be asked by employers: why would my employees stay?

In the past, the value was put on real estate; in the present, the value is put in work; in the future, the value will be put in the people who do the work. Ensuring your workplace is super flexible, able to compress and expand as needed to accommodate different projects’ needs, and to ensure the environment is fresh and pleasing results in a marked increase in the feeling of well-being (both physically and mentally) of employees.

Extras: