Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 51

Calgary Herald Bank where you belong If First Calgary mm mm and enaoir union With sixteen Calgary locations Entertainment D8 Wednesday April 14, 1993 Editor: Ronald Nowell 235-7485 on urn Faun Job ut 3624.84 9.83 WiHM 1 14 79.280US $336.65 -Z I -650 STOCK LISTINGS D4-5 tudes were based on the perceptions of company officials, such as human resource executives, said Szwec. However, he said some of these officials gleaned their information from employee attitude surveys, comments made to them by workers or from what they perceived were employee concerns. Morale can be improved among remaining employees by letting them know immediately about any new directions the company is taking and involving them in any restructuring discussions, he said. Companies that don't take the survivors into account will see a decrease in productivity and an even further drop in morale, Szwec said. "Like a sick patient, if you don't work on strategies to revitalize, the consequences could be severe." The survey is considered accurate within three percentage points 19 times out of 20.

February for the survey, which took in 21 major industries including government and financial institutions. Of that, 393 said they had cut employees. Most did so because of the recession although almost 30 per cent also cited competitive forces as a reason for trimming staff. To minimize job cutbacks, 80 per cent of the companies put a freeze on hiring instead of trying other alternatives like restricting overtime, cutting pay, implementing shorter work weeks and job sharing. "These are some of the things that we would advise employers to do prior to looking at cuts," said Szwec.

The study also said 62 per cent of Canadian companies used retraining as a way to reduce staff cuts, while a similar survey of American companies last year indicated only 44 per cent of U.S. businesses took the retraining route. Szwec attributed the better retrain ing performance of Canadian companies to government funding and educational opportunities available at Canadian community colleges. Canadian companies generally did better in all aspects of the survey. The study suggests that 87 per cent of the time job cuts or "downsizing" improved the financial health of the company, and 81 per cent of the time improved the quality of the product or service.

However, companies had less money to devote to research and development and to bringing out new products. And they were left with "surviving" employees who, while productive and competent, were shaky about their own futures. Only 26 per cent of the Canadian executives and 30 per cent of the Americans surveyed said their employees were secure about their futures and were able to manage their careers. Questions dealing with employee atti Profits improving, but surviving workers often left demoralized By Susan Yellin (The Canadian Press) TORONTO Companies that cut employees during the recession improved their bottom lines but left remaining workers demoralized and unable to manage their own careers, suggests a survey released Tuesday. "Employers tended to abandon long-term strategic goals in order to make the near-term better," said Terry Szwec, a senior vice-president with consulting firm Right Associates, which conducted the survey.

"Unfortunately, they also overlooked the survivors," Szwec told a news conference. About 505 Canadian executives were questioned between October and WOODWARD HUDSON'S BAY Franklin Mall eDDeirs axed WHAT A VIEW fckJ 1 Ktirimu 1 mm -'V- "Gs for possible employment. But with the closure of the Franklin Mall Zellers, he said those "trained Zellers employees would move to the Sunridge store. We would place as many (Sunridge) Woodward's employees as we can." There are a total of 500 full- and part-time Woodward's employees in Calgary. He noted the new Zellers location at Sunridge would be 90,000 square feet compared to 57,000 square feet at Franklin Mall.

Sunridge Mall assistant manager Andy Lowther hadn't yet heard of the plans when contacted Tuesday by the Herald. He said if only one level of the current Woodward's location is taken over by Zellers, that would leave 85,000 square feet of empty space in the mall's lower level. Chinook Centre manager John Kennedy said he hasn't heard what will happen to his mall's Woodward's location. "The discussions are being held at such a high level that by the time it trickles down to us, it's days later," he said. Kennedy thinks "we'll have a Bay-Zellers scenario here," with a Bay store likely on the main floor and a Zellers store on the upper floor.

"That makes the most sense." Market Mall manager Wayne Scherger said he "can't even speculate" about what will happen at his mall, where a Bay store already exists. "We're just waiting to see what's going to happen." In Red Deer, Lukassen said, the Bay is closing its current downtown location and will move into the Woodward's location at the suburban Bower Mall. Lukassen has said the Hudson's Bay Co. will keep about 20 of the 25 Woodward's stores in Alberta and British Columbia. Store will re-open on upper floor of Sunridge Woodward's By Susan Braungart (Herald writer) The upper level of the Sunridge Mall Woodward's store will be converted into a Zelle'rs outlet, a Hudson's Bay Co.

spokesman told the Herald Tuesday. But it will mean the closure of the nearby Franklin Mall Zellers location, Gary Lukassen, executive vice-president of the giant Toronto-based retail chain which also operates discount department store affiliate Zellers, said in a telephone interview. Lukassen said the company also knows the fate of Calgary's two other Woodward's stores, at Chinook Centre and Market Mall, but because employees have not yet been informed of the company's plans he would not divulge that information. He stressed the plans hinge on creditors' approval. Creditors are scheduled to vote on the plans in early May.

Facing bankruptcy and liquidation, Woodward's announced earlier this month that it would be taken over by a Hudson's Bay Co. subsidiary. If the company's plans are given the go-ahead, Lukassen said the Hudson's Bay Co. would acquire the sites by the end of May or early June, and then clear out merchandise and set up the new stores. "We would gear for a mid-August opening," he said, "but that would be tight, and if we had any delays it would be later." As for the Sunridge Woodward's 120 full- and part-time employees, Lukassen said the company is committed to interviewing all of them MW tBSlT 4 (Ciujl hlivJ tvt tMii) tSM Brant $18.75 13 J3 Arabian Light $16.65 North Slope $18.50 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE con no iin.knnflA 5 fi 7 a i April Js CANADIAN OIL (Edmonton par price, Imperial Oil) Current (par barrel) $23.53 Karen Average price $23.31 OPEC CONCILIATORY Oil producers shied away from confrontation with the West over proposed carbon taxes.

Page D2 BANK RATE Canuia "I gue this nd our roundUbte dicuton." MBA grads The University of Saskatchewan is planning its first alumni reunion April 23-24 in Saskatoon for all its MBA graduates. It's making a special appeal in the Calgary area because it is estimated that since the MBA program started two decades ago, at least 50 per cent of its graduates have landed in Calgary and Edmonton. Their locating here follows a pattern that started with the Leduc oil gusher of 1947. What is different today is the pace of the exodus. Leaving Saskatchewan for all parts of Canada are some of its brightest and best young people, as the curse of a sagging economy is a brain-drain composed of those who represent the future.

Even some professionals who have well-paying positions in the Saskatchewan economy are tussling with either staying with the listing ship or manning the lifeboats. This is a personal impression left over from a recent vacation. In February I decided it was time for a winter vacation, so I went and found winter in Regina. Now if you want to find how grim an economic situation is, February in Canada is the month for such a study. Regina's downtown isn't as depressing as Sarajevo, but it's a distant second.

It has skyscraper monuments to modern development, if not progress, but their shadows blanket a decaying commercial core at street level. Contributing to the vacant windows and empty streets is a gigantic it-ir Price "v01 rrcl 14.05 I 14- -1Q- April 1393 8 5.37 flft -6 down .17 rrVT 88 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 40 Bill Herriot, Calgary Herald BALLOONING: A $100,000 hot-air balloon built for Canada Safeway and owned and operated by Aero Dynamics Aerostats Promotions floats over the Calgary skyline. Manufactured in England in 1991, the balloon is flown about 150 times per year. learn to pick Calgary AEC plans new pipeline to U.S. 7 Simaluk Herald columnist A memorial service will be held Friday in Vancouver for Dr.

Lionel Everett McLeod, 66, the dean of medicine at the University of Calgary 1973-81 and founding president of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Among his many professional positions was a term as president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Gordon McCann, who has hung up his jacket in the public relations office of the Calgary Real Estate Board for the last year, will return to the consulting ranks later this month. Jelly beans have long disappeared from the presidential desk in the White House (they were the favorite snack of ex-president Ronald Reagan), but they are still a hot item here, a group of high school students proved last winter. Sugar Rush, composed of students from several high schools, won recognition as the Junior Achievement company of the year by manufacturing a jelly bean dispenser.

They have found a ready market, as demand exceeded supply throughout the selling season. Western Canada High School produced the two individual winners: president's award winner Myrian Srour, president of Nouveaute, manufacturer of wine holders; and achiever award recipient Imran Amed, president of ECKK, producer of candy jars. Link would remedy bottlenecks in feeding demand for crude oil By Gordon Jaremko (Herald resources editor) Alberta Energy Co. is piecing together a plan to build an oil pipeline to Wyoming for an estimated $450 million to $490 million. AEC senior vice-president Frank Proto said Tuesday his company is "quite encouraged" by its canvassing of industry support for the pipeline proposal.

A decision on whether to go ahead with the project is expected by late summer or early fall. The plan calls for a line from the Edmonton-area oil centre of Hardisty south to Cheyenne, Wyo. The system would open with capacity to deliver about 175,000 barrels of oil a day, which could eventually be doubled by adding compressor power. Proto explained the project would give Alberta new U.S. markets and cure problems of overcrowding that have led to capacity rationing on the traditional oil delivery route, the 1.5-million-barrel-a-day eastbound system of Interprovincial Pipe Line Co.

Shipping-capacity shortages have repeatedly frustrated local oil firms since the mid-1980s, due to additions to Alberta supplies resulting from drilling successes and advances in production technology. The Cheyenne destination of AEC's proposed route is designed to link Alberta oilfields to other pipelines into markets which are expected to grow and provide outlets for growing production of molasseslike heavy oil. The new line would create access to refineries in Montana and Utah, where Conoco Inc. and Exxon Corp. have built "upgrading" equipment for processing hoavy crude.

Other connections would also open an alternative to IPL's route to Chicago. Wyoming's own oil production, nicknamed "sours" by the industry due to its content of hydrogen sulphide impurities, has begun to taper off and is expected to continue declining, Proto added. He said AEC's discussions with oil producers are fuelling its confidence that its pipeline idea is sound: "The concept has got quite good support." Proto said the next steps will be to confirm that the plan has industry backing, then to prepare a complete proposal for making construction applications to government agencies. 1 enclosed mall in the heart of the downtown, which gutted street commerce. Streets that once bustled with economic activity are as dead as no-man's land.

The downtown core mirrors the young professional's conversation. After nearly a decade of world wheat price wars, Saskatchewan' 3 number one industry is as prostrate as any victim fallen in Sarajevo. Now its second industry, government employment, is entangled and crippled by the historical laws of credit. In effect the world is telling Saskatchewan its credit is no longer any good. Even though Alberta is looked upon as the golden land by young professionals, Albertans cannot be smug about the debt situation, either.

When you consider what a helluva job the Don GettyDick Johnson Tories did in shredding Alberta's fiscal credibility, smugness is an attitude Albertans can ill afford. In six years the Getty government achieved what took decades of Tories, NDPers and Liberals in Saskatchewan to accomplish..