Spring (at least the calendar date, if not the weather) is imminent, and with it the energy to tackle some issues facing the workplace. Here are a few that will likely be taking up more of our thoughts in the weeks and months to come.

The Skilled Worker Shortage Although the jobless rate is at a 30-year low, few are breaking out the champagne. In fact, most employers are looking for headache remedies.

Once restricted to the hot western economies, the shortages of skilled workers are now commonly affecting businesses across the continent. A survey by Deloitte and Touche LLP says 86 per cent of U.S. companies polled have or expect shortages among salaried staff.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says three-quarters of Canadian companies are having trouble attracting and retaining people. The situation is a crisis in Alberta, where some businesses have had to curtail hours, stunt growth or even shut down for lack of workers.

And it's bound to get worse, affecting just about every aspect of business life.

So far, employers have resorted to tried-and-true coping techniques - redistributing workload, increasing overtime and increasing salaries and benefits to attract and keep good people. Poaching has even become a strategy.

But it's early days yet - the tsunami of Boomer retirements is still just a ripple.

Now that the federal government has opened the doors for staff-strapped western employers to hire temporary foreign workers in 170 different fields, expect more companies to solve their staffing problems by going overseas.

Employers will try to hold onto the past by tempting near-retirees to work longer or phase into retirement; to lure retirees back; to hire them back seasonally or for individual projects - with salary and benefit packages to make it worthwhile.

HR departments are going to be very busy developing training programs because companies will have to grow their own talent rather than hire it. They'll also be drafting benefit packages and workplace policies designed to attract and retain employees, and training supervisors how to manage in the new workplace reality - where telecommuters, part-timers and multi-generational workplaces rule.

Work/Life Balance Yes, we're more stressed today.

Canadians have faced "significant change in multiple dimensions," says Human Development Resources Canada.

There have been economic changes, family and demographic changes, changes in employee relationships and the organization of work.

Simply put, a generation ago, someone was home more often. Now we're working longer and harder - a quarter of Canadians work 50 hours a week or more, compared to one in 10 just a decade ago, and one in six workers report they work at high speed all the time.

The combination of these forces means more stress.

More stress spells more physical and mental breakdown and a bigger burden on the health-care system - and increased costs to employers in benefits, absenteeism (and presenteeism), employee recruitment and retention, and productivity loss.

As the problems grow around skilled-worker shortages, expect companies to explore work/life balance issues not just to make them more attractive to employees, but to reduce costs.

"This is going to be a big problem for companies," says Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business and author of a number of research papers on work-family conflict and other human relation issues in the business world.

"They've talked a lot about balance, but never done anything about it."

"This has been a huge issue for at least five years," agrees Sandra Clark, information specialist for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

So big, a number of public agencies have developed websites filled with practical advice for both employers and employees.

Concentrating on the bottom line rather than balance is one of the causes of the skilled-worker shortage, says Duxbury, because it drove down fertility rates.

It's also pushed employee loyalty to the brink of extinction. Work/life balance is a key issue for Generation X and GenYers who saw their parents overworked, divorced and dumped despite dedication, she adds.

"A lot of companies are run by Boomers who say these generations will change. Well, they won't," Duxbury adds. Employers are dealing with a new value system, not a new fashion.

The realization is spreading that availability 24/7 is neither healthy nor affordable in the long term (think escalating HR costs due to stress).

But much, much more is needed.

"A lot of companies are not going to make it out of the next decade, because they don't see the critical success factors" that extend beyond the bottom line, says Duxbury.

Next issue, we look at three more issues - benefit plans, security and Kyoto - that will dominate our business calendars in the coming year.

(Sharon Adams can be reached at sharon@businessedge.ca)