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See you in May!
2007/2008 ASHRAE NAC President's Address
Balance, what is that? Everyone we know is doing their best to remain full tilt and to do the most with the least amount of available resources while "it lasts". In doing so, we have become comfortable in sacrificing personal time that would be normally dedicated (at least partially) to important volunteer organizations such as ASHRAE.
Now consider, what if, this more the norm rather than the exception? Face it, our industry is demographically cursed. David K. Foot, University of Toronto Demographer and author of "Boom Bust and Echo" has studied labour trends across Canada and has presented research data that an additional 8% of Canada's population will be 65 or over by 2012. It is also not surprising that due to established pension plans and stringent savings regiments adopted by much of the population has impacted the average age of retirement in Canada from 65 in the mid 70's to merely 61.5 years in 2002. Alberta's economy has been exceptional over the last many years will no doubt add a considerable multiple onto Canada's averages.
Why have I decided to write about this? Simply, we must start realizing that the vacuum of resources that is about to come will have a significant impact on our future expectations of balance. Take a look around your sector within your industry; you may have a hard time finding someone who is not gearing up for retirement in the next few years. Regardless of whether the economy slows or not, with the bulk of experienced resources to draw upon diminishing so rapidly, we will inherently not slow down much.
Is there anything we can do to "soften" the blow? The answer is yes. Promote your profession, promote your industry, and promote ASHRAE. Get involved in the Career day activates in your local Universities and Colleges or even at your children's school - find a topic that you think may be of interest to them such as the environment and let them know how you and your profession are part of the solution. They will listen intently and perhaps even decide that what you said was "cool" enough to make a career decision on it.
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