Bert and Shelly Broeckx know that many young blue-collar workers feel like grunts – warm bodies performing menial jobs.

They also understand that many employers believe young workers have no work ethic, show up for shifts hung over and will bolt for another job for an extra few dollars pay.

Yet, each group needs each other, says Shelly.

“And 10 years down the road when a big proportion of the population has retired, the need, especially for industry, is going to be so much greater.”

The Broeckx (pronounced Brooks) believe they can help.
Four years ago the couple moved to Calgary to help a small business seeking advice on how to retain staff.

David Lazarowych photo
Bert and Shelly Broeckx have opened their doors to allow young workers to improve their life skills and job prospects.

Today they’re still here, founders of the Life Focus Foundation and committed to bringing youth and industry together to see “The Big Picture.”

It’s a unique operation, offering counselling, programs on nutrition, financing, anger management, anything required to help develop a young person.

This July 1, as part of the program, the couple opened a four-bedroom home in Calgary’s northeast for young workers.
The home offers a place to live and space to improve their
personal skills.

Workers follow strict rules in the home – for example, they can’t have overnight guests – and sign a contract promising to achieve certain goals. If they fail to comply, they are asked to leave.

“We’re not running a charity,” says Shelly. “They make a commitment and must follow up on it.”

At the same time, business and industry representatives have agreed to visit the home to make presentations about work and career opportunities to the young workers.

“There are a lot of young people bouncing around from one job to the other,” says Shelly. “We hope that we may be able to give them some ideas as to the future, to help them understand that they are valuable people.”

The couple is also preparing a manual on the transportation and warehousing industry. Funded by Human Resources Development Canada, the couple interviewed 362 businesses and more than 50 young men and women, ages 16 to 25, about their work experiences.

While there were some positive responses and shining examples of progressive business policy, the overall picture was disturbing.

Young people said employers didn’t value them, their input wasn’t important and too often they didn’t receive the training they required to do a proper job. “They were considered grunts, which does little for someone’s self-image,” says Shelly.

In addition, young people who were also trying to attend school found little support from employers around their work schedules, and had to lie to get time off to study.

Young workers also said that if an employer was more supportive, they’d be loyal to the company until they were ready to move to a new career position.

Broeckx doesn’t sugarcoat things, and realizes young people certainly aren’t perfect. There can be problems with marginalized youth, but there are plenty of 45-year-old workers who show up to work with hangovers as well, she explains.

As part of The Big Picture, the Life Focus Foundation encourages businesses to understand that supporting all workers is important. It strongly promotes a holistic approach to life and to the use of wellness programs at the workplace.

“Even if companies know that these young employees will move on to other jobs in the future, these people, if supported, can offer good (productivity) ideas and generally lead to a better world overall.”

Specific to the transportation and warehouse sector, Broeckx says that a large number of companies are run by employers who have been in the business for decades and don’t relate to youth.

“A lot of them say: ‘Give me a kid off the farm any day, they’re better workers than any city kid.’ ”

But as the workforce shrinks, employers can’t be choosers, says Broeckx. And creating an environment where young people feel valued becomes increasingly important.

The couple says it’s their vision, their labour of love to contribute to a better future.

When they moved to Calgary from B.C. four years ago, they downsized their possessions into a small 135-sq.-ft. trailer, in which they still live.

They’ve poured their money into the foundation, instead of a home and mortgage.

The trailer sits on the site of the home for young workers while they operate the foundation from an office on busy 16th Avenue N.E.

Each day as the big rigs rumble down the TransCanada corridor, they are reminded of blue-collar workers slugging out a living.

“It seems that, in the transportation industry, either the company won’t let the young drivers run the big rigs, or they work them ragged,” says Broeckx, looking onto the congested street.

The non-profit foundation is Bert’s vision. He’s worked in the logging and oil industries, owned a restaurant and has been a project manager and consultant to government.

As part of his role he assesses workplace operations and makes strategic suggestions to improve small businesses.

Shelly has worked in the forest industry, hotel resort management, early childhood care and has a lengthy list of volunteer work on her resume.

“We’re pretty eclectic,” she laughs. “But this is our calling and we’ve put everything into the foundation to make it work.”

The foundation was incorporated a year ago and continues to promote itself and expand its network within the business and social services
communities. For a fee, companies can join the foundation and enlist its services, or individuals can access help for a small fee (one per cent of gross earnings per month.)

The goal is simple, says Shelly – to help create a better future for everyone.